The Hilary Legal Term ends on Wednesday 27 March 2024.  The Easter Legal Term begins on 9 April 2024.  Inforrm will have a short break and our next Weekly Round Up will be on 8 April 2024.

On 20 to 22 March 2024, a three-day hearing took place before Fancourt J in the High Court to determine whether the claimants in the NGN unlawful information gathering case would be granted permission to amend their claim. The claimants, who include the Duke of Sussex, Guy Ritchie, Hugh Grant and Doreen Lawrence, sought to add further evidence to their claim, including 235 stories which appeared in the Sun and News of the World between 1994 and 2016.

The court heard that two stories from 2016 about Megan Markle, came from information provided by a US private investigator, who is alleged to have obtained her social security and mobile phone numbers for the Sun. The amendments would also include allegations that senior executives at NGN, such as Rebekah Brooks, Rupert Murdoch and James Murdoch, were aware of the wrongdoing and sought to conceal evidence. NGN deny the allegations and argue that the changes are “wholly unnecessary.” The full trial of the claim is due to be heard in January 2025. The Guardian, BBC, Reuters, Independent, Washington Post, Press Gazette, GB News, the Los Angeles Times and Zelo Street reported.

Former US President Trump has sued ABC News and its presenter George Stephanopoulos for an interview in which he asked congresswoman Nancy Mace why she backs the Republican candidate despite him being found “liable for rape”. Last year, during a defamation trial brought by E Jean Carroll, a New York jury found that Trump had sexually abused Carroll in 1996. Carroll was awarded $83.3m in her defamation action for the comments made by Trump when he denied her accusation. Trump’s legal action against ABC alleged that Stephanopoulos’s statement were “false, intentional, malicious and designed to cause harm.” The BBC, CBS News, CNN, Politico, Los Angeles Times, New York Times, Reuters and the Independent covered the story.

Columbia Journalism Review has published an article titled, ‘Can AI be sued for defamation?’

Internet and Social Media

The Crown Court has sentenced the first person to be convicted of cyberflashing in England to 66 weeks in prison. The Online Safety Act, which came into force on 31 January 2024, criminalises the offence of cyberflashing. The offender sent an indecent photo of himself to a woman in her 60s using WhatsApp and a child through iMessage. The court also handed down a restraining order for the victims and a sexual harm prevention order banning him from approaching women he does not know in public for 15 years. The BBC, Guardian, Sky News, Independent, The Telegraph, The Times, and EuroNews reported on the story. The Crown Prosecution Service released a statement which is available here.

Data privacy and data protection

There have been claims that staff at the London Clinic attempted to access the Princess of Wales’s medical records following her abdominal surgery at the start of this year. The ICO confirmed that it had received a report of the breach on 19 March 2024 and was assessing the information provided. The hospital’s chief executive stated that “all appropriate regulatory and disciplinary steps will be taken and Kensington Palace confirmed that the report was “a matter for the London Clinic.” The ICO also released this statement in response to the reports of a data breach, which includes a Q&A for members of the public. The BBC, Guardian, Sky News, the Independent, Daily Mail, The Mirror, AP News and the New York Times reported on the alleged breach. Mishcon de Reya also posted an article examined what the ICO’s investigation will cover.

The ICO also published new guidance on data protection fines this week, which seeks to provide organisations with clarity and certainty on how the ICO issues penalties and calculates fines.

Surveillance

The trade body techUK has released a statement saying that the proposed changes to the Investigatory Powers Act would weaken safeguards relating to the bulk collection of datasets by intelligence services and expressly permit generalised mass surveillance. The statement warned that the privacy, security and safety may be compromised if the changes are implemented. Read the statement here. The BBC and TechRound covered the story.

Newspaper Journalism and regulation

GB News programmes presented by Conservative party members have been found to have broken Ofcom’s impartiality rules. Under the code, “no politician may be used as a newsreader, interviewer or reporter in any news programmes unless, exceptionally, it is editorially justified.” The regulator found that programmes presented by Jacob Rees-Mogg, Esther McVey and Philip Davies were news segments that which had no “exceptional justification.” GB News have been warned that further breaches will result in sanctions, however a spokesperson from the broadcaster stated that they were “deeply concerned” by the decision which they described as a “chilling development for…freedom of speech.” The BBC, Guardian, Telegraph, Sky News, Financial Times, Press Gazette, Independent and GB News covered the story.

