Depp v NGN update: as you know, the High Court judge who found against Johnny Depp after the recent Depp v NGN libel trial refused him an opportunity to appeal the judgment at the High Court, on the basis the appeal had no “reasonable prospect of success.”...

…. This opened the door to Mr Depp appealing directly to the Court of Appeal. He has done so...

… I am trying to find out the process for applying to the Court to see (if I am allowed) the Grounds of Appeal which he would have filed to trigger the application….

… The Grounds normally come with a Skeleton Argument which may have been filed alongside the Grounds or may be filed later.

Once both have been filed there will be a Response to the Grounds and Skeleton filed by NGN...

… This is unlikely to be a quick process and it is not certain any of the above documents will be released to non-parties before any hearing...

… It is also possible there won’t be a hearing and the sole judge who decides whether or not to allow the appeal will decide on the written arguments...

… In November last year, I attended a Court of Appeal hearing in front of Lord Justice Coulson as he heard oral arguments as to whether the Post Office could appeal the Bates v Post Office first trial judgment. This was unusual, but…

… Coulson stated in that hearing “I thought in the round it was in the interests of justice to deal with the permission application orally”.

That may have been an oblique acknowledgment of the public interest in the case, or its complexity...

… There is certainly a lot of public interest in Depp v NGN, but whether than is enough reason to hold an oral hearing on the application to appeal, I don’t know….

… If there is to be an hearing, it will happen next year, and the judgment - or more accurately, the Reasons (to accept the application or refuse it) - will follow days or weeks after that.

Here endeth the thread.