LAW OF CONFIDENCE – THE TRUMP CARD IN MATRIMONIAL PROCEEDINGS

August 3rd, 2010 by Anya Proops

The Court of Appeal has recently handed down an important judgment on the application of the law of confidence in matrimonial proceedings: Tchenguiz & Ors v Imerman [2010] EWCA Civ 908. The background to the case was that an application for ancillary relief had been made by Mrs Tchenguiz Imerman (TI) against her husband, Mr Imerman. Fearing that Mr Imerman may seek to conceal the nature and extent of his assets in the context of the ancillary relief proceedings, one of TI’s brothers, possibly with the help of others, accessed a computer server in an office which Mr Imerman shared with TI’s brothers and then copied information and documents which Mr Imerman had placed on that server relating to his assets. In order to prevent TI relying on the information and the documents in the ancillary relief proceedings, Mr Imerman sought to restrain the defendants from communicating the information and documents which they had obtained to any third party (including TI and her lawyers). He also sought delivery up of all copies of the documents. Eady J granted the orders sought by Mr Imerman. The defendants appealed to the Court of Appeal. The central issue for the Court of Appeal was essentially whether TI should be allowed to use the information and documents in the context of the ancillary relief proceedings, despite the fact that they appeared to have been obtained by the defendants in breach of confidence and, hence, unlawfully.  The case was rendered particularly complex as a result of what is commonly known in matrimonial proceedings as the ‘Hildebrande rules’. Historically, these rules have been applied by the courts in matrimonial ancillary relief proceedings so as generally to allow individuals to rely on evidence as to their spouses’ assets notwithstanding that that evidence has been unlawfully obtained.

In summary, the Court of Appeal held as follows:

·         the information/documents had been unlawfully obtained by the defendants as they had been obtained in breach of confidence (and, further, in breach of Mr Imerman’s right to privacy);

 

·         it may be that the obtaining of the information/documents had also amounted to: (a) criminal conduct on an application of s. 17 of the Computer Misuse Act 1990; (b) unlawful processing of Mr Imerman’s personal data under s. 4(4) Data Protection Act 1998 (DPA); and, further, (c) a criminal act under s. 55 DPA; although having found that the information/documents were obtained unlawfully in breach of confidence, the Court did not need to reach a concluded view on these issues;

 

·         the question for the Court was whether it should effectively condone the illegal self-help methods adopts by the defendants simply because it was feared that Mr Imerman may behave unlawfully and conceal that which should be disclosed in the ancillary relief proceedings. The answer to that question was: ‘No’ (see para. 107). As the Court suggested: ‘The tort of trespass to chattels has been known to our law since the Middle Ages and the law of confidence for at least 200 years, yet no hint of any defences of the kind now being suggested is to be found anywhere in the books’ (para. 117). Thus, the Hildebrande rules could not be justified on any grounds;

 

·         if there were concerns that an individual may seek dishonestly to conceal assets in the context of ancillary relief proceedings, the correct course would be for the spouse to seek to protect her/his position through lawful means, for example by applying to the court for an anton pillar order.

The judgment is important not least because it highlights the essentially inalienable nature of the common law rights to confidentiality and privacy. There is no doubt that the judgment will be controversial, not least because of concerns that it fails to recognise the significant power imbalance which often obtains between spouses in matrimonial proceedings. 

 

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LANDMARK IPT DECISION ON LOCAL AUTHORITY’S USE OF RIPA

August 2nd, 2010 by Robin Hopkins

The Investigatory Powers Tribunal today issued its decision in the first substantive public case on the use of surveillance powers under the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000.

Poole Borough Council suspected that Jenny Paton and her family may have lied about living in the catchment area of a sought-after primary school in Dorset. It therefore monitored their activity for around 3 weeks in 2008. This included covertly monitoring the movements of family members and their car, as well as examining the contents of their rubbish.

The IPT found that:

(1) investigating a potentially fraudulent school application was not a proper purpose in the sense required by RIPA;
(2) in these circumstances, the Council’s actions were in any event disproportionate, in that they were not necessary to achieve that aim, and
(3) the Council’s actions had breached the family’s rights under Article 8 of the ECHR.