Channel 4 conducted an internal investigation to determine whether managers were aware of allegations against Russell Brand and found that there was “no evidence to suggest that there was knowledge within the channel of the allegations.” Brand, who is accused of sexual assault by four women in a joint investigation by The Sunday Times, The Times and Channel 4 Dispatches, was a presenter on two Channel 4 programmes between 2004 and 2007. The Channel 4 report did acknowledge that a 2009 allegation made by a staff member should have been passed up the channel’s senior management chain and investigated at the time. The BBC, The Independent, Sky News, iNews, Guardian, The Times, The Telegraph and Evening Standard reported on the investigation.

IPSO

Statements in open court and apologies

We are not aware of any Statements in Open Court or Apologies from the last week.

New Issued cases

There were three defamation (libel and slander) claims and two harassment claims filed on the Media and Communications list last week.

Last week in the courts

On 19 March 2024, judgement was handed down in the cases of Francis v Pearson and Burston [2024] EWHC 605 (KB). The parties were residents of a gated housing estate. The first and second defendants had sent separate emails to other residents which the claimant alleged held the meaning that he had assaulted and stalked neighbours and sent hate mail in a campaign of anti-social behaviour. The defendants applied for each claim to be struck out either as an abuse of process or on the basis that the claims disclose no real or substantial tort and the claimant applied to re-amend his Particulars of Claim. The defendants’ applications to strike out were dismissed on both grounds as the “claimant has a legitimate and proper purpose in pursing these claims” [76]. HHJ Lewis gave permission for the claimant to make his amendment since it was “on a discrete point and, if proven, would likely to be relevant to the question of damage” [84].

On 19 – 20 March 2024, there was a preliminary issues trial and application notice before Richard Spearman KC in the case of Rashid Naseer v Adil Farooq Raja QB-2022-002648.  Judgment was reserved.

On 20 March 2024, Steyn J handed down judgement in the defendant’s application to strike out the claim in the case of Bridgen v Hancock [2024] EWHC 623 (KB). The claim concerns a tweet published by Matthew Hancock MP last January which accused the claimant, Andrew Bridgen MP, of promoting an anti-Semitic, anti-vax theory. The defendant argued that the claimant had failed to articulate a proper case in his pleading. The court held that the claim should be pleaded as a reference innuendo case and, as such, struck out several paragraphs of the claimant’s Particulars of Claim. The court did not strike out the claim in its entirety, giving the claimant an opportunity to amend his Particulars of Claim. The BBC, Sky News, The Irish News, Evening Standard, The Independent, and The Law Society Gazette covered the decision.

On 21 March 2024, Chamberlain J handed down judgement in the case of Sinton v Maybourne Hotels Limited [2024] EWHC 647 (KB). The claimant, a project manager on a luxury hotel major construction project, brought a claim in libel, malicious falsehood and breach of data protection law. The publications complained of were made by the corporate defendant following their decision to suspend the claimant’s access to various sites he had been working on. The defendants sought summary judgement or a strike out of the claim. The court granted summary judgement in the defendants’ favour on the defamation and malicious falsehood claims, having found that the claimant had no real prospect of success in the former and no prospect of establishing malice in the latter. invited further submissions on the data protection claim.

On 21 March 2024, Saini J heard the appeal in the case of Zhang & other v Deng & other – KA-2023-000103.

On 22 March 2024, there was a remedies hearing before Collins Rice J in Blake v Fox QB-2021-001248.  Judgment was reserved.

Media law in other jurisdictions

Canada

On 18 March 2024, the Supreme Court of British Columbia granted leave to the plaintiffs to amend their pleadings to clarify the words that they allege are defamatory in the case of Thmbran v The British Columbia College of Nurses and Midwives (BCCNM) 2024 BCSC 441.

On 19 March 2024, the Federal Court granted the defendant’s motion to strike out the plaintiff’s claim and dismiss the action with costs in the case of Welcome v. Canada, 2024 FC 443. The plaintiff had applied for multiple positions at Library and Archives Canada and alleged that the defendant engaged in libelous conduct and abuse of power within the context of the hiring process. The claim was struck out because there was an absence of jurisdiction and the plaintiff was not in a position to plead additional facts [30].

