News

Siobhain McDonagh MP

The Statement in Open Court in the action of Siobhain McDonagh MP v Newsgroup Newspapers Limited, as read in Court on 18 March 2013, can be seen here.

Mark Thomson - Top 100 Lawyer

We are pleased to announce that Mark Thomson has been recognised as a leader in the litigation category in the current Lawyer Top 100. See link for details.

Telephone Hacking

Atkins Thomson has settled numerous hacking cases including: Hugh Grant, Jamie Theakston,June Sarpong, Jeff Brazier, Colin Stagg, Gary Hersham, Ciona Johnson-King, Major David Brooks, Eimear Cook, Margaret Atkinson, Hilary Perrin, Edward Hynds and Merul Shayur Mehta.

Tinglan Hong

Atkins Thomson is acting for Tinglan Hong in an action agaisnt the Daily Mail. See The Guardian article here.

Andrew Mitchell MP

Graham Atkins has been working with the Rt Hon Andrew Mitchell MP in respect of all media and police issues since his resignation.

Mobile Telephone Voicemail Interception Litigation (“Phone Hacking”) – Note to Editors

At the Case Management Conference on 25 September 2012, it was announced that there were 155 Claimants that had issued proceedings against Newsgroup Newspapers Limited for phone hacking. At the hearing, Mr Justice Vos extended the deadline to issue proceedings and join the Second Tranche of the litigation until 12 October 2012.

Atkins Thomson are the Lead Solicitors for the Claimants and are required to keep a list of all the claims which have been issued. This can be seen here.

Tinglan Hong

An Order has today been issued setting out that the High Court has accepted permanent undertakings from Splash news agency and one of their photographers not to door step, pursue or harass Tinglan Hong or her child with paparazzi photography or place either of them under surveillance or approach within 100 metres of their home. The other parts of the claim were resolved by a confidential settlement which was approved by Mr Justice Tugendhat.

The injunction and the proceedings continue against other as yet unnamed photographers (who were also responsible for taking photographs of Tinglan Hong and her child outside their home and in the street during November 2011) in the same form as granted by Mr Justice Tugendhat on 12 July 2012.

Below is an important announcement regarding the litigation following a court hearing on 1 June 2012.

Voicemail Interception Litigation – Various Claimants v NGN & Glenn Mulcaire

The fourth Case Management Conference ("CMC") in the Second Tranche of claims in the voicemail interception litigation against NGN took place in the High Court before Mr Justice Vos on Friday 1 June 2012.

Friday’s CMC mainly concerned the frame-work for potential Claimants (who have only recently been notified by the police) wishing to join the Second Tranche of claims in the group litigation and directions for those claimants with issued claims in the Second Tranche, the trial of which is listed for March 2013. The First Tranche of hacking claims against NGN were concluded in February 2012 and there are now 50 new claims on foot against NGN in the Second Tranche. It is expected that there will a third smaller tranche of claims after the trial in March 2013.

The first point to be made clear is that the voicemail interception litigation managed by Mr Justice Vos does not now just include complaints concerning the accessing of voicemails but also other claims including accessing electronic information held on computers and/or any activities related to the accessing of mobile telephone voicemails or electronic information. The second important point is that litigation includes claims against both the News Of The World and the Sun; both titles published by News Group Newspapers Limited.  

On Friday 1 June 2012 Mr Justice Vos made various directions and orders throughout the CMC, the most important of which are summarised below:

1. New Claimants who wish to join the group register of claims and become part of the group litigation will not be added to the group register after 24 August 2012. Therefore, any claimant wishing to do so must serve claimant-specific Particulars on or before that date, supplementing the generic Particulars already served. In short any new claimants must get a move on and progress their claims now if they wish to achieve the 24 August 2012 cut off date and take part in the second tranche trial.
   
   
2. New Claimants should use the recognised disclosure procedures to get police documents relating to the claimants when taking steps to formulate their claims. (These procedures include the Norwich Pharmacal application; the new special procedure that has been devised and approved by the court on 27 February 2012 for named individuals who have not yet issued proceedings; and standard third party disclosure after proceedings have been issued).
   
   
3. Vos J stated, again, that potential new claimants should instruct one of the firms of solicitors who have gained experience in the voicemail interception litigation in the first tranche in order to help keep costs down. Mr Justice Vos said that new claimants must not instruct new firms without exceptional reason.
   
   
4. Mr Justice Vos ordered that NGN preserve new evidence including the iphones of two senior senior executives at NGN and their e-mail contents and provide the results of their investigations into this evidence in the next CMC.
   
   
5. Finally Mr Justice Vos discussed the costs budgets of both sides in order to limit the costs of the litigation; he approved the same rates for lawyers for the Claimants as for the Defendants, Newsgroup Newspapers Limited, who are now represented by Linklaters.

