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5.06.18
Claimants entitled to issue privacy proceedings in the Chancery Division
In the recent case of Mezvinsky & Anor v Associated Newspapers Ltd [2018] EWHC 1261 (CH) Chief Master Marsh had to decide whether there was a more appropriate division of the High Court in which a privacy claim should be brought. The defendant had published a series of articles on the Mail Online website which…
Read more3.02.17
SDT rejects misconduct charge against solicitor who recommended surveillance of opponent lawyers
The Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal (SDT) has found that Farrer & Co Solicitor Julian Pike did not commit professional conduct when he advised his client News International to arrange the surveillance of two lawyers acting for victims of phone-hacking (understood to be Mark Lewis and Charlotte Harris). At the time Mr Harris was defending phone-hacking claims for his…
Read more2.11.16
Norwich Pharmacal Order against police refused
In the case of The Right Honourable The Countess of Caledon v The Commissioner of Police for the Metropolis and another [2016] EWHC 2214 (QB), the Applicant, the Rt Hon the Countess of Caledon, failed to satisfy both stages of the test to obtain a Norwich Pharmacal Order (‘NPO’) against the Commissioner of Police for…
Read more23.03.16
Privacy law: Supreme Court refuses Mirror permission to appeal phone hacking damages
The country’s highest court has refused MGN Limited permission to appeal the decision in Representative Claimants -v- Mirror Group Newspapers Ltd [2015] EWCA Civ 1291 – the Court of Appeal’s decision regarding the appropriate level of damages in eight phone-hacking ‘test cases’. This decision itself was an unsuccessful appeal by MGN against the High Court decision in Gulatti & Ors v…
Read more23.02.16
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…
Read more22.02.16
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…
Read more23.01.15
Mirror Group Newspapers settle phone-hacking claims in High Court
The High Court on 22 January 2015 heard that a number of celebrities (including Cilla Black, Darren Day, Peter Andre and Jessie Wallace) had settled their claims against the Mirror Group Newspapers (MGN) for phone hacking that was alleged to have taken place between 2000 and 2006. The claims for misuse of private information related…
Read more24.09.14
Trinity Mirror admits liability for phone hacking
Trinity Mirror, the parent company of the publisher of the Daily Mirror and Sunday Mirror has admitted liability for phone hacking and agreed to pay damages to Shane Richie, Lucy Benjamin, Alan Yentob and Shobna Gualti. Trinity Mirror issued a statement stating “The company today confirms that its subsidiary MGN Ltd has admitted liability to four individuals who…
Read more13.01.13
First prosecution under Operation Elveden ends with conviction of police officer
DCI April Casburn, a senior police officer in the Metropolitan police, has been convicted of misconduct in a public office following a trial at southwark Crown Court. It was alleged that she offered to sell information on the phone-hacking inquiry to the News of the World – the newspaper at the centre of the investigation….
Read more9.07.12
Decision whether to prosecute in phone-hacking cases imminent
The Director of Public Prosecutions Keir starmer is reported as saying that he was “reasonably confident” that the Crown Prosecution service would reach a conclusion on what action it will take by the end of July in relation to 13 cases relating to allegations of phone hacking. The subjects of the investigation are believed to be newspaper reporters and editors. Mr…
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Articles are intended as an introduction to the topic and do not constitute legal advice.