Article by Julian Pike, Henry Sainty, Benjamin Beabey
Introduction
Recently, the Court of Appeal handed down a vitally important judgment1 for the media following the appeal by MGN Limited, publishers of The Mirror, against Mr Justice Morland's decision that the paper had breached Naomi Campbell's confidentiality/privacy and her rights under the Data Protection Act 1998 ("the Act"). The potential impact of Morland J's decision was discussed in an earlier paper2 produced by this firm in May of this year. The effect of the Court of Appeal's decision is to have turned back a tide that threatened to engulf the media, particularly in relation to Data Protection.
The appeal
MGN appealed on liability in respect of both causes of action and the award of additional damages. The essential facts of the case were that Miss Campbell was an international model who courted publicity rather than shunned it; she had gone out of her way to claim that, unlike many models, she did not take drugs - on