The disclosure process is complicated owing to the overlap with the police investigations and all claimants, ( including potential claimants under the special disclosure procedure) must provide undertakings to the Court and are obliged to share disclosure ( redacted where necessary) in accordance with Orders from the First Tranche of hacking litigation. Issued Claimants ( but not potential Claimants under the special procedure ) are also entitled to use the previous generic disclosure and generic pleadings and are subject to additional undertakings and costs sharing arrangements. 

The next CMC in the Second Tranche of voicemail interception litigation will take place on Friday 22 June 2012 in the High Court, with a further CMC listed for 27 July 2012.  

The trial of the Second Tranche of voicemail interception claims is expected to take place in March 2013. The Claimants’ lead solicitors are Atkins Thomson.

We are representing Brian Belo, Sassy Films and Massive Television in their claim with regard to The Only Way is Essex against Lime Pictures and ITV PLC. Click the links below to see general press reports on the case. Note some articles contain press speculation and are not totally accurate.

The Financial Times (registration required)
The Guardian
Daily Mirror
The Sun
The Daily Star
Metro
The Lawyer

Cherie Blair

Statement from Graham Atkins:

“I can confirm that we have issued a claim on behalf of Cherie Blair in relation to the unlawful interception of her voicemails. I will not be commenting any further at this time”.

News of the World Telephone Hacking

Simon Hughes has settled his claim for telephone hacking by News of the World journalists. Click here to see his Statement in Open Court

Simon also released a statement, which can be seen here.

News of the World Telephone Hacking

Following settlement of their cases Mark Thomson read out Statements in Open Court for the following victims of telephone hacking by News of the World journalists (click on the name to read the relevant statement):

• Jude Law
• Gavin Henson
• Sadie Frost
• Ben Jackson
• Joan Hammell
• Ciara Parkes
• Guy Pelly
• Lisa Gower

Jude Law also released a statement, which can be seen here.

Paparazzi Injunction Statement

I can confirm on behalf of my clients, Tinglan Hong and Hugh Grant, that, following persistent harassment by paparazzi photographers, Mr Justice Tugendhat today granted an injunction preventing paparazzi photographers from attending near Tinglan’s home, following, pursuing, door stepping, harassing and/or photographing Tinglan and their baby daughter.

statement by Mark Thomson
Partner and Solicitor Advocate

See the Judgment here.

Kelly Hoppen

Kelly Hoppen wins her telephone hacking claim against News of the World. See the Statement in Open Court here.

Sally Morgan

Sally Morgan instructs Atkins Thomson to commence libel action in relation various articles in the press.

Cherie Blair

The Daily Mail apologises to Cherie Blair for inaccurate statement regarding her marraige to Tony Blair.

See the apology here.

Paolo and Guelfo Marcucci, owners of the Marcucci Group of companies, have won a libel action against the BBC for suggestions made in its Panorama programme “The Price of Blood” that they had sold infected blood products.

In a Statement in Open Court (copy attached), read this morning by Graham Atkins, the BBC accepted these allegations were untrue and apologised to the Marcuccis.

See the Statement in Open Court here

Hugh Grant and Jemima Khan have obtained a Court Order requiring the Metropolitan Police to dislcose information relating to the alleged hacking of their voicemail messages. This has been done to discover whether the information was used in articles by the News of the World and other newspapers.

See the Guardian's report here

Hugh Grant and Jemima Khan
We confirm that on Thursday 14th July, we  issued an application on behalf of Hugh Grant and Jemima Khan for  the Metropolitan Police to disclose  some documents seized by the police in 2006 that refer to our clients. Contrary to some press reports we are not suing the police. 

We have no further statement to make about this application.

Sienna Miller
Sienna Miller obtains judgment against the News of the World for telephone message interception. See the Statement in Open Court here.

Reports of the judgment include The New York Times, The Independent and The Financial Times.

Mark Thomson has been instructed by Naomi Campbell to resolve her complaint against Cadbury/Kraft Foods regarding a recent advertising campaign.

Press Statement on Sienna Miller from Mark Thomson

We want to make it clear that Sienna Miller's claims against the "News of the World" have not been settled. She has not accepted any offer of settlement, the News of World has not submitted to judgment in her claim and the action is continuing.

"Sienna's claims are based on outrageous violations of her privacy; her voice mails were persistently hacked and the information obtained was used to publish numerous intrusive articles over a period of a year. She is awaiting information and disclosure from the News of the World which has been ordered by the court and will consider her next steps once this is provided. Her primary concern is to discover the whole truth and for all those responsible to be held to account"

Lily Allen wins privacy and copyright claim against Mail Online

Lily Allen has this week won her privacy and copyright action against Associated Newspapers for publishing photographs of her house and her address. The Consent Order was approved by the High Court on Monday and terms included damages, contractual undertakings, her legal costs and an acknowledgment by Associated that Lily now owns the copyright of the photographs of her house. The amount of damages and other terms are confidential. The terms of the open part of the Tomlin Order can be seen here.  

