Celebrity injunction: Supreme Court to rule if well-known man can be identified by tabloid

The Sun on Sunday wants to publish details of his alleged extra-marital affair

London's supreme court (Getty)

A celebrity will find out today whether a tabloid newspaper can publish details of his alleged “extramarital sexual activities” in a Supreme Court ruling.

Five Supreme Court justices will gather to deliver their verdict in London’s Supreme Court today after the man, identified in court rulings as PJS, asked them to review his case after losing in the Court of Appeal.

PJS could be identified today if judges do not rule in his favour. The Sun on Sunday is asking justices to agree that the ban on identifying the man, who is described as well known and in the entertainment industry, should be lifted because he has been named by publications in the US and Scotland. The injunction is in place in England and Wales.

News Group Newspapers (NGN) won the first round of the legal battle in January when a High Court judge refused to impose an injunction. But then PJS challenged the decision and Court of Appeal judges ruled in his favour, concluding the couple’s young children would be the subject of intensified media scrutiny as a result of publishing the story.

The Sun on Sunday returned to court and asked for the gagging order to be lifted after the man and his spouse were identified in publications abroad. Lord Justice Jackson, Lady Justice King and Lord Justice Simon ruled in their favour, concluding that ”much of the harm which the injunction was intended to prevent has already occurred.” PJS then took his case to the Supreme Court and a temporary injunction was put in place until the decision is made.

Today’s decision could have wide-reaching consequences for the privacy battles relating to the press.

The verdict is being broadcast live on the Supreme Court’s website.