The applicant, a professional footballer, sought an injunction to prevent the defendant newspaper and the woman second defendant from publishing or disclosing details of a sexual relationship between them. He succeeded. There was no public interest in the disclosure of such material, and the law of confidentiality could apply to the facts of the existence of and details of sexual activity between private individuals, even in the absence of an explicit agreement to that effect. A balance had to be found between the rights of individuals, and the rights of the press of freedom of expression. In this case the likelihood was that the claimant would succeed at trial. The three requirements appeared to have been met, namely that the information had the necessary quality of confidence, it had been imparted in circumstances importing an obligation of confidence, and there was an unauthorised use of the information. The interlocutory injunction was granted.
Judges:
Jack J
Citations:
Gazette 25-Oct-2001, Times 02-Nov-2001
Citing:
Applied – Coco v A N Clark (Engineers) Ltd ChD 1968
Requirememts to prove breach of confidence
A claim was made for breach of confidence in respect of technical information whose value was commercial.
Held: Megarry J set out three elements which will normally be required if, apart from contract, a case of breach of confidence is to . .
Cited by:
Appeal from – A v B plc and Another (Flitcroft v MGN Ltd) CA 11-Mar-2002
A newspaper company appealed against an order preventing it naming a footballer who, they claimed, had been unfaithful to his wife.
Held: There remains a distinction between the right of privacy which attaches to sexual activities within and . .
Cited – X and Y v Persons Unknown QBD 8-Nov-2006
The claimants sought an injunction against unknown persons who were said to have divulged confidential matters to newspapers. The order had been served on newspapers who now complained that the order was too uncertain to allow them to know how to . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Media, Human Rights
Updated: 28 April 2022; Ref: scu.166697