Mark Thomson and Nicola McCann acted for Lily Allen.

Kelly Hoppen MBE

On 17 February 2011, Kelly Hoppen applied to the High Court for disclosure of various documents from the Police and the News Of The World. Mr Justice Eady ordered the Metropolitan Police to disclose a number of documents  including four documents which refer to Ms Hoppen by name, and which the Police have had in their possession since their 2006 investigations into Glenn Mulcaire and the News of the World.

In the same proceedings Mr Justice Eady  also ordered Dan Evans, a News of the World journalist, and NISCO, a News International Supply Company Limited , to disclose Mr Evan’s internet history records to Ms Hoppen and to take part in a joint inspection of Mr. Evan’s home and work computers. The proceedings against Dan Evans and Nisco are continuing.

See our previous news item on this case posted on 27 January 2011.

Kelly Hoppen Statement

“We have recently been approached by a number of journalists who have questions about the court action taken by our client Kelly Hoppen, the interior designer.

We  can confirm that we act for Kelly Hoppen who started legal proceedings in March of last year 2010.  

On 17th March 2010  Mr Justice Eady granted various orders including a disclosure order against a mobile telephone provider. The Judge approved a short summary of the reasons for the orders as attached. Following the disclosure by the telephone provider,  on 23rd  July 2010 , pursuant to another order of Mr Justice Eady  the defendants have been named as Dan Evans, a journalist  and News International Supply Company Limited, who are defending the action.  The action continues.”

Read approved summary of hearing here

Atkins Thomson are acting for Sienna Miller in her action against the News of the World and Glen Mulcaire

Atkins Thomson have been instructed by Nadine Coyle

Atkins Thomson are acting for Rachel Weisz

Mark Thomson has an article on the reporting of Joanna Yeates's murder published in The Guardian

See the article here

Jude Law wins damages against Oops! in French privacy action.

The judgment (in French) can be seen here.

Atkins Thomson issues legal proceedings on behalf of Lily Allen against Associated Newspapers Limited for copyright infringement and breach of confidence. This action is in relation to an article published in the Mail Online on 14 September 2010.

Mark Thomson writes about recent case involving Howard Doanld from Take That on Inforrm website

See the article here.

WPP secures correction against American publication Advertising Age

Following a complaint from Atkins Thomson on behalf of WPP to the publication Advertising Age, in respect of an online article published on 18 October 2010 entitled “Dentsu exits talks to acquire AKQA”, Advertising Age have now published the following correction:

“CORRECTION: An earlier version of this story inaccurately stated that WPP is currently considering the acquisition of AKQA. WPP has pointed out and we accept that WPP are not currently considering making a bid to acquire AKQA. We regret any misunderstanding caused by this error.”

The online correction is linked here. WPP were represented by Mark Thomson.

Lily Allen Statement in Open Court

A Statement in Open Court was today read out before Mister Justice Eady on behalf of Lily Allen. The statement related to her action against SoPress, publisher of the French magazine SoFoot.

A copy of the Statement in Open Court can be seen here.

WPP wins apology from Campaign.

Following a complaint from Atkins Thomson on behalf of WPP to the magazine Campaign in respect of an article published last week , Campaign have now published the following correction and apology:

"WPP has asked us to point out and we accept that, although it has had discussions with AKQA in the past, it is not currently considering a bid for it (Campaign, 24 September), and has no immediate plans to We wish to reiterate that WPP had denied any interest in making a bid as at the date of publication and Campaign is happy to make WPP's position clear and unreservedly apologises for any misunderstanding."

The online apology is linked here. WPP were represented by Mark Thomson.

Legal 500 rank Atkins Thomson in Defamation and Privacy.

The Legal Directory says of Atkins Thomson's specialist Defamation and Privacy practice:  

“The firm has earned a strong and loyal following among show business celebrities, whom it handles with ‘calm authority’, ‘balance’ and ‘insight’. The firm’s activity in this sector is demonstrated by an impressive flow of statements in open court for clients as varied as Cherie Blair, Michael Jackson, Lily Allen and Sir Michael Parkinson."

See the full entry here.

Gemma Arterton secures damages (and costs) for her privacy complaints, against the Daily Mail, The Daily Star and The Mirror.

Keeley Hawes instructs Atkins Thomson on various matters

Alan Donnelly secures an apology for an article published on pitpass.com. See the apology here.

Jude Law - Injunction

Mark Thomson has released the following statement:

“As has already been reported last week, my client Jude Law issued proceedings against Blake Publishing and Sadie Frost, as he was concerned about certain passages in Ms Frost's forthcoming autobiography as well as the proposed publication of photographs of his children.

