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19 February 2016 / Alex Cochrane , Patrick Wheeler
Issue: 7687 / Categories: Features , Profession , Damages
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Tip of the iceberg

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The phone hacking trials have redefined privacy damages, note Patrick Wheeler & Alex Cochrane

On 17 December 2015, the Court of Appeal handed down judgment in a group of cases known as Gulati & ors v MGN Limited [2015] EWCA Civ 1291, [2015] All ER (D) 193 (Dec). The claims alleged serious breaches of privacy arising from stories that were published based on information gleaned from unlawfully intercepted private phone messages. The court dismissed MGN’s appeal in full and upheld the judgment of Mr Justice Mann which had formulated a methodology for quantifying damages awards in privacy claims. This marks a significant departure from the previous received wisdom on the assessment of privacy damages.

Before Gulati

Pre-Gulati, it was widely understood by practitioners that the upper tariff for damages awards for privacy claims was set by the case of Mosley v News Group Newspapers [2008] EWHC 1777 (QB), [2008] All ER (D) 322 (Jul). In 2008, Mr Mosley was awarded £60,000 damages in respect of a very serious

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