Piepenbrock -v- LSE & Ors (anonymity order)

Queen's Bench DivisionAnonymity Order

Claim No: QB-2021-003782

IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUSTICE
QUEEN’S BENCH DIVISION
MEDIA AND COMMUNICATIONS LIST

Date: 27/04/2022

Before:
The Honourable Mr Justice Nicklin

Between:
DR THEODORE PIEPENBROCK
-v-
(1) LONDON SCHOOL OF ECONOMICS AND POLITICAL SCIENCE
(2) NEMAT SHAFIK
(3) CRAIG CALHOUN
(4) SUSAN LIAUTAUD
(5) ALAN ELIAS
(6) JOANNE HAY
(7) SAUL ESTRIN
(8) GWYN BEVAN
(9) HPN
(10) ASSOCIATED NEWPAPERS LIMITED
(11) JONATHAN HARMSWORTH
(12) GEORDIE GREIG
(13) TOBYN ANDREAE
(14) ANTONIA HOYLE
(15) MARK DUELL

ORDER

UPON APPLICATION by the Ninth Defendant by Application Notice dated 25 April 2022 seeking orders (1) anonymising the Ninth Defendant (2) imposing reporting restrictions prohibiting the identification of the Ninth Defendant as a party to the claim; (3) restricting third-party access to documents on the Court file that identify the Ninth Defendant (collectively “the Anonymity Measures Application”); (4) a declaration that the Court has no jurisdiction over the Claimant’s claim against the Ninth Defendant (“the Jurisdiction Application”)
AND UPON CONSIDERING the Witness Statement of Peter Anthony Wake dated 25 April 2022.

WITHOUT A HEARING IT IS ORDERED:
Anonymity, Reporting Restriction and limits to third party access to the Court file
1. Pursuant to CPR 39.2(4) the name and address of the Ninth Defendant is to be withheld from the public and are not to be disclosed and there shall be substituted for all purposes in these proceedings in place of references to the Ninth Defendant by name, and whether orally or in writing, references to “HPN”. The name of the Ninth Defendant will be anonymised in accordance with this paragraph on the CE-File.

2. The address of the Ninth Defendant be stated in all statements of case and other documents to be filed or served in the proceedings as the address of the solicitors acting for the Ninth Defendant.

3. No non-party may inspect or obtain a copy of any document on or from the Court file (other than this order duly anonymised as directed) without the permission of a Master or Judge. Any application for such permission must be made on notice to the Ninth Defendant.

4. Pursuant to s.11 Contempt of Court Act 1981, there shall be no publication in any report of, or otherwise in connection with, these proceedings, of the identity of the Ninth Defendant or of any matter likely to lead to her identification in connection with these proceedings.

5. A copy of this Order will be published on the Judiciary Website pursuant to CPR 39.2(5).

6. The Order of 8 March 2022 will be amended to anonymise the Ninth Defendant.

7. Any non-party affected by this Order may apply to vary or discharge by making an Application by Application Notice giving the Ninth Defendant not less than 72 hours’ notice.

Directions and Hearing of the Jurisdiction Application

8. By 4.30pm on 11 May 2022, the Claimant must file and serve an Amended Claim Form replacing the Ninth Defendant’s name with HPN and replacing the address with the address of her solicitors.

9. If the Claimant intends to issue any Application Notice concerning service of the Claim Form on the Ninth Defendant, then such Application Notice must be issued, filed and served, together with evidence in support, by 4.30pm on 18 May 2022.

10. The Jurisdiction Application (and any Application issued by the Claimant pursuant to Paragraph 9 above) will be listed to be heard before a Judge of the Media & Communications List in the period 3 October 2022 to 25 November 2022 with a time estimate of 1 day (“the Hearing”).

11. By 4.30pm on 11 May 2022, the Claimant and the Ninth Defendant must contact the Clerk of the Lists (qbjudgeslistingoffice@justice.gov.uk) to fix the Hearing as directed by Paragraph 10 above.

