The Supreme Court will hear the appeal in OPO v MLA on Monday 19th and Tuesday 20th January 2015. The panel consists of Lord Neuberger, Lady Hale, Lord Clarke, Lord Wilson and Lord Toulson.
In its judgment of 9 October 2014 the Court of Appeal granted an interim injunction restraining the publication of a semi-autobiographical book which gave an account of the serious childhood sexual abuse suffered by the author, a performing artist, over many years. The injunction was granted under the principle in Wilkinson v Downton [1897] QB 57. A full 5RB case report on the Court of Appeal decision can be found here.
OPO is represented by 5RB‘s Matthew Nicklin QC and Adam Speker (instructed by Aslan Charles Kousetta LLP), MLA (the author) by Hugh Tomlinson QC and Sara Mansoori (instructed by Bindmans LLP) and STL (the publisher) by Antony White QC and 5RB‘s Jacob Dean (instructed by Simons Muirhead & Burton). 5RB‘s Adrienne Page QC and Can Yeginsu (instructed by Olswang) are acting for the Interveners (English PEN, Article 19 and Index on Censorship) and have been given permission to put in written submissions.
