Resumen de United Kingdom: : Court of Appeal upholds damages awards in phone-hacking cases
The Court of Appeal determined Mr Justice Mann’s damages awards in the High Court judgment of Gulati and Others v MGN Limited for invasion of privacy, including phone hacking, were justifiable and reasonable (see IRIS 2015-7/18). The defendant newspaper proprietor, MGN Limited (MGN) appealed to the Court of Appeal on four grounds arguing the awarded damages were excessive. MGN’s grounds for appeal were as follows: (a) the award should have been limited to damages for distress; (b) the awards were disproportionate when compared with personal injury awards (general damages); (c) the awards were disproportionate when compared with the less generous approach adopted by the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR); and (d) the awards involved double counting.