Poole Borough Council has accepted the ruling and apologised to Ms Paton and her family.

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PRIVACY IN THE DOCK

June 10th, 2010 by Anya Proops

It is a fundamental rule of our justice system that it should be administered in public (Attorney General v Leveller Magazine Ltd [1979] AC 440). In the criminal justice system this rule generally operates so as to require individuals who are charged with an offence to give their home address in open court. But what is the position if the accused claim that confirming their address in open court will expose them and their family to attack? Are they entitled to demand that their address be given in camera? This is an issue which was recently posed in the case of R(Harper) & Anor v Aldershot Magistrates Court & Anor [2010] EWHC 1319 Admin. In this case, two senior police officers who had been charged with the offence of misconduct in public office sought to judicially review a ruling of the Magistrates Court that they must each confirm their address in open court. The officers, who had been suspended from duty, claimed that the ruling was unlawful because there was a real and genuine fear of reprisal and the safety of the officers and their family was at risk. The Court rejected the claim on the basis that any fears which the officers may have had were unreasonable, particularly because publication of their address would not in fact enhance any risk that they faced (notably, the addresses could simply have been accessed through the electoral roll). In reaching the conclusion that the ruling was lawful, the Court took into account not least Lord Diplock’s judgment in Belfast Telegraph Newspaper Limited’s Application [1997] NI QBD 309. In that case, Lord Diplock held that information may be withheld in criminal proceedings on the basis that this was necessary to serve the public interest in the administration of justice but that it could not be withheld simply in the interest of protecting ‘the private welfare of those caught up in that administration’ (at page 314F). The Court in Harper noted that there might be circumstances in which the individual’s well-being may overlap with the administration of justice such that the information can be withheld in the public interest. However, these were not the facts of the instant case. Notably, there is no analysis in the judgment of the application of Article 8 ECHR. Nor further is there any explicit consideration of the rights of the families of the accused. Query what role these considerations would have played if the facts of Harper had been less clear-cut.

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UK interception regime upheld in Strasbourg

May 18th, 2010 by Ben Hooper

The European Court of Human Rights handed down a significant judgment today in Kennedy v. UK (application no. 26839/05).

A warrant under s. 8(1) of the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000 permits the interception of the communications of a particular person (or particular set of premises). Mr Kennedy sought to challenge the Art. 8 compatibility of the s. 8(1) warrant regime, and in particular sought to criticise its foreseeability. The Court unanimously rejected his challenge and, in a relatively detailed judgment, upheld the compatibility of the domestic law.

The case is also interesting for the Court’s analysis of Mr Kennedy’s Art. 6 complaint. Mr Kennedy had brought domestic proceedings in the Investigatory Powers Tribunal, which had resulted in two public decisions on legal issues, together with a final ruling that no determination had been made in his favour (i.e. that there had either been no interception, or that any interception that had taken place had been lawful). In Strasbourg, Mr Kennedy complained that the restrictive procedures of the Tribunal had breached Art. 6. In its judgment, the Court avoided deciding whether Art. 6 applied to such proceedings, but went on to confirm that if Art. 6 did apply then the Tribunal’s procedures satisfied its requirements.

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GOOGLE IN EUROPE – PRIVACY CONTROVERSIES CONTINUE

May 2nd, 2010 by Anya Proops

In March 2010, we posted on a New York Times article which explored how Google’s quest to increase access to information via the internet appeared to be clashing with European privacy laws. The article followed in the wake of the prosecution in Italy of Google executives for violating Italian privacy laws after Google allowed a user to post a video showing an autistic boy being bullied. More recently, further controversies over Google’s record on privacy rights have emerged. First, privacy regulators from a number of different countries, including our own Information Commissioner, Christopher Graham, wrote a joint letter to Google’s chief executive and challenging him to improve protections for users, thereby highlighting concerns that Google is not doing enough to protect the privacy of users – see further this article in the Guardian dated 20 April 2010. Second, last week reports emerged that German regulators had renewed their criticism of Google’s Streetview when it emerged that Google was using the Streetview system to archive information about the location of household wireless networks – see this article in the New York Times dated 29 April 2010. What these developments suggest is that the clash between European social values and the expansion of Google’s techno-commercial empire is likely to continue for some time to come.

