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  1. Media Law
April 20, 2016

Court of Appeal to hear case for continuing celebrity injunction on Thursday

By PA Mediapoint

A celebrity who wants to keep is name out of a tabloid newspaper story is preparing to take his fight to the Supreme Court.

The man lost the latest round of his legal battle on Monday when three Court of Appeal judges ruled that an injunction barring The Sun on Sunday from naming him should be lifted.

Now Supreme Court justices say they will analyse his case at a hearing in London on Thursday.

A Supreme Court spokeswoman said on Tuesday that justices would consider the case in two stages.

She said they would decide whether he should be given permission to mount a Supreme Court challenge then, if permission was granted, consider his lawyers' arguments for an injunction.

Appeal judges had said the injunction would stay in place in order to give the man time to make an application to the Supreme Court.

The Supreme Court spokeswoman said it would now remain at least until the conclusion of Thursday's Supreme Court hearing.

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"The Supreme Court will hear argument as to whether permission to appeal should be granted, and if it is granted, as to whether the appeal should be allowed or dismissed," the spokeswoman explained.

"The interim injunction granted by the Court of Appeal will remain in place until the conclusion of the Supreme Court hearing, and at the end of the hearing the Supreme Court will decide whether to continue that injunction."

Sun on Sunday editors want to publish an account of the man's alleged extra-marital activities.

But the man had argued that he had a privacy right and took legal action.

The newspaper won the first round in January when a High Court judge refused to impose an injunction barring publication.

But the man appealed – and two appeal court judges ruled in his favour.

Lord Justice Jackson and Lady Justice King imposed an injunction preventing the newspaper from identifying the man in an article.

Lawyers for News Group Newspapers, publishers of The Sun on Sunday, then asked three appeal judges to lift the ban after the man's identity emerged online.

They told Lord Justice Jackson, Lady Justice King and Lord Justice Simon at a Court of Appeal hearing in London on Friday that the ban should go because the man had been named in articles abroad – outside the legal jurisdiction of England and Wales – and his name could be found on the internet.

The man opposed the application and said the ban should stay.

Lord Justice Jackson, Lady Justice King and Lord Justice Simon ruled in the newspaper's favour.

The man has not been identified in court rulings.

Appeal judges referred to him as ''PJS''.

They said he was in the entertainment business. They said his spouse – referred to as YMA – was also well-known in the entertainment business. They said the couple had ''young'' children.

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