Having successfully won a privacy battle at the Supreme Court in May, celebrity threesome couple PJS and YMA has dropped lawyers Carter-Ruck for fellow media boutique Schillings.
The couple is part of a series of court cases involving allegations that the celebrity, who is part of a high-profile couple with two children, had an extra-marital affair. It is understood Schillings partner Jenny Afia is leading for the couple.
Earlier this year, the public figure, who can only be named by the initials ‘PJS’, successfully appealed against a ruling lifting the ban on media in England and Wales from publishing their name. The Sun on Sunday argued it should be able to publish the story as the name had already been published elsewhere.
PJS asked the court to consider the issue after the Court of Appeal in April ruled the injunction should be lifted.
A decision handed down in May by Lord Neuberger, Lady Hale, Lord Mance, Lord Reed and Lord Toulson, four out of the five lords agreed that it was not in the public interest as neither of the couple held public office.
The injunction bans the media in England and Wales from naming the person except by initials. It will now remain in place until there is a full trial for breach of privacy.
5RB’s Desmond Browne QC was instructed by Carter-Ruck for the appellant while Matrix Chambers’ Gavin Millar QC was instructed by Simons Muirhead & Burton Solicitors for the lead respondent The Sun on Sunday.
The couple is now instructing Schillings, which specialises in reputation defence and represents high-profile and high net worth individuals as well as private and publicly listed businesses.
Carter-Ruck carries a reputation for reputation management of its own, and famous cases includes representing Commons Speaker’s wife Sally Bercow after she published a tweet about Tory peer Lord McAlpine, who was wrongly linked by BBC Newsnight to a child sex abuse case at Bryn Estyn children’s home in the 1970s and 80s.
sarah.downey@legalease.co.uk
Read more about the media law landscape in: ‘Shock and Flaw – is Leveson workable?‘