Hello! wins leave to appeal Douglas decision

Hello! magazine has been granted leave to appeal the case it lost in the summer against Michael Douglas and Catherine Zeta-Jones and OK! Magazine.

Mr Justice Lindsay yesterday (January 14) allowed Hello! to appeal the case, brought by the Douglases and OK! in 2000 after Hello! printed pictures of the celebrity couple’s wedding that had been promised to OK!

Hello! lost the case on confidentiality grounds. However the publication is appealing on the premise that it believes the Douglases, having agreed to their wedding pictures being published in OK!, could not claim confidentiality.

Having lost the High Court trial last year, Hello! was liable for £1m in damages it was ordered to pay to OK! magazine for ruining the wedding exclusive.

The Douglases are cross appealing because, while they were awarded £14,500 damages for breach of confidence, Mr Justice Lindsay ruled against another of their claims for invasion of privacy.