''PJS v News Group Newspapers Ltd''
016
The Home Guard Special Division 016 (; abbreviated as HV-016) is a former military unit of Norway, that was a part of the Home Guard. It was established after 1985 to "stop terror- or sabotage actions that could weaken or paralyze Norway's abili ...
UKSC 26 is a
UK constitutional law
The United Kingdom constitutional law concerns the governance of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. With the oldest continuous political system on Earth, the British constitution is not contained in a single code but princ ...
case in which an
anonymised privacy injunction[The injunction has been incorrectly referred to as a "super-injunction" in some media reports. Super-injunctions prohibit publication of the fact that an injunction has been obtained.] was obtained by a claimant, identified in court documents as "PJS", to prohibit publication of the details of a sexual encounter between him and two other people. Media outside England and Wales identified PJS as
David Furnish
David James Furnish (born 25 October 1962) is a Canadian filmmaker and former advertising executive. He is the husband of English singer, pianist and composer Sir Elton John.
Early life and education
David Furnish was born in Toronto, Ontario ...
.
In January 2016, PJS applied to the
High Court of Justice
The High Court of Justice in London, known properly as His Majesty's High Court of Justice in England, together with the Court of Appeal (England and Wales), Court of Appeal and the Crown Court, are the Courts of England and Wales, Senior Cour ...
in London for an injunction to prevent publication of a news story relating to the encounter by ''
The Sun on Sunday''. That was declined on the basis that publication would be in the public interest. PJS applied to the
Court of Appeal
An appellate court, commonly called a court of appeal(s), appeal court, court of second instance or second instance court, is any court of law that is empowered to Hearing (law), hear a Legal case, case upon appeal from a trial court or other ...
and was successful in overturning the High Court decision. In April 2016, the Court of Appeal ruled that the injunction should be lifted, as the allegations had been published widely abroad and online. PJS then appealed to the
Supreme Court of the United Kingdom
The Supreme Court of the United Kingdom (initialism: UKSC) is the final court of appeal for all civil cases in the United Kingdom and all criminal cases originating in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, as well as some limited criminal cases ...
, which in May 2016 decided to uphold the injunction by a majority of 4–1.
The case has led to debate about the effectiveness of injunctions in the age of the
Internet
The Internet (or internet) is the Global network, global system of interconnected computer networks that uses the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to communicate between networks and devices. It is a internetworking, network of networks ...
and
social media
Social media are interactive technologies that facilitate the Content creation, creation, information exchange, sharing and news aggregator, aggregation of Content (media), content (such as ideas, interests, and other forms of expression) amongs ...
websites.
Facts
The claimant is married to "YMA", both of whom are well known in the entertainment business.
The couple has young children.
[ PJS engaged in sexual activity with two individuals known as "AB" and "CD", who later approached '' The Sun on Sunday'' regarding their sexual encounter.
]
Judgment
High Court
On 18 January 2016, PJS applied to the High Court of Justice
The High Court of Justice in London, known properly as His Majesty's High Court of Justice in England, together with the Court of Appeal (England and Wales), Court of Appeal and the Crown Court, are the Courts of England and Wales, Senior Cour ...
for an injunction to prohibit ''The Sun on Sunday'' from publishing the story. That was declined by Mr Justice Cranston on the basis that publication would be in the public interest, as it would correct a false image of marital commitment that PJS had presented. Cranston stated, "The Claimant and his partner have portrayed an image to the world of a committed relationship. That portrayal has taken a number of forms, Mr Tomlinson QC correctly points out there is always a dilemma for a public figure in that if they do not provide publicity they will be pursued the media ic But undoubtedly the Claimant and his partner have on a number of occasions and in various ways portrayed an image of commitment. Moreover the Claimant has himself actively sought publicity".
Court of Appeal
PJS took the case to the Court of Appeal
An appellate court, commonly called a court of appeal(s), appeal court, court of second instance or second instance court, is any court of law that is empowered to Hearing (law), hear a Legal case, case upon appeal from a trial court or other ...
