GH -v- Kettering General Hospital NHS Foundation Trust (anonymity)
Claim No. QB-2020-003605
IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUSTICE
QUEEN’S BENCH DIVISION
14 October 2020
Before:
Master Gidden
Between:
GH (A Minor Proceeding By Her Adopted Mother And Litigation Friend ST)
-v-
Kettering General Hospital NHS Foundation Trust
BEFORE Master Gidden sitting in the High Court, Queen’s Bench Division, Royal Courts of Justice on 14.10.2020
UPON reading an application notice of the Claimant dated 13.10.2020
AND UPON the Court noting the Defendant’s neutral stance in relation to the Claimant’s application. Pursuant to CPR r. 39.2(4), the Court is satisfied that an Order in the terms below is necessary to protect the interests of the Claimant and there is no sufficient countervailing public interest in disclosure.
IT IS HEREBY ORDERED PURSUANT to section 11 of the Contempt of Court Act 1981, Section 6 of the Human Rights Act 1998 and CPR Rule 5.4A to 5.4D and CPR Rule 39.2:
IT IS ORDERED:
1. That the identify of the Claimant and of her adopted mother and Litigation Friend shall not be disclosed.
2. That the Claimant and the Litigation Friend be described in all statements of case and other documents to be filed or served in the proceedings and in any judgement or order in the proceedings and in any report of the proceedings by the press or otherwise as “GH” and “ST” respectively.
3. That the address of the Claimant and of the Litigation Friend be stated in all statements of case and other documents to be filed or served in the proceedings as the address of the Claimant’s solicitors.
4. Provided that the parties and/or their advisers and/or NHS Resolution do not publish any documents containing references to the Claimant or her Litigation Friend, the parties be at liberty to retain their files in this case without alteration or substitution and to retain and generate internal documentation which identifies the Claimant and her Litigation Friend for the purposes of their continuing rights and obligations in relation to dealing with this claim.
5. So far as any Court document to which anyone might have access pursuant to CPR Rule 5.4 at any time does not comply with the above, the Claimant’s solicitors have leave to file with the court copies of such document adjusted so as to comply therein. Such copies are to be treated for all purposes as being in substitution for the relevant original; and the originals are then to be retained by the court in a sealed envelope marked: “not to be opened without the permission of a Judge, Master or District Judge of the Queen’s Bench Division.”
6. A non-party may not, without the permission of a Master, inspect or obtain any copy statement of case or document from the court file unless it has been anonymised in accordance with this direction and there has been redacted any information which might identify the Claimant or her Litigation Friend. Any application for such permission (i.e. to inspect or obtain a non- anonymised version) must be made on notice to the Claimant and in accordance with CPR r. 5.4C (6) and the Court will effect service. The file is to be retained by the Court and marked “Anonymised.”
7. That reporting restrictions apply as to the disclosing of any information that may lead to the subsequent identification of the Claimant or her Litigation Friend. The publication of the name and address of the Claimant or of any member of the Claimant’s immediate family, or the name and address of the Litigation Friend, or of any member of the Litigation Friend’s immediate family is prohibited.
8. The provisions of this Order shall not apply:
a) to communications between the Court Funds Office and the anonymised party, her Deputy 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) to communications between the Court Funds Office and/or the anonymised party, her Deputy or Litigation Friend and any financial institution concerned as to the receipt or investment of such money; or
c) to records kept by the Court Funds Office or the anonymised party, her Deputy or Litigation Friend or any such financial institution in relation to such money.
9. That any non-party affected by this Order may apply on notice to all parties to have this Order set aside or varied.
10. A copy of this order shall be published on the Judicial Website of the High Court of Justice specifying that the Claimant shall be referred to as “GH” and her Litigation Friend as “ST.”