Europe

Clean Up the Internet blog have published recommendations to the EU Commission’s consultation on Digital Services Act guidelines for election integrity. The public consultation was launched by the European Commission after it identified the need for platforms to act to protect the integrity of elections. The article suggests that the proposals will be insufficient to prevent threats to the integrity of European elections and submitted its own detailed proposal to the EU, which argued that platforms must implement optional user identity verification schemes to remove the problem of fake accounts. Clean Up the Internet’s proposals can be read here.

France

The French competition authority has fined Google €250m for breaching an agreement that it would pay media companies for reproducing their content online. The regulator said that Google’s AI chatbot, Gemini (formerly Bard), was trained on content from publishers and news outlets without notifying them and fined the company for breaches linked to intellectual property rules. Google released a statement explaining that they have now settled the long-running case but believe that the fine “is not proportionate to issues raised by the French competition authority.” The Guardian, The Register, RFI, TechCrunch and Lawdit Solicitors covered the development.

Portugal

On 19 March 2024, the ECtHR handed down judgement in favour of the applicant in the case of Almeida Arroja v Portugal (Application no. 47238/19). The case concerned a judgement against the applicant, an economist and professor, for defamation and causing offence to a legal person, in relation to comments he made on TV which suggested that a law firm provided legal advice that was tainted by political interests to a public hospital. The court held that the interference with the applicant’s right to freedom of expression was not supported by relevant and sufficient reasons and that the domestic courts gave disproportionate weight to the rights and honour of the law firm. EU Law Live provided commentary on the decision.

United States

The US Department of Justice have filed a lawsuit against Apple, which accuses the phone company of violating anti-trust law by limiting its operating system such that consumers face increased costs and developers cannot successfully release products on other smartphones. Apple strenuously denied the allegations and stated their intentions to fight the lawsuit. The latest anti-trust lawsuit comes among previous actions to sue Google, Meta and Amazon for their monopolistic practices. The

The Socially Aware blog has published an article about the recent US Supreme Court opinion in Lindke v Freed, which clarified that public officials may be held liable for violating the First Amendment if they block citizens from commenting on posts in instances where they possess the authority to speak on the State’s behalf on a particular matter and purported to do so when posting.

Research and Resources

Next week in the courts

On Monday 25 March 2024, there will be a hearing before Saini J in the case of Payone v Logo KB-2023-002134

On the same day there will be a consequentials hearing in the case of Piepenbrock v Michell, LSE and 52 other Defendants  KB-2023-001023 before Tipples J.

On Tuesday 26 March 2024 there will be a trial  in the data protection case of Harrison -v- Cameron QB-2022-002468 and a case management hearing in the case of MBR Acres Limited and others v FREE THE MBR BEAGLES QB-2021-003094.

Reserved judgements

Blake v Fox, heard 22 March 2024 (Collins Rice J)

Rashid Naseer v Adil Farooq Raja,  heard 19 and 20 March 2024 (Richard Spearman KC)

BW Legal Services Limited v Trustpilot,  heard 7 March 2024 (HHJ Lewis)

Unity Plus Healthcare Limited v Clay and others,  heard 1 March 2024 (HHJ Lewis)

Parsons v Atkinson, heard 26 and 27 February 2024 (Farbey J)

Rodoy v Optical Express Ltd, heard 26 February 2024 (HHJ Lewis)

Pacini v Dow Jones, heard 13 December 2023 (HHJ Parkes KC)

Amersi v BBC, heard 8 December 2023 (HHJ Lewis)

Wilson v Mendelsohn and others, heard 4 to 8 December 2023 (HHJ Parkes KC)

Mueen-Uddin v Secretary of State for the Home Department, heard 1 and 2 November 2023 (UK Supreme Court)

George v Cannell and another, heard 17-18 October 2023 (UK Supreme Court)

Harcombe v Associated Newspapers, heard 3 to 7 and 10 to 11 July 2023 (Nicklin J)

MBR Acres v FREE THE MBR BEAGLES, heard 24-28 April 2023, 2-5, 9, 11-12, 15, 17-18, 22-23 May 2023 (Nicklin J)

This Round Up was compiled by Jasleen Chaggar who is a litigation and media paralegal at Atkins Dellow