12. By 4.30pm on 10 June 2022, the Claimant must file and serve any evidence in answer to the Jurisdiction Application.

13. By 4.30pm on 15 July 2022, the Ninth Defendant must file and serve any evidence:

a. in response to the evidence filed pursuant to Paragraph 12; and

b. in answer to any Application issued by the Claimant pursuant to Paragraph 9 above.

14. By 4.30pm on 12 August 2022, the Claimant must file and serve any evidence in response to the evidence filed pursuant to Paragraph 13(b) above.

15. The Claimant and the Ninth Defendant to cooperate to identify documents to be included in the bundle for the Hearing.

16. By 10am, 10 working days before the Hearing, the Ninth Defendant must file and serve a paginated and indexed bundle for the Hearing.

17. By 10am, 7 working days before the Hearing, the Ninth Defendant must file and serve a skeleton argument for the Hearing together with copies of any authorities relied upon.

18. By 10am, 4 working days before the Hearing, the Claimant must file and serve a skeleton argument for the Hearing together with copies of any authorities relied upon.

19. By 10am, 2 working days before the Hearing, the Ninth Defendant must file and serve a joint bundle of authorities.

20. The Claimant and the Ninth Defendant may, by written agreement filed with the Court, vary the time for complying with Paragraphs 12 to 14 of this Order, but any other variation to this Order can be made only with the permission of the Court.

21. This Order has been made without giving the Claimant an opportunity to make submissions. As such, pursuant to CPR 3.3(5), he may apply to vary or discharge this Order, but any Application Notice seeking to do so must be issued, filed and served by 4.30pm on 4 May 2022.

REASONS

(A) The Ninth Defendant has been anonymised by orders of the Court made in previous proceedings (Order of 4 October 2018 in HQ15P0511 and Order of 1 July 2020 in QB-2019-003622). If an anonymity order is not made in these proceedings, then the order made in the earlier proceedings risks being undermined/defeated. I have therefore imposed orders anonymising the Ninth Defendant in these proceedings, imposed a reporting restriction enforcing the same and restricted non-party access to any documents in the proceedings that name or identify the Ninth Defendant. The Claimant and the other Defendants should ensure that they note the anonymisation of the Ninth Defendant and ensure that any further documents filed in the proceedings comply with this order.

(B) To give effect to these directions, I have also ordered the Claimant to file and Amended Claim Form replacing the Ninth Defendant’s name and address. I have not, at this stage, made any further Order requiring the Claimant to perform a similar exercise to anonymise references to the Ninth Defendant in the Particulars of Claim as this would be an onerous exercise (given the length of the Particulars of Claim) and, at the moment, third party access to the Particulars of Claim is restricted by Paragraph 12 of the Order of 8 March 2022.

(C) The directions timetable for the Hearing of the Jurisdiction Application should be uncontroversial, and they can vary, by written agreement, the direction for evidence once the date for the Hearing has been fixed. I have ordered sequential exchange of skeleton arguments and placed the obligation for preparing the hearing bundle on the Defendant because the Claimant is a litigant in person.

(D) I had considered whether to direct the Jurisdiction Application should be heard on 23-24 June 2022, when the Court will be dealing with Applications issued by other Defendants to the Claim. I decided against this on the grounds that (a) it would risk overloading the hearing and exceed the allocated time; and (b) it would place too much of a strain on the Claimant, a litigant in person, to prepare for such a significant hearing. I have therefore directed a separate hearing to be fixed in the Autumn Term.

(E) There is reference in the Ninth Defendant’s Application Notice and evidence to an Application by the Claimant regarding service of the Claim Form. Permission to serve the Claim Form on the Ninth Defendant was required, but does not appear to have been obtained by the Claimant. The time for serving the Claim Form on the Ninth Defendant also appears to have expired. To ensure that any Application regarding service of the Claim Form on the Ninth Defendant is brought forward in an orderly fashion and can be dealt with at the Hearing, I have given further directions for the issuing and filing of any Application Notice from the Claimant dealing with these issues.

 

27 April 2022