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PATIENT DATA SHARING – ARE WE RUNNING OUT OF PATIENCE?

March 26th, 2010 by Anya Proops

The question of the extent to which those working within the national health service should have access to patient data is a difficult one to resolve. On the one hand, permitting widespread access can potentially enable health service provides to provide more efficient, ‘joined up’ health-care to patients. On the other hand, there will always be concerns that too much access increases the risk that patient data, which is obviously sensitive personal data for the purposes of s. 2 of the Data Protection Act 1998, will be misused and/or inadvertently disclosed to third parties. We have seen this debate unfolding not least in respect of the Spine database project which is aimed at achieving a comprehensive centralised database of NHS patient records. The British Medical Association amongst others have alreeady expressed concern that the system is being rolled out too quickly (see further this article from the Guardian earlier this month). Today, reports are surfacing in the media that an NHS Trust in Wales is failing to ensure that proper restrictions are being placed on hospital staff accessing patient data (see further this BBC article which suggests hospital porters, IT staff and administrators have all been permitted access to patient data). This kind of story is only going to fuel concerns that the quest for efficiency in patient treatment requires too high a price to be paid in terms of compromising the privacy rights of patients.

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DISCLOSING INFORMATION FOR CHILD PROTECTION PURPOSES – NEW ADMINISTRATIVE COURT JUDGMENT

March 19th, 2010 by Anya Proops

The question of whether and to what extent local authorities can or should share information about individuals thought to pose a risk to children is often a very difficult one to answer in practice. Failure to disclose the information may expose the authority to claims that it has not acted in accordance with its duties to safeguard children’s interests. On the other hand, sharing the information may expose the authority to claims that it has acted in excess of its powers and has otherwise breached the individual’s right to privacy under Article 8 ECHR. In the recent case of H & L v X City Council and Y City Council [2010] EWHC 466 (Admin), the Administrative Court considered this question in a case involving the disclosure of information by a local authority about a severely disabled man (H) who been convicted of indecent assault on a child. In this case, the council had made a variety of disclosures to organisations with which H was involved. It had also adopted a policy of considering on a case by case basis whether it should make disclosure of information relating to H to organisations with which he became involved in the future. In addition, the local authority had a policy of disclosing information to H’s personal care assistants, purportedly to protect any children those carers may bring into contact with H.

In a judgment which recognised the very strong imperative in favour of protecting children’s interests, Judge Langan QC held that the policies of disclosure to organisations with which H was involved constituted a proportionate interference with H’s Article 8 right to privacy and was otherwise lawful. In reaching this conclusion, the judge took into account the fact that the disclosures were fairly guarded in nature; were not made in lurid terms and did not go beyond what was required for the purpose of making a measured communication. The judge similarly held that the policy of notifying other organisations with which H came into contact in future on a case-by-case basis was a reasonable, proportionate and otherwise lawful policy. However, the judge took issue with the authority’s policy of notifying H’s care assistants. He held that this was a disproportionate measure, particularly in view of the facts that: two of the three long-term carers had no children; there was a ‘no children at work’ provision in the relevant employment contracts and, further, the terms of the disclosures would raise suspicions in the minds of the carers which was more grave than H’s past conduct justified. In reaching his conclusions on the various policies adopted by the council, the judge plainly had in mind the recent important Supreme Court judgment in R(L) v Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis [2009] 3 WLR 1056, where the Supreme Court held that it was no longer right to assume that priority must be given to the need to protect the vulnerable over the right to respect for the private life of the individual. What this case perfectly illustrates is the highly fact-sensitive approach which needs to be adopted in any case where the local authority is contemplating sharing information for child protection purposes. Tim Pitt-Payne appeared on behalf of the local authority

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DNA DATABASE – A HOT ELECTION ISSUE

