News: Supreme Court gives permission to appeal in Mirror phone hacking costs case

On 26 October 2016, the Supreme Court (Lords Mance, Reed and Toulson) gave Mirror Group Newspapers permission to appeal against a decision of Mann J on costs and CFAs.

News: UK Supreme Court holds that CFA regime is compatible with Human Rights Convention

The UK Supreme Court today handed down judgment in the case of Coventry v Lawrence ([2015] UKSC 50) [pdf]. By a majority of 5:2 the Court held that the conditional fee and after the event insurance regime brought in by the Access to Justice Act 1999 (“the AJA regime”) was compatible with the European Convention on Human Rights.

Media and Law Review of the Year, 2014: Part 1: The Cases – defamation, privacy and Google

The last year was, again, a relatively quiet one in the English media law courts, with the predicted flood of litigation seeking to work out the meaning of the newly in force Defamation Act 2013 failing to materialise and privacy activity continuing at a relatively low level.

Consultation on Costs protection in defamation and privacy claims, consultation closes tomorrow

Our readers are reminded that the Government’s consultation on Costs Protection in defamation and privacy claims closes tomorrow, 8 November 2013.  Under the proposals, the present costs regime for these cases – involved “Conditional Fee Agreements” and recoverable After the Event insurance premiums – will be abolished and replaced by “qualified one way costs shifting” (QOCS).

CFAs in Media Cases: reasons to be cheerful? – Steven Heffer

Is it possible that the government has at last taken on board the concerns expressed by the Law Society, Bar Council, Lawyers for Media Standards and many others made in numerous papers and articles about proposed reforms over the past two years, despite having pushed through the LASPO Act without amendment?