Tag: Weekly Round Up (Page 1 of 30)

The Easter legal term will begin tomorrow, Tuesday 13 April 2021 and continues to 28 May 2021.  The Inforrm Easter Break ends today. Continue reading

Sunday Telegraph columnist Julie Burchill has apologised to activist and journalist Ash Sarkar, and agreed to pay her “substantial damages”, after making defamatory allegations on Twitter that played into Islamophobic tropes. Continue reading

On 10 March, ITV released a statement: “Following discussions with ITV, Piers Morgan has decided now is the time to leave Good Morning Britain. ITV has accepted this decision and has nothing further to add.” The announcement came after broadcast regulator Ofcom launched an investigation into comments made by Morgan about the Duchess of Sussex discussing her mental health and suicidal thoughts in her interview with Oprah Winfrey. Continue reading

On Thursday and Friday 4 and 5 March 2021, Mann J conducted his final case management conference in the News Group phone hacking  litigation.  The managing judge, who is due to retire from the High Court bench shortly, has presided over 90 case management conferences in the News Group and Mirror phone hacking litigation since his appointment as managing judge in 2013.  The litigation will now be managed by Fancourt J. Continue reading

On 24 February 2021, Saini J handed down judgment in a preliminary hearing on meaning in Ware v French [2021] EWHC 384 (QB).  This was a libel action over a website article dubbing reporter John Ware’s Panorama programme into anti-Semitism in the Labour party “rogue journalism”. Continue reading

On 15 February 2021 the Press Gazette reported that a man has been jailed for almost six months after sending Facebook messages threatening to shoot a regional journalist. Peter Cunliffe has also been handed a two-year restraining order preventing him from contacting Amy Fenton, who at the time of the offence was chief reporter at Newsquest daily The Mail in Cumbria. Continue reading

On 11 February Lord Justice Warby handed down judgment on the summary judgment application in the case of HRH Duchess of Sussex v Associated Newspapers Ltd [2021] EWHC 273 (Ch).  The judge ruled that the publication of the Duchess’s letter to her father by the Mail on Sunday was “manifestly excessive and hence unlawful” and that “there is no prospect that a different judgment would be reached after a trial”. Continue reading

The Court of Appeal has ordered that Johnny Depp’s application for permission to appeal against the judgment of Nicol J (Depp II v News Group Newspapers Ltd & Anor [2020] EWHC 2911 (QB)) should be considered at a hearing.  On 1 February 2021 Underhill LJ ordered that the hearing should take place if possible between 15 and 31 March 2021. Continue reading

On Monday 1 February 2021 there will be a statement in open court in the libel action brought by the Duke of Sussex against Associated Newspapers. The action concerns a false claim that the Duke of Sussex snubbed the Royal Marines after stepping down as a senior royal.  The action was discussed in the Press Gazette when it was issued. Continue reading