The parties have now agreed terms and today a permanent injunction by consent was granted by Mr Justice Tugendhat in the High Court.

Mr Law is pleased that the parties have been able to resolve this speedily; he has been able to protect his and his children's privacy and Ms Frost is able to proceed with her latest project." 

Sir Martin Sorrell and WPP

Sir Martin Sorrell and WPP have today secured an apology in the Economic Times of India in respect of an article published in the Economic Times on 21st April of this year arising out of an interview with Richard Pinder CEO of Publicis Conseil.

The Economic Times have published the letter of apology from Richard Pinder and have also apologised themselves  in the following terms:

“In the light of Mr. Pinder's letter published above, we agree that any possible interpretation that statements made by Mr. Pinder in our article dated 21st April 2010, suggest that Sir Martin Sorrell and WPP publicly announced the firing of specified employees before notifying the individuals concerned to ensure Sir Martin's bonus, is not correct or intended.  We apologise for any distress caused to Sir Martin Sorrell and WPP for having published remarks from Pinder."

The full letter and apology is linked here.

WPP and Sir Martin are represented by Mark Thomson and Nicola McCann of Atkins Thomson.

OK! apologises to Sienna Miller following publication of a purported interview. The magazine also agreed to pay her damages and legal fees. See the apology here

Jude Law settles privacy complaint against Hello! Magazine.

In January, the magazine published photographs of Jude Law with his children on a beach in the Caribbean. 

Following negotiations Hello! agreed not to re-publish the photographs complained of, nor any photographs of Jude Law in circumstances in which he has a reasonable expectation of privacy.

Hello! have also agreed not to publish any photographs of Jude Law together with his children (until they reach the age of eighteen) photographed in circumstances in which they have a reasonable expectation of privacy; including (without limitation) in the following specific situations; at public or private beaches, private sporting events/activities, school events, at or near school or at public or private parks. 

Hello! magazine have also agreed to pay Mr Law damages of £9,500 and his legal costs in this matter.

See The Guardian report here

Nancy Jones, Keith Floyd's eldest daughter, obtains an apology from The Sun, following successful settlement of her legal claim. The newspaper has also agreed to pay substantial damages and her legal fees. The apology can be seen here.

Atkins Thomson instructed by Jude Law on various matters.

Ed Buxton wins his libel action against Now magazine.In settlement Now has apologised and agreed to pay damages and legal costs. The apology can be seen here.

This is in addition to successful claims against The Sunday Mirror, the Daily Mail and The Sun.

Martyn Smith settles his libel claim against the Press Association in respect of an article it released on 21 December 2009. Martyn accepts damages of £50,000 and his legal fees. The Press Association has already released an apology. Download the Statement in Open Court setting out the details here. See the Guardian’s report of the settlement here.

Atkins Thomson issues proceedings in the High Court, on behalf of Cherie Blair, against Associated Newspapers Ltd. The claim is for libel in respect of an article published in The Daily Mail on 26 November 2009 entitled “Outrage as Mandy goes on a country shoot with Gaddafi son (And, surprise, Cherie came too)”.

Ed Buxton settles his libel claim against the Daily Mail in respect of an article published on 18 July 2009. Associated Newspapers are paying Ed damages and his legal costs and have published an apology. The apology can be seen here.

Dragon's Den producer Martyn Smith has obtained immediate apologies from a number of newspapers in relation to defamatory articles appearing throughout the press and internet wrongly identifying him as having been found guilty of downloading child pornography.

The defamatory statement originally came about from an incorrect press release from the Press Association. Newspapers that have apologised include The Mirror, The Times, The Telegraph, Daily Mail and the Press Association. See the Telegraph's report of the Press Association's apology here.

Mark Thomson and Nicola McCann have their article "Harassment and the Media" published in The Journal of Media Law, Volume 1 Issue 2, 2009 (Published by Hart Publishing).

In the article they consider the application and impact of the Protection from Harassment Act 1997 (“the Act”) and analyse the extent that the Act can be used by individuals to protect their right to respect for a private life. They also consider aspects of prepublication harassment by the media, photographs of private events and whether, and to what extent, the Act fills the remaining gaps in the patch-work system of remedies for the redress of infringements of the right to a private life..  

Following settlement of Lily Allen’s claim against The Sun (see 23 September) Mark Thomson reads the Statement in Open Court on her behalf. Download the Statement here.

Atkins Thomson obtain a correction for WPP from Reuters following erroneous report of an interview with its Chairman Sir Martin Sorrell. See the correction here.

Instruction received from Scottish businessman and BBC “Dragon”, Duncan Bannatyne, in relation to various ongoing media matters.

Mr Bannatyne is represented by Mark Thomson

January 2009