Privacy

16.05.19

Paparazzi agencies pay damages to Duke of Sussex for privacy invasion

Splash News and Picture Agency Limited and Splash News & Picture Agency LLC (‘Splash’) have apologised and agreed to pay substantial damages to the Duke of Sussex after using a helicopter to take photographs of his home in the Cotswolds. In January of this year Splash chartered a helicopter which flow over the Duke’s home…

15.05.19

Police request access to complainants’ data: A form in a teacup?

A new standard police form requesting agreement to access complainants’ phone data has caused controversy. The not-very-snappily-titled ‘NPCC Final Consent v-1-2’ form is designed to achieve a consistent system for accessing the electronic devices of victims and witnesses. A copy is available here. This can only be done with that person’s consent. As such, the…

Supreme Court grants permission to appeal in mass data breach case

The Supreme Court has granted the defendant supermarket chain permission to appeal the Court of Appeal’s decision in WM Morrison Supermarkets Plc v Various Claimants [2018] EWCA Civ 2339. The appeal will consider the principle of vicarious liability in respect of statutory data protection claims and common law misuse of private information claims. The claim…

13.05.19

Is it time to stop talking about gagging clauses?

The Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) has announced it has referred a solicitor from magic circle firm Allen & Overy to the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal over drawing-up a Non-Disclosure Agreement (NDA) on behalf of film Producer Harvey Weinstein.  It is understood the agreement, in essence, paid Mr Weinstein’s former assistant Zelda Perkins a large sum in…

24.04.19

Can’t pay? Court of Appeal does not take claimants’ damages away (but neither will it increase them)

In Ali & Anor v Channel 5 Broadcasting Ltd [2019] EWCA Civ 677, the Court of Appeal considered whether countervailing privacy and the public interest/freedom of expression rights had been properly balanced, together with the appropriate award of privacy damages arising from footage of an eviction shown on Channel 5, the Defendant in this action….

16.04.19

Pregnancy club fined £400,000 for sharing personal data of 14 million individuals

Bounty UK, an online club for pregnancy and parenthood advice has been fined £400,000 by the Information Commissioner’s Office (‘ICO’) following the discovery that the personal data of its users had been shared with 39 other companies without informed consent.  A copy of the Monetary Penalty Notice can be found here. Bounty UK collected personal…

21.03.19

Actress Tina Malone receives suspended sentence after breaching Venables/Thompson injunction

Actress, Tina Malone, has received an eight-month suspended prison sentence for purporting to publish a photograph and information relating to the new identity of Jon Venables – one of James Bulgar’s killers. Background In 1993 Jon Venables and Robert Thompson, at the time aged 10, were convicted of murdering two-year-old James Bulgar.  It was a…

11.01.19

Victory for Google at European level on the scope of delisting

On 10 January 2019, Advocate General Maciej Szpunar provided his written opinion to the Court of Justice of the European Union (‘CJEU’) on the territorial scope of requests to delist search engine results under the ‘right to be forgotten’ principle, which (in the context of search engines at least) was established in May 2014 in…

29.11.18

Recoverability of CFA success fees in defamation and privacy claims to be abolished (but ATE to remain for now)

The government has announced that from 6 April 2019 conditional fee agreement (‘CFA’) success fees will no longer be recoverable from opponents in defamation and privacy claims.  The Ministerial Statement made by David Gauke the Lord Chancellor and Justice Secretary can be found here. CFAs – colloquially known as ‘no win, no fee’ agreements –…

26.11.18

Lexis Nexis interview: Breaking injunctions via parliamentary privilege

Employment analysis: Lord Hain’s use of parliamentary privilege to name Sir Philip Green as the businessman at the centre of sexual harassment and bullying allegations polarised opinion. Iain Wilson, managing partner at Brett Wilson LLP, considers the legal issues around parliamentary privilege. What were the events that preceded Lord Hain using parliamentary privilege to name…