, which overturned Cranston's decision on 22 January 2016 and granted an injunction preventing publication of the story. The court ruled that the privacy rights of PJS under Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights
Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights provides a right to respect for one's " private and family life, his home and his correspondence", subject to certain restrictions that are "in accordance with law" and "necessary in a democrat ...
outweighed the Article 10 freedom of expression rights of the tabloid newspaper that wished to publish the story.[ The judges found that the image of commitment PJS and YMA had presented was accurate, as commitment does not necessarily entail complete fidelity and therefore the publication did not correct a false image and was not in the public interest. Lord Justice Jackson commented in his ruling: "The proposed story, if it is published, will be devastating for the claimant".]
After the granting of the injunction, the identity of PJS was reported by news media outlets in the United States
The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...
, Canada
Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...
and Scotland
Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...
. Paul Staines
Paul De Laire Staines (born 11 February 1967) is a British-Irish right-wing political blogger who publishes the Guido Fawkes website, which was described by ''The Daily Telegraph'' as "one of Britain's leading political blogsites" in 2007.Graeme ...
, a political blogger based in Ireland
Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...
, was claimed to have broken the injunction but said that he was not subject to the UK gagging order. Within England and Wales, the couple's lawyers worked to ensure that web blocking actions were effective. The former Liberal Democrat MP John Hemming, who had used parliamentary privilege
Parliamentary privilege is a legal immunity enjoyed by members of certain legislatures, in which legislators are granted protection against civil or criminal liability for actions done or statements made in the course of their legislative duties ...
to name the claimant in ''CTB v News Group Newspapers
''CTB v News Group Newspapers'' is an English legal case between Manchester United player Ryan Giggs, given the pseudonym CTB, and defendants News Group Newspapers Limited and model Imogen Thomas.
On 14 April 2011, Mr Justice Eady granted fi ...
'' on the floor of the House of Commons
The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the Bicameralism, bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of ...
in 2011, said that the matter "isn't a secret any more" and urged judges to lift the injunction.
''The Sun on Sunday'' appealed the ban on publishing the name of PJS, and on 18 April 2016, the Court of Appeal ruled that the injunction should be lifted, as the allegations had been published widely both abroad and online. Lord Justice Jackson stated: "Much of the harm which the injunction was intended to prevent has already occurred.... The court should not make orders which are ineffective".
Supreme Court
PJS appealed the decision to lift the interim injunction to the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom
The Supreme Court of the United Kingdom (initialism: UKSC) is the final court of appeal for all civil cases in the United Kingdom and all criminal cases originating in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, as well as some limited criminal cases ...
. The court heard an appeal on 21 April 2016 and on 19 May 2016 delivered a judgment by a 4–1 margin that allowed the injunction to remain in force. Lord Mance
Jonathan Hugh Mance, Baron Mance, (born 6 June 1943) is a retired British judge who was formerly Deputy President of the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom.
Early life
Mance was born on 6 June 1943, (subscription required) one of four child ...
noted in his decision to uphold the injunction:
Lord Toulson
Roger Grenfell Toulson, Lord Toulson, Privy Council (United Kingdom), PC (23 September 1946 – 27 June 2017) was a British lawyer and judge who served as a Justice of the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom, Justice of the Supreme Court of the ...
issued a dissenting judgment, arguing that the details that the injunction was in place to protect had already been published widely on social media
Social media are interactive technologies that facilitate the Content creation, creation, information exchange, sharing and news aggregator, aggregation of Content (media), content (such as ideas, interests, and other forms of expression) amongs ...
.
