ABC, BCD, CDE and DEF -v- London Borough of Croydon (anonymity)
Claim No.: QB-2020-004647
In the High Court of Justice, Queen’s Bench Division
23 December 2020
Before:
Master Dagnall
Between:
ABC
BCD
CDE (by their litigation friend BCD)
DEF (by their litigation friend BCD)
-v-
London Borough of Croydon
ORDER
UPON the Application of the Claimants (“the Application”) made by Notice of Application dated 23 December 2020 for an anonymity order AND without a Hearing or Notice of the Application having been served upon the Defendant
AND UPON consideration of the Claimants’ Article 8 right to respect for private and family life and the Article 10 right to freedom of expression
AND UPON Court considering the Notice of Application and the evidence in support and the accompanying draft order sought by it AND THAT:
1. The Application may attract media attention and publicity.
2. The Application is being brought by the Claimants, and who include children, and relate to the alleged consequences of the Claimant’s and the Litigation Friend’s details and data having been disclosed and alleged harm caused thereby.
3. Publicity revealing the identity or address/location of any Claimant (or the Litigation Friend) could unfairly damage the interest of the Claimant and their family and give rise to serious harm to the Claimant or their family.
4. Publicity revealing the identity or address/location of the Litigation Friend (or any Claimants) could unfairly damage the interest of the Litigation Friend and their family and give rise to serious harm to the Litigation Friend or their family.
5. Sitting in private is necessary to secure the proper administration of justice and including because publicity would defeat the object of the Application and of this Order and lead to the above harm.
6. Non-disclosure of the identity of and anonymity of the Claimants and of the Litigation Friend and of the Claimant’s and of the Litigation Friend’s address/location is necessary in order to protect the interests of the Claimants and of the Litigation Friend, and to secure the proper administration of justice
AND pursuant to the section 11 Contempt of Court Act 1981, Civil Procedure Rules 1998 rules 1.1, 1.2, 3.1, 3.10, 5.4 A-D and 39.2 and the inherent jurisdiction of the Court.
AND UPON the Court being satisfied that there is no public interest in disclosure that outweighs the need for anonymity
AND UPON the Court has determining that it would be proportionate to order that the Claimants and their Litigation Friend shall be referred to herein and for the purposes of the Application by initials as set out in the heading of this order save for the purposes of any necessary confidential communications between the parties’ legal advisors and/or the court.
AND UPON a copy of the court’s order being published on the website of the Judiciary of England and Wales (which may be found at www.judiciary.uk). Any person who is not a party to the proceedings may apply to set aside or vary the order.
IT IS ORDERED AND DIRECTED THAT:-
1. The identity and the address/location of the Claimants or of the Litigation Friend be not disclosed or published without the permission of the court (other than as required for the purposes of the carrying on of the Application and the Claim.
2. The Claimant be entitled to prosecute the Application and the Approval Claim with there being used in place of references to the Claimant and the Litigation Friend by name, and whether orally or in writing, reference to the sequence of characters, ABC, BCD, CDE and DEF (Claimants) and BCD (Litigation Friend) respectively; and the Claimants shall be described in all statements of case and other documents to be filed or served in the Application and the Claim and in any judgment or order in the proceedings and in any report of the proceedings by the press or otherwise as “ABC”, BCD”, “CDE” and “DEF” and the Litigation Friend as “BCD”.
3. The address of the Claimants and of the Litigation Friend be stated in all statements of case and (subject as provided below) in all other documents to be filed or served in the Application and in the Claim as the address of the Claimants’ solicitors.
4. That insofar as necessary, any statement of case or other document disclosing any of the Claimants or the Litigation Friend’s name or address already filed in the proceedings be replaced by a document describing such name or address in anonymised form as above (and in the meantime shall be kept confidential), and the Claimants’ solicitor shall have permission to file with the court such copies of such documents adjusted so as to comply therewith.
5. The original of any such statement of case or other document disclosing the name or address/location of any Claimant or the Litigation Friend (and in particular any Claim Form, or any statement of case, witness statement (or exhibit), judgment, Order or other document to which anyone might have access to pursuant to Rule 5.4A-D or otherwise at any time) are to be retained by the Court in a sealed envelope, marked “Not to be opened without the permission of a Judge or Master or District Judge of the Queen’s Bench Division”, or, if electronically filed or scanned, shall be placed on the court file and marked “confidential: not to be opened without the permission of a Master or High Court Judge”.
6. Any person not a party to this action may not inspect or obtain a copy of any document on or from the Court file (other than this order duly anonymised as directed) and whether pursuant to Part 5.4 A-D of the Civil Procedure Rules or otherwise, without the permission of a Judge or Master of the Queen’s Bench Division. Any application for such permission must be made on notice to the Claimants and the Court will effect service. The Court file is to be retained by the Court and marked “Anonymised”.
7. The reporting restrictions apply as to the disclosing of any information that may lead to the subsequent identification of any Claimant or the Litigation Friend. The publication of the name or address/location of any Claimant or the Litigation Friend or of any member of any Claimant’s or the Litigation Friend’s immediate family is prohibited.
8. The Claimants must serve a copy of this Order and of the Notice of Application upon the Defendant and otherwise comply with CPR Rule 23.9 by no later than service of the Claim Form in the Approval Application.
9. The Defendant may apply under CPR Rule 23.10 to set aside or vary this Order within fourteen days of service of it upon them.
10.Any non-party affected by this Order may apply on notice to all parties to have this Order set aside or varied.
11.The Claimants have permission to apply to set aside or vary this order.
12.The provisions of this Order shall not apply to:-
a. communications between the Court Funds Office and the anonymised party or Litigation Friend in relation to the payment of money into the Court Funds Office for the benefit of the anonymised party or the investment or treatment of payment out of such money;
b. communications between the Court Funds Office and/or the anonymised party or Litigation Friend and any financial institution concerned as to the receipt or investment of such money; or
c. records kept by the Court Funds Office or the anonymised party or Litigation Friend or any such financial institution in relation to such money.
13. A copy of this Order shall be published on the judicial website of the High Court of Justice specifying that the Claimants shall be referred to as “ABC”. “BCD”. “CDE” and “DEF” and the Litigation Friend shall be referred to as “BCD”
14.The Application shall be further considered at (“the Further Consideration Hearing”) the first case management conference in the Claim (and also when the Court gives directions in relation to such first case management conference) and/or earlier at a hearing for which the Claimants and the Defendant shall each have permission to apply; and the costs of the Application are reserved to the Further Consideration Hearing.