Trinity Mirror hacking: why its legal director should consider his position

Trinity Mirror hacking: why its legal director should consider his position | Media | theguardian.com: "Bailey left Trinity Mirror in June 2012 to be replaced the following September by Simon Fox.

Within a month, he was faced by the filing of four hacking claims by lawyer Mark Lewis.

History had finally caught up with Trinity Mirror and Fox, the new boy, obviously had to rely on the "review" already carried out by Vickers.

Initially, the company denied the legal claims and battled to deny the quartet the right to pursue their claims.

Its problems, and Fox's headache, worsened in March 2013 with the arrest of four of the group's senior journalists, current and past, for alleged phone hacking.

The following month, Fox told the Financial Times the company had not set aside any money to meet potential claims. He was reassured by the "considerable work" undertaken by his board members before he arrived.

By that, he meant the review and the 44 legal declarations by senior staff that they had not engaged in phone hacking.

 Trinity Mirror refused to make life easy for the claimants. In November 2013, it asked the court to throw out two cases and to quash evidence advanced by two more. The judge dismissed the publisher's application.

 Although Fox expected the "cloud hanging over us" to lift, the cloud has got blacker by the month. By July this year, the company revealed it had made a £4m provision to deal with 17 civil hacking claims.

This week we learned it was dealing with many more and, as of today, the high court was told the group is now facing up to 50 claims." 'via Blog this'

Mirror group phone-hacking costs could soar to £12m, court told

Mirror group phone-hacking costs could soar to £12m, court told | UK news | The Guardian: "The judge was told that an “unnamed QC” acting for the claimants wanted £335,250, while two other junior barristers sought £203,750 and £148,000. MGN proposed awarding the QC £215,250 and claimed the proposed use of four barristers was “plainly disproportionate”.

Mr Justice Mann appeared to agree, asking, “Is any of this litigation proportionate? At one level, all these costs are disproportionate for the claims being brought.”

The judge went on to suggest that any victim of phone hacking could expect less than £100,000 in damages – a fraction of the cost of a trial. He said potential damages were “probably less than six figures”. The judge added the only justification for the expense would be “the quasi-public interest” in pursuing the litigation." 'via Blog this'

President of Supreme Court: Internet challenges privacy laws

On 26 August 2014, Lord Neuberger of Abbotsbury PSC delivered a speech entitled The Third and Fourth Estates: Judges, Journalists and Open Justice at the Hong Kong Foreign Correspondents’ Club: "These developments may make it inevitable that the law on privacy, indeed, the law relating to communications generally, may have to be reconsidered. It undermines the rule of law if laws are unenforceable. There is no doubt that these technological developments give rise to enormous challenges for people involved in the law and people involved in the media." Is he arguing for better enforcement or more privacy?

No, The Sun, “Euro judges” do not “go against UK in 3 out of 5 cases”. More like 1 in 100

No, The Sun, “Euro judges” do not “go against UK in 3 out of 5 cases”. More like 1 in 100. | UK Human Rights Blog: "I will conclude with a quote from Lord Neuberger’s recent speech on open justice . The President certainly seems to get it when it comes to legal misreporting (hat tip to Shoaib M Khan):

" But just as judges must not abuse their privileges which are accorded to them because of the importance of judicial independence, so should journalists and other communicators not abuse the privileges accorded to them because of the importance of freedom of expression. So, inaccurate and unfair reporting of a judge’s decision in order to make a good story is an abuse of the freedom of expression accorded to the press and it undermines the rule of law." 'via Blog this'

The Sun’s aggressive, then submissive, response to my complaint on its human rights reporting | UK Human Rights Blog

The Sun’s aggressive, then submissive, response to my complaint on its human rights reporting | UK Human Rights Blog: "But what I found most interesting about the process, which was started by the Press Complaints Commission and concluded by its post-Leveson successor, the Indepenndent Press Standards Orgaisation (IPSO), was the initial response to my complaint (PDF here) by The Sun’s Ombudsman, Philippa Kennedy OBE, which I thought was needlessly aggressive and demonstrates a worrying approach to this issue." 'via Blog this'

Europe, EEA, EU, EFTA, Council of Europe - countries - Venn diagram

Kuan0 - Europe, EEA, EU, EFTA, Council of Europe - countries - Venn diagram: "The Venn diagram and associated table of countries below are intended to help navigate the alphabet soup relating to Europe and groupings of European countries, ie the intergovernmental organisations (or international governmental organisations, IGOs) that are the EU, EEA, EFTA, Council of Europe" 'via Blog this'

The “New” New York Times: Free Speech Lawyering in the Age of Google and Twitter

The “New” New York Times: Free Speech Lawyering in the Age of Google and Twitter - The “New” New York Times: Free Speech Lawyering in the Age of Google and Twitter: "While they have been criticized for some of their decisions, the lawyers at companies like Google and Twitter are reminiscent of newspaper lawyers of old in their conscious thinking about and focus on freedom of expression. Their companies are not perfect, just as the New York Times is not perfect. Fifty years from now, though, we will remember these lawyers and their impact on how millions of people experience freedom of expression. And their paradigmatic decisions already have played significant roles in some of the most important freedom of expression episodes in modern times, including the leaking of classified documents to WikiLeaks and The Guardian, the sharing of anti-Islamic videos on YouTube, and the legislative debate over telecommunications and copyright rules such as “network neutrality” and “SOPA.”" 'via Blog this'