March 18th, 2010 by Anya Proops

It would seem that the approach to be taken to the retention of DNA on the Police National Database is going to be a hot election issue. The Government has for some time been seeking to introduce onto the statute books new legislation which would enable the DNA of persons who have not been convicted of any offence to be stored for up to six years (see my November 2009 post on this issue). However, a report in yesterday’s Guardian suggests that the Government may scrap the 6 year retention provision in order to get the remainder of the Crime and Security Bill passed into law before the election. Meanwhile, the Conservatives have proposed that the period of retention of DNA relating to unconvicted persons should be three years. The Government has attacked these proposals on the basis that they amount to a criminals charter. Of course, even if particular party political proposals with respect to the DNA database are effective in attracting the popular vote, that is not to say that they would find favour before the Strasbourg Court on a challenge brought under Article 8 ECHR (see further on this issue the Marper judgment discussed in my May 2009 post).

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Protecting the Anonymity of Parties – EAT Supplements Its Own Rules of Procedure

March 9th, 2010 by Anya Proops

On 5 March 2010, the Employment Appeal Tribunal (President Underhill presiding) gave a judgment on the question of whether it had powers to protect the anonymity of a party in a case involving allegations of sexual offences – A v B (UKEAT/0206/09/SM). The background to the judgment was that a claimant had been granted permanent anonymity by the Employment Tribunal under the Employment Tribunals (Constitution and Rules of Procedure) Regulations 2004 Sch.1 para.49. The anonymity order had been made in circumstances where the claimant, who was claiming unfair dismissal, had been dismissed in response to a disclosure by police that he had been involved in paedophile activity in Cambodia and was believed to represent a risk to children. The Claimant had in fact been acquitted in the Cambodian courts and there was no reason to believe he faced prosecution in the UK. On appeal against the tribunal’s judgment to the EAT, the question arose as to whether the EAT had power to maintain the anonymisation when dealing with the appeal. This was a difficult question to resolve because, on their face, the EAT Rules 1993 read together with the Employment Tribunals Act 1996 did not provide for such a power. In a judgment which reflects the overriding importance of human rights considerations, the EAT held that it did have such a power. In reaching this conclusion, the EAT took into account: (a) that the loss of the claimant’s anonymity would involve a serious breach of his convention rights, particularly the Article 8 right to privacy; (b) that, on the facts of the case, the need to protect the claimant’s privacy under Article 8 outweighed the imperative towards freedom of expression embodied in Article 10 of the Convention; and (c) that, in the circumstances, s. 6 of the Human Rights Act 1998 required the EAT to interpret its powers so as to include a power to protect the claimant’s anonymity.

In the course of its judgment, the EAT considered the very recent judgment of the Supreme Court in HM Treasury v Ahmed [2010] UKSC 1; [2010] 2 WLR 325. In that case, the Supreme Court held that the old common law rule that a party forfeited his right to privacy if he chose to bring proceedings (subject to certain limited statutory exceptions) required modification in the light of the Convention. It concluded that, in a case where full publication of the proceedings would have an impact on the Article 8 rights of a party, the court will have to conduct a balancing exercise between that right and the right to freedom of expression under Article 10 (see per Lord Roger, para. 43). This is precisely the balance which the EAT sought to strike in the Av B case.

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Media Law and Practice – new book from OUP

October 30th, 2009 by Timothy Pitt-Payne QC

Hot off the press is a new book from OUP on “Media Law and Practice”, edited by David Goldberg, Gavin Sutter, and Ian Walden. 

This is a multi-author book, written by a team of practitioners and academics.  It covers a wide range of media topics, including ownership, regulation, intellectual property, defamation, and commercial communications.       

I contributed a chapter on Information Law:  this discusses data protection, freedom of information, and human rights issues, including articles 8 and 10 of the Convention.  One of the book’s features is that it deals with new forms of communication (including blogging), as well as traditional print or broadcast media.  So I had to address questions such as, how would the “special purposes” defined in the DPA (ie artistic, journalistic and literary purposes) apply to web-based publications?

The impetus for the book comes from the Institute of Computer and Communications Law, based in the Centre for Commercial Law Studies, Queen Mary, University of London.  All three editors are members of the Institute.  It’s a major centre for research and teaching in areas related to information law, including intellectual property, telecoms regulation, computer law, and media law.

The book is available online from OUP’s website.

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