Year: 2007

WPP libel and privacy case settles

The libel and privacy action brought by Sir Martin Sorrell against  Marco Benatti  and Marco Tinelli came to a premature end yesterday with Sir Martin accepting damages of £120,000.   Sir Martin, chief executive of advertising… Read More »

Da Vinci Code judgment upheld

The Court of Appeal has today rejected the appeal by the authors of The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail against the judgment of Peter Smith J, holding that he had been right to find that,… Read More »

Formula One libel actions conclude

The libel litigation between Richard Woods, the Director of Communications at the Federation Internationale de l’Automobile (the governing body of world motor sport) and Tom Rubython, editor of Business F1 magazine, finally concluded today.   Woods sued Rubython for… Read More »

WPP libel and privacy trial begins

The trial of the libel and privacy actions bought by Sir Martin Sorrell, the founder and CEO of the WPP advertising and marketing group, against Italian businessmen Mr Benatti and Mr Tinelli started today.   The trial relates… Read More »

£10,000 damages for cricketer

The High Court has awarded £10,000 damages to Clive Lloyd, the former internationally renowned cricketer and match referee, under the summary disposal procedure for defamation claims. Mr Lloyd brought the libel action against the editor, journalist… Read More »

Jockeys banned after corruption inquiry

Four jockeys have been found guilty of passing inside information for reward and received bans and five other people have been excluded from racing premises indefinitely by the Horseracing Regulatory Authority.   On Friday 16th… Read More »

Strasbourg protects right to satirise

The European Court of Human Rights has held that judgments of the Vienna Regional Criminal Court and Court of Appeal that a journalist and publisher be fined for a satirical article violate their rights under… Read More »

Beckham kidnap plot: NoW ‘sorry’

A man named by the News of the World as having been involved in a plot to kidnap Victoria Beckham accepted a public apology and a contribution to charity at the Court of Appeal this morning. The claims… Read More »

‘Rooney prostitute’ libel claim struck out

A libel claim brought by a Merseyside grandmother in relation to allegations published in The Sun that she was a prostitute and slept with Wayne Rooney while working at a brothel has been struck out. Patricia Tierney,… Read More »

Royal phone hacker jailed for 4 months

The News of the World‘s royal affairs editor was jailed for four months today for hacking into the mobile telephones of members of the royal household “several hundred” times. Clive Goodman, 49, had listened to voicemail messages left… Read More »

5RB Charity Quiz 2007

5RB hosted a charity pub quiz at the Bung Hole yesterday evening to raise funds for the Bar Pro Bono Unit and the Free Representation Unit (FRU). Teams from leading media organisations and solicitors firms… Read More »

McKennitt v Ash to the Lords?

Niema Ash, the defendant in McKennitt v Ash, has petitioned the House of Lords for leave to appeal against the decision of the Court of Appeal. Ms Ash has written a book about her experiences… Read More »

£40,000 damages awarded in ‘sex act’ trial

A jury has awarded £40,000 damages to Mark Stickland, former manager of rock band Bullet For My Valentine, over an article in alleging that he had been found “pleasuring himself” in a dressing room. Mr Stickland brought the… Read More »