Injunctions
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Wednesday, November 11th, 2009Two interesting developments in the tug-of-war between privacy and defamation. The first comes in a UK injunction case. Justice Tugendhat granted an injunction to a celebrity of some sort (or at least, someone with “some public reputation”) restraining the publication of information about his encounters at his home with a prostitute some ten years ago. […]
What’s wrong with trial by media?
Wednesday, October 21st, 2009I get irked by those who rail against “trial by media” as if it’s some general category of wrongdoing. Yes, some reporting of allegedly criminal conduct is unfair, inaccurate or unbalanced, and some may even prejudice an accused person’s right to a fair trial. In such cases, we should by all means criticise the reporting […]
Carter-Rucked
Monday, October 19th, 2009Heavy-hitting UK libel law firm Carter-Ruck has been getting some bad press lately. The Guardian reported that Carter-Ruck (famously referred to as “Carter-Fuck” by its nemesis Private Eye) had gagged it from reporting Parliamentary proceedings. What’s more, the gagged material related to a report concerning a toxic waste spill by giant oil company Trafigura. And […]
Secret judgment lifts lid on other secret judgment
Friday, July 31st, 2009You might have missed it, but last week news emerged that Kirstin Dunne-Powell has obtained an injunction against Tony Veitch to prevent him publicly disclosing private and confidential material about her. Apparently she filed for the injunction shortly after Veitch pleaded guilty, back in April. That evening, Veitch had told Close Up that he “did […]
Blogger busted
Sunday, July 12th, 2009A British detective blogging about police issues under the pseudonym “NightJack” has failed in his attempt to stop the Times from revealing his identity. The ruling suggests that anonymous bloggers don’t have a reasonable expectation that their identities will be kept private. Well, those who are breaching police regulations in writing their blog, anyway. But […]
Veitch material un-juncted
Saturday, May 23rd, 2009Not surprisingly, it seems that Tony Veitch has withdrawn his injunction proceedings. That still leaves interesting questions about the police’s unusual willingness to release so much information here.
Veitch injunction
Thursday, May 21st, 2009Who would have guessed it? (Not me). The injunction barring the media from publishing the information released by the police under the Official Information Act, seems to be based on breach of confidence. The Veitch team (headed up by heavyweight litigator Jack Hodder SC) argued that Veitch was not consulted on the release; he had […]
Feeling sorry for Vince?
Tuesday, June 17th, 2008Poor Vincent Siemer. Facing a limitless stretch in the slammer for … what? A couple of websites? Oath. I’m afraid I find it difficult to get too worked up about Vince’s plight. He’d like to pitch his troubles as a freedom of expression battle against a corrupt businessman (his nemesis, Michael Stiassny), and corrupt lawyers (including his own), and […]
Who needs the BSA?
Tuesday, May 20th, 2008This might surprise you. I was looking at broadcast licences the other day. As you might guess, they can be subject to conditions, and most of the ones that are imposed relate to technical issues: making sure there’s no overlapping use of the spectrum, for example. Mostly, they’re nothing to do with the content of […]
Injunction continued again
Friday, March 7th, 2008The Hawkes’ Bay Health Board injunction has been continued by consent until after the report is finalised and made public, slated for 17 March. The parties can bring it back before the court before then if circumstances change. I think this is probably a savvy move by Fairfax and APN. It will blunten the “we’re […]
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