“The Claimants’ claims arise from (a) the Defendants’ activities from about 2012 which consisted of the First Defendant acting with and on behalf of the Second Defendant and/or Third Defendants’, infiltrating the Claimants’ anti-asbestos campaigners’ network, obtaining their personal, private and/or confidential information and disclosing it to the Second and/or Third Defendants who were at all material times acting on behalf of clients with interests in the asbestos industry; and (b) the onward disclosure of that information by the Second and/or Third defendants to their clients”
“a. the delivery up application… [these Defendants] have said that they are prepared to deliver up documents at this stage which were obtained or generated or created in the course of their relationship with [the First Defendant] which [1] referred to each of the Claimants, and if and only if they are arguably confidential and/or private information and/or [2] contain personal data about each of the Claimants b. [these Defendants] are prepared to consent to this limited form of order but not to an order in the terms sought… c. [these Defendants] would continue to submit to an interim injunction against communication or disclosure but only in a narrower form. d. the stance they take now remains the same as it was going to be (and the Claimants were informed it was going to be) before Elisabeth Laing J had there been time to hear this application. e. the Joinder Application…[these Defendants] consent to the joinder of Rory O’Neill but not to the other three individuals… none of the other three raise an arguable case that their private and/or confidential information has been misused and none of them put forward proper reasons to be joined in this litigation…”
“73... [counsel for the claimant] told the judge that it was normal practice in claims for confidentiality injunctions for the service of particulars of claim to be deferred until after the application for an interim injunction has been dealt with. If that is the normal practice, I consider that it should be discontinued. Like Tugendhat J, I consider that it is in the interests of justice and the efficient and fair conduct of proceedings that the claimant's case be defined and pleaded as soon as possible, so that the defendant knows precisely what is the case against her, and so does the judge…”
“If a wrongdoer includes material of his own and adds it to material which he has taken from the plaintiffs in my judgment he cannot complain if equity demands that when he has been found out he should deliver up the documents, even though they may now contain information of his own.”
“…used his status as a journalist as a form of cover, acting on the pretext that he was interested in making a documentary about the dangers of asbestos to win the trust and confidence of the Second Claimant and to use that in order to get private, personal and confidential information from her, and that he would use her to vouch for him with others in the network, including the First and Third Claimants. That in turn would enable him to get such information about them and the network from others. In particular, the First Defendant got information on the further pretext that he wanted to set up an anti-asbestos charity called “Stop Asbestos”
“I have been shown some of the e-mails which indicate the extent to which the First Defendant and the Second Defendant were engaging in a sophisticated and conscious process of manipulating, particularly I think, the Second Claimant, in order to enable the First Defendant to insinuate himself into her confidence, so that he in turn could get confidential information from her; and I would be amazed if the client was not aware of that strategy. So it seems to me pretty clear, on the limited information I have, that the client must have been involved in wrongdoing and that is an inference I am prepared to draw on the material I have seen.”
“… It is absolutely clear that the First Defendant was using his status as a journalist as a way of insinuating himself into the confidence of the Claimants, but in order to get from them information which they and he understood was sensitive and confidential… It does not matter what the purpose of the investigation was. What the investigation has resulted in is the obtaining by the First Defendant, and then by the Second Defendant and the Third Defendant of sensitive and confidential information about the Claimants.”
“(3) No such relief is to be granted so as to restrain publication before trial unless the court is satisfied that the applicant is likely to establish that publication should not be allowed. (4) The court must have particular regard to the importance of the Convention right to freedom of expression…”
“I believe I have established a good relationship with LKA… for a first meeting, I think LKA has given me a huge amount of information, which I have been further able to build on and contextualise this week by researching her leads. She’s begun to tell me about her background and the origins of her campaign against asbestos. As discussed, I resisted pushing too hard in this area because I did not want to give her the impression my interest was already focused on her… she has invited me to a number of events I could attend in the coming weeks and months. Not all of these are open to the media or the public and she’s asked me to email a formal request to her, explaining my interest etc, which she can pass on to others because I will need their approval too. See section “Upcoming Events” below. She has also suggested people I should meet and other areas to research.”