Permission to appeal decision in case relating to phone hacking damages
23 March 2016
MGN Limited (Appellant) v Gulati and others (Respondents) UKSC 2016/0016
On appeal from the Court of Appeal Civil Division (England and Wales)
Permission for MGN Ltd to appeal was refused in a case relating to the assessment of damages for breaches of privacy resulting from phone hacking and related activities.
Eight claimants, as test cases, brought proceedings for breach of their privacy rights as a result of phone hacking, the activities of private investigators and the publication of information obtained by these means in newspapers published by the appellant. The appellant admitted liability and substantial awards of damages were thereafter made by the judge. There were several components to the awards: damages for injury to feelings, damages for the loss of control over private information and damages in respect of each article published containing the wrongfully obtained private information.
The Supreme Court has declined to hear the appeal and the Court of Appeal judgment therefore stands:
The substantive text of the Supreme Court's Order reads:
"The Court ordered that permission to appeal be refused because the application does not raise an arguable point of law."