In what circumstances can a claimant in civil litigation commence proceedings under a pseudonym? We are familiar with alphabetised claimants in injunction cases who seek anonymity on grounds that the purpose of their proceedings would otherwise be defeated: if the … read more
RPC Privacy Blog
The latest news in privacy law
Judgment awaited in Trimingham harassment case
Carina Trimingham’s privacy and harassment case against Associated Newspapers was heard by Mr Justice Tugendhat in the High Court last week. Judgment has been reserved. Ms Trimingham is the partner of the former cabinet minister Chris Huhne. The two began … read more
Parliamentary committee reports on privacy
The Joint Committee on Privacy and Injunctions has reported. Click here for a link to the full report. The most important recommendations of the committee, which was set up last year and has taken evidence from a wide variety of … read more
Access to Documents in Criminal Proceedings – Guardian Challenge Secures Change
The Court of Appeal has ruled that where documents have been placed before a judge and referred to in the course of open proceedings, the default position should be that access should be permitted on the open justice principle. Where … read more
MoJ publishes first statistics on privacy injunctions
Yesterday the Ministry of Justice published the first set of statistics on privacy injunctions, following the recommendations in the report by Lord Neuberger’s Committee on Super Injunctions published in May last year. The injunctions included within these statistics were those … read more
Giggs’ claim for privacy damages is struck out
Ryan Giggs has lost his claim for damages against News Group Newspapers (“NGN”). In a judgment published last week Mr Justice Tugendhat refused to reinstate the footballer’s claim for damages against NGN on the grounds that Giggs had been party to two serious … read more
ICO fines Midlothian Council £140,000 – ICO’s highest ever fine for data breaches
The Information Commissioner’s Office (the “ICO”) has fined Midlothian Council £140,000 for five separate security breaches, which involved accidental disclosure of confidential and sensitive personal data about children and carers to the wrong recipients. The breaches, which took place between … read more
Chief Executive of Ann Summers gets privacy injunction
Mr Justice Tugendhat has today handed down a short judgment explaining why he made an interlocutory order to prevent the publication of private and confidential information about Jacqueline Gold, the high-profile Chief Executive of Ann Summers. The first defendant in … read more
Cabinet minister’s 17-year-old son gets privacy injunction but not anonymity
The son of Caroline Spelman, the Environment Secretary, has obtained an injunction against the publishers of the Daily Star Sunday. The judgment is reported here. The injunction was granted to restrain publication of a story which it is alleged would … read more
Strasbourg Rulings on Two Personal Privacy Claims
The Grand Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights yesterday handed down its much anticipated decisions in the important privacy cases Axel Springer and von Hannover. The decisions are important wins for the media. They confirm that reports of … read more
