CB -v- B Council (anonymity order)

High CourtKing's Bench DivisionAnonymity Order

Case No: CO/2150/2022

In the High Court of Justice
King’s Bench Division

30 September 2022

Before:

Mr Jonathan Glasson KC sitting as a Deputy High Court Judge

Between:

The King
on the application of

CB (by LF, his mother and litigation friend)

-v-

B Council

and

C School
(Interested party)


UPON reading the Claimant’s application for anonymity and for urgent consideration

Following consideration of the documents lodged by the Claimant and the documents lodged by the Defendant and the Interested Party

ORDER BY MR JONATHAN GLASSON KC SITTING AS A DEPUTY HIGH COURT JUDGE

  1. The Claimant’s application for an anonymity order is granted under CPR r. 39.2(4) and/or the general case management powers in CPR r. 3.1(2). The Claimant and the other parties in this action shall have anonymity until further order. No report or publication of these proceedings shall directly or indirectly identify the Claimant. In the case title, the Claimant’s name shall be replaced by the initials “CB”.  Pending further order, the Defendant’s name shall be replaced by the initials “B”, and the Interested Party’s name shall be replaced by the initial “C”.
  2. Pursuant to CPR r.5.4(c), a person not a party to the proceedings may obtain a copy of the statement of case, judgment or order of the court records, only if the statement of case, judgment or order from the court has been anonymised.
  3. The Court file shall be clearly noted with the words “An anonymity order was made in this case on 30 September 2022 and any application by a non-party to inspect or obtain a copy document from this file must be dealt with in accordance with the terms of that Order.”
  4. Failure to comply with this anonymity order could lead to contempt of court proceedings.

Urgent consideration

5. The Defendant and the Interested Party shall file by 4pm Monday 3 October 2022 any representations on the Claimant’s application for urgent consideration and the Claimant’s proposed timetable. 

6. The papers thereafter shall be placed before a judge on Tuesday 4 October 2022 for consideration for further directions.

7. Liberty to apply to vary or discharge the
anonymity order set out above on 3 days’ written notice to the parties.

8. Costs in the case.

Reasons

Anonymity

  1. The Claimant is a child with special educational needs.  He seeks to challenge the failure of the local authority to secure the special educational provision in his Education, Health and Care (EHC) Plan.
  2. The case will involve consideration of the health and educational needs of the Claimant. It therefore engages the Claimant’s privacy rights under Article 8. Privacy is necessary in order to protect the interests of the Claimant and his family.
  3. Having considered these Article 8 rights, and the Article 10 right to freedom of expression, I am satisfied that (i) non-disclosure of the identity of the Claimant is strictly necessary in order to protect his interests; and (ii) there is insufficient countervailing public interest in disclosure of his identity to justify interfering with his Article 8 rights.  There is a risk that the Claimant might be identified through disclosure of the names of the local authority and of the Interested Party.

Urgent consideration

4. The Defendant and the Interested Party have not commented on the Claimant’s application for urgent consideration which was made on 16 September 2022.  There is apparent urgency in this case because of the alleged continuing detriment to the Claimant and the failure of the parties to agree on a way forward.  There appears to be no challenge by the Defendant to the claim on its facts.  Nonetheless I consider that it is appropriate for the Defendant and the Interested Party should be given an opportunity to make representations on the application for urgent consideration and the proposed timetable (particularly given the proposed directions leading to a hearing by 14 October 2022).