Various Claimants v Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority [2021] EWHC 2020 (QB)
Background
The Claimants brought a claim against the Defendant for misuse of private information, breach of confidence and breach of the Data Protection Act 2018.
The question before the Court was whether the Claimants should be granted anonymity and permitted to issue the claim form withholding their names and addresses. Under the CPR, the default position is that a claim form must provide the Claimant’s full name and address. A Claimant can, however, make an application to the Court to dispense with this and instead permit him to be anonymised. This is what happened in this case.
Within their application, the Claimants expressed concerns that as MPs, if their names and addresses were in the public domain, this may create a personal safety risk.
What was decided?
The Claimants’ application was refused. The Court did not accept that the reasons given by the Claimants were sufficient to deviate from the principle of open justice. Ultimately, the Court did not feel that the Claimants had provided clear evidence that the inclusion of their names and addresses on the claim form would expose them to any threat of harm.
The Court reaffirmed that when deciding whether to grant anonymity they should consider whether it is necessary to maintain the proper administration of justice or to protect the legitimate interests of the Claimants.
Rather interestingly, in this case, the Court concluded that there were less intrusive methods that could be adopted in the circumstances, which would protect the legitimate interests of the Claimants without having to deviate from the open justice principle. Rather than grant anonymity, in this case, the Court granted an order restricting access by non-parties to the documents on the Court file that contained confidential and private information.
Comment
This case acts as a reminder that the Court will only deviate from the principle of open justice in very limited circumstances. Wherever possible they will instead try to use alternative methods to protect the interests of a party.
How can Nelsons help?
Ruby Ashby is an Associate in our expert Dispute Resolution team.
Should you be affected by any of the topics discussed in this article, please do not hesitate to contact Ruby or another member of the team in Derby, Leicester or Nottingham on 0800 024 1976 or via our online enquiry form.