‘The English High Court has refused to give access to court documents on the basis that doing so would not advance the principles of open justice.’
OUT-LAW.com, 28th July 2020
Source: www.pinsentmasons.com
‘On 18 March 2020, the UK Government cancelled GCSE and A level exams for students in England. The closure of schools and the need to slow the spread of COVID-19 made exams impracticable. But the Prime Minister confirmed that students would still get ‘the qualifications they need and deserve for their academic career.’ This created an obvious headache for public administration: the objective was to create a legitimate system of assessment, which could maintain confidence, without actual assessments.’
UK Constitutional Law Association, 28th July 2020
Source: ukconstitutionallaw.org
‘The parents of a young man whose death in a crash sparked an international diplomatic row have dropped their legal action against Northamptonshire Police.’
BBC News, 26th July 2020
Source: www.bbc.co.uk
‘Lawyers acting for whistleblowers have told MPs and peers that they can feel intimidated to raise concerns over non-disclosure agreements (NDAs) because of the threat of retaliation.’
Legal Futures, 23rd July 2020
Source: www.legalfutures.co.uk
‘Minicab drivers will launch a legal bid to uncover secret computer algorithms used by Uber to manage their work in a test case that could increase transparency for millions of gig economy workers across Europe.’
The Guardian, 20th July 2020
Source: www.theguardian.com
‘Fewer than one in 70 recorded rapes resulted in a charge last year, as tens of thousands of victims did not support demands from police and prosecutors and withdrew from the process.’
The Guardian, 17th July 2020
Source: www.theguardian.com
‘The group whose bid to access a bundle from litigation involving an asbestos manufacturer led to a Supreme Court ruling on open justice has failed in its application for the documents.’
Litigation Futures, 16th July 2020
Source: www.litigationfutures.com
‘You are the witness to or the victim of a crime. The police officer says that they need you to hand over your mobile phone. The officer says it will be examined and all of the contents may be downloaded. The officer cannot say when you will get your phone back. There is a long backlog of phones waiting to be downloaded, it could be a couple of months. It’s your phone, you really rely upon it. Like most people, your average screen time has rocketed during lockdown. There is so much detailed and very personal information on that phone. You ask the officer, ‘Do you really need to take my phone?’ You are very reluctant to hand it over. The officer says, if you do not hand it over the case probably will not go any further. Discussions like this take place every day across the United Kingdom.’
Broadway House Chambers, 29th June 2020
Source: broadwayhouse.co.uk
‘In R (Reprieve & Ors) v Prime Minister [2020] EWHC 1695 (Admin), the High Court made a preliminary ruling that Article 6(1) of the ECHR does not apply to the forthcoming judicial review of the Government’s decision not to establish a public inquiry into allegations that the UK intelligence services were involved in the torture, mistreatment and rendition of detainees in the aftermath of 9/11. It was further held that the claimants are not entitled to the level of disclosure of open material outlined in SSHD v AF (No 3) [2009].’
UK Human Rights Blog, 9th July 2020
Source: ukhumanrightsblog.com
‘In R (Dunn) v The Foreign Secretary and the Chief Constable of Northamptonshire [2020] EWHC 1620 (Admin) the Divisional Court dismissed two applications made in anticipation of the forthcoming rolled up judicial review arising out of the death of Harry Dunn.’
UK Human Rights Blog, 6th July 2020
Source: ukhumanrightsblog.com
‘Johnny Depp has failed to stop his ex-wife Amber Heard from watching him give evidence in a libel case over allegations of domestic abuse.’
The Guardian, 4th July 2020
Source: www.theguardian.com
‘Johnny Depp has breached an order in a libel case by failing to disclose texts that apparently show him trying to obtain drugs, the high court has ruled.’
The Guardian, 29th June 2020
Source: www.theguardian.com
‘Two otherwise unrelated cases were listed together to provide the Court of Appeal (Criminal Division), headed by the Vice – President Lord Justice Fulford, with an opportunity to consider various issues relating to the retention, inspection, copying, disclosure and deletion of the electronic records held by prosecution witnesses.’
Park Square Barristers, 26th June 2020
Source: www.parksquarebarristers.co.uk
‘In QX v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2020], the UK High Court reached a landmark preliminary decision that ECHR Article 6 applies to the judicial review of obligations imposed under a Temporary Exclusion Order (TEO). The Court further held that the claimant is entitled to the level of disclosure outlined in SSHD v AF (No 3) [2009]. This judgement sets a welcome precedent for applying Article 6 to closed material proceedings under the Counter-Terrorism and Security Act 2015. It is also consistent with the procedural protections applied to the former regime for control orders, now succeeded by TPIM notices. The reasons given for applying the AF (No 3) standard of disclosure, however, demonstrate the persistence of a limited and discretionary approach to disclosure obligations in national security litigation.’
Oxford Human Rights Hub, 4th June 2020
Source: ohrh.law.ox.ac.uk
‘One month window to challenge convictions in England and Wales means women who have experienced trauma are unfairly criminalised, campaigners say.’
The Guardian, 17th June 2020
Source: www.theguardian.com
‘ It is received wisdom, oft-repeated in judgments and textbooks alike, that the judicial review procedure is not an apt forum for the testing of evidence and resolution of disputed questions of fact. For example, it is commonly stated that disclosure and oral evidence will only be ordered rarely, while one would be lucky to find ‘expert evidence’ mentioned in an administrative law text. In contrast disclosure, oral evidence and expert evidence are par for the course in ‘ordinary’ civil proceedings.’
UK Constitutional Law Association, 15th June 2020
Source: ukconstitutionallaw.org
‘In Carillion v KPMG, the liquidators of this once substantial company sought pre-action disclosure from its former auditors. They intend to bring professional negligence proceedings for not detecting that the financial statements were unreliable. The Commercial Court refused the application. One might think that given auditors’ negligence claims in large part turn on professional judgment as to the audit procedures performed, the evidence obtained and the conclusions drawn, clear sight of the materials produced and relied on by the auditors would enable better focussed pleadings. Nonetheless the Commercial Court refused the application (which had admittedly spun into a substantial hearing with apparently more than £500,000 costs on each side). It pointed out that generally such applications were unlikely to succeed in Commercial Court cases and on the facts was not appropriate. The Judge seems to have been most impressed by the fact that Carillion had been able to articulate a detailed case in negligence already, rendering pre-action disclosure perhaps redundant and likely to be duplicated when it came to conventional disclosure.’
Hailsham Chambers, June 2020
Source: www.hailshamchambers.com
‘The Post Office prosecuted postmasters over missing money despite having evidence its own computer system could be to blame.’
BBC News, 8th June 2020
Source: www.bbc.co.uk
‘Jeremy Bamber, who is serving a whole life sentence for one of Britain’s most notorious multiple murders, has been refused access to documents that he believes could help clear his name.’
The Guardian, 5th June 2020
Source: www.theguardian.com
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