High Court
On 4 November 2016, the case was settled by a Tomlin order issued in the High Court of Justice by Mr Justice Warby. News Group Newspapers
News Corp UK & Ireland Limited (trading as News UK, formerly News International and NI Group) is a British newspaper publisher, and a wholly owned subsidiary of the American mass media conglomerate News Corp. It is the current publisher of ...
was ordered to "pay a specified sum in full and final settlement of the claimant's claim for damages and costs of and occasioned by the action" and to give undertakings "not to use, disclose or publish certain information and to remove and not republish certain existing articles".
Significance
Following the Supreme Court decision, there were reports that some Twitter
Twitter, officially known as X since 2023, is an American microblogging and social networking service. It is one of the world's largest social media platforms and one of the most-visited websites. Users can share short text messages, image ...
users had received e-mails from the site's legal team asking them to remove tweets naming the couple in the "celebrity threesome" and pointing out that the site's rules require that users "comply with all local laws regarding their online conduct and acceptable content".
The legal commentator Joshua Rozenberg
Joshua Rufus Rozenberg Queen's Counsel#Queen's Counsel (honoris causa), KC (hon) (born 30 May 1950) is a British solicitor, English law, legal affairs commentator, and journalist.
Education and career
Joshua Rozenberg was educated at Latymer Up ...
compared the injunction in the case to the ''Spycatcher
''Spycatcher: The Candid Autobiography of a Senior Intelligence Officer'' (1987) is a memoir written by Peter Wright, former MI5 officer and assistant director, and co-author Paul Greengrass. Wright drew on his experiences and research into ...
'' affair of the 1980s by noting that "both cases raise the same question: at what point should the courts stop trying to preserve the confidentiality of information that is known to many but not to all?" Kathy English wrote in the ''Toronto Star
The ''Toronto Star'' is a Canadian English-language broadsheet daily newspaper. It is owned by Toronto Star Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary of Torstar Corporation and part of Torstar's Daily News Brands (Torstar), Daily News Brands division.
...
'', "I am not at all comfortable with the fact that defending principles of press freedom involves a legal battle to publish lurid details of anyone's alleged 'three-way sexual encounter'. But ... I do see public interest in the interesting questions this injunction raises about global press freedom and media law within the borderless internet and the lengths to which the super wealthy can and do go in Britain to use the courts to try to block embarrassing information in that country and beyond".
The case was the first time that the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom ruled on an issue related to privacy and the right to freedom of speech, and it was described as creating a '' de facto'' privacy law, which would make it difficult for British newspapers to publish future "kiss and tell" stories by virtue of placing privacy above the public's right to know. The media lawyer David Engel described the ruling as drawing a clear distinction between confidentiality and privacy by stating that the Court "has made the practical point that even where people may be able to find the information online, that is qualitatively different – in terms of the distress and damage caused to the victim – from having the story plastered across the front pages of the tabloids".
In June 2018, Lord Mance said in an interview after his retirement as Deputy President of the Supreme Court that there was "no point" in maintaining secret identities that had been published online or in the foreign media.
See also
*UK constitutional law
The United Kingdom constitutional law concerns the governance of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. With the oldest continuous political system on Earth, the British constitution is not contained in a single code but princ ...
*2011 British privacy injunctions controversy
The British privacy injunctions controversy began in early 2011, when London-based tabloid newspapers published stories about anonymous celebrities that were intended to flout what are commonly (but not formally) known in English law as super-in ...
*Super-injunctions in English law
In English tort law, a super-injunction is a type of injunction that prevents publication of information that is in issue and also prevents the reporting of the fact that the injunction exists at all. The term was coined by a '' Guardian'' journ ...
Notes
References
External links
Final Judgment Settling case
at bailii.org
Judgment to set aside injunction
{{Privacy injunctions in English law
United Kingdom constitutional case law
Human rights case law
English privacy case law
Supreme Court of the United Kingdom cases
United Kingdom free speech case law
The Sun (United Kingdom)
Censorship in the United Kingdom
Injunctions controversy
Privacy injunctions controversy
Twitter controversies
2016 in United Kingdom case law