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14.03.16

Jimmy White libel claim settles: substantial damages agreed

Express Newspapers have agreed to pay snooker player Jimmy White substantial damages for a 2012 Daily Star article which implied that Mr White had dishonestly provided inside information to his friend to allow him to place bets. The Star published an apology in 2014, but the level of damages could not be agreed.  Halfway through a High Court trial to…

Ex-husband awarded £5,000 damages for Facebook libel

The case of Stocker v Stocker, the first libel trial of 2016, provides a stark warning to those who post defamatory material on social media. In this case the Court held that the claimant had been defamed by his ex-wife and he was awarded £5,000 of damages. Background The claimant and defendant were formerly married,…

12.03.16

Google extends "right to be forgotten" to all versions of its search engine

Google has succumbed to pressure from European data regulators and announced a wider system of delisting where it agrees to remove search engine results under the so-called “right to be forgotten” principle. Where Google agrees to delist results these will now be filtered from all versions of Google when a search is conducted in the…

23.02.16

Max Clifford ordered to pay Royal Butler £5,000 for privacy breach

In Burrell v Clifford [2016] EWHC 294 (Ch) Princess Diana’s butler Paul Burrell succeeded in his High Court privacy claim against publicist Max Clifford. In 2002 Mr Burrell was the subject of a high profile criminal trial in which it had been alleged that he had stolen from the Royal Family.  He approached Mr Clifford…

22.02.16

Court of Appeal upholds damages in phone hacking claims

In Representative Claimants -v- Mirror Group Newspapers Ltd [2015] EWCA Civ 1291 the Court of Appeal considered MGN’s appeal over privacy damages awarded against it for phone hacking. First Instance Decision Mann J’s decision in Gulatti & Ors v MGN Limited [2015] EWHC 1482 in May 2015 marked a turning point in the development of privacy…

15.02.16

Increased court fees denying access to justice claims Master of the Rolls

Master of the Rolls Lord Dyson, the country’s most senior civil judge, has expressed his concern over the effect of large year’s increase in court fees.  In March 2015 fees for claims valued at £10,000 or above began attracting a court fee of 5%.  This resulted in some fees increasing by nearly 600%. The ‘enhanced fees’ that were introduced…

Defamation: case law update on the application of the 'serious harm' test

In Alvaro Sobrinho v Impressa Publishing SA [2016] EWHC 66 (QB) the High Court held that an article written in a Portuguese publication about allegedly illegal activity carried out by a banker did not satisfy the ‘serious harm’ test as set out in section 1(1) of the Defamation Act 2013. The Court also held that…

24.01.16

Breach of Privacy: Court of Appeal upholds damages award for breach of children’s privacy

On 20 November 2015 in Weller and others v Associated Newspapers Limited [2015] EWCA Civ 1176 the Court of Appeal upheld a decision of the High Court and found that Associated Newspapers (the publishers of MailOnline) had infringed the privacy of three of the musician Paul Weller’s children by publishing un-pixelated photographs of them out shopping in…

£25,000 damages awarded in sexting claim

In ABC v West Heath 2000 Ltd & Anor [2015] EWHC 2687 (QB) the High Court awarded damages to the Claimant who, as a 16 year old schoolgirl, had been encouraged to send explicit photographs of herself to her teacher.  18 text messages were exchanged between the pupil and her teacher over the course of a year, with 20 photographs…

9.11.15

Social Media defamation: Richardson v Facebook/Richardson v Google UK Ltd: Appeals dismissed as wrong defendants sued

In Richardson v Facebook [2015] EWHC 3154 (QB) Mr Justice Warby dismissed the claimant’s appeals in two separate but similar claims for defamation and breach of Article 8 ECHR.  One claim was brought against ‘Facebook’ and the other against Google UK Ltd. The claims related to content published on Facebook and Google’s Blogger services, specifically a fake profile and a…