Court of Appeal to hear ZXC v Bloomberg LP privacy case

The Court of Appeal has granted permission to appeal in ZXC v Bloomberg LP

On 20 June 2019 the Court of Appeal (Males LJ) granted permission to Bloomberg LP to appeal the decision at trial of Nicklin J in ZXC v Bloomberg LP [2019] EWHC 970 (QB).

Nicklin J had found that an article about a fraud, bribery and corruption investigation into the Claimant at a time when he had not been charged with any offence amounted to a misuse of his private information.  Some of the published information derived from a Letter of Request for mutual legal assistance sent to a foreign country as part of the investigation.  Nicklin J granted an injunction and awarded £25,000 damages.  The Claimant did not pursue his claims for breach of confidence and breaches of the Data Protection Act 1998.

Bloomberg has been granted permission to appeal on 9 of the 10 Grounds of Appeal that were advanced.  These include seeking to challenge the Judge’s finding that generally prior to charge a person under criminal investigation has a reasonable expectation of privacy in information relating to the investigation, and his finding that the high public interest in the alleged corruption itself had only an indirect bearing in this case.

A copy of the first instance judgment can be downloaded below.

Bloomberg is represented by 5RB’s Clara Hamer (led by Antony White QC) instructed by RPC LLP.