The publisher of the Daily Mail has won a legal battle at the European Court of Human Rights over the payment of “success fees” to lawyers representing people who have sued them.
In 2021 Associated Newspapers Limited (ANL) lodged a case with the Strasbourg court over costs it had to pay following two cases, one of which settled pre-trial.
ANL lawyers said it was “excessive and unfair” for a media organisation, having lost a case, to have to pay a “success fee” as part of the other side’s costs.
The court heard that these success fees can apply if the person bringing the case has a conditional fee agreement – commonly known as a no-win, no-fee agreement – with their lawyers.
One of these cases involved a Libyan man who was awarded £83,000 in damages after his details were published by MailOnline following his arrest in connection with the Manchester Arena terror attack.
Alaedeen Sicri, who was subsequently released without charge in the wake of the 2017 bombing, successfully sued ANL for breach of privacy after his name, image and other personal details were published.
ANL also paid £822,421.79 in Mr Sicri’s costs, including £245,775 plus VAT as the “success fee”.
Lawyers for the publisher told the ECHR that the use of the fees against media companies defending legal actions violated their right to freedom of expression and risked “discouraging the participation of the press in debates over matters of legitimate concern”.
The UK Government said ANL’s legal bid was “inadmissible”, claiming the publisher had failed to properly take its case through the domestic courts.
But on Tuesday a panel of seven judges ruled in favour of the newspaper group and found there had been a violation of ANL’s right to freedom of expression.
The ECHR judges said: “Although the court only awarded an uplift of 75% in respect of the success fee… the sum awarded was still ‘eye-watering’.”
They continued: “The foregoing considerations are sufficient for the court to conclude that the requirement that the applicant company pay costs to AS (Mr Sicri) which included success fees, was disproportionate having regard to the legitimate aims sought to be achieved and exceeded even the broad margin of appreciation accorded to the Government in respect of general measures pursuing social and economic interests.”
ANL also brought the case over “after the event” insurance premiums, but the panel of judges dismissed the publisher’s argument and said there had been no violation of ANL’s rights.
The Government was ordered to pay ANL 15,000 euros within three months.
The judges later said a decision on whether the Government should also pay just under £320,000 to ANL for the success fee paid to Mr Sicri will be made at a later date.