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P & Others v Quigley
Case Reference [2008] EWHC 1051 (QB)
Court Queen's Bench Division
Judge Eady J
Date of Judgment 16 May 2008
Summary
Misuse of private information - False information - Article 8 - Article 10 - Injunctive relief - Breach of contract
Facts
An application for a permanent privacy injunction by a former director and chief executive of a corporate claimant (which advanced a claim in contract). An interim injunction had been granted in November 2007. D had resigned from the company in 1999, following an internal investigation suggesting he had diverted business in breach of contract. Criminal proceedings against D were abandoned. A malicious falsehood claim brought by D against R was settled. In November 2007 D threatened to publish a fictitious internet 'novella' featuring P & Q, thinly disguised, partaking in unsavoury sexual conduct.
Issue
Whether a permanent injunction was justified in the circumstances
Held
Granting the injunction in favour of P & Q but adjourning the argument in relation to R, the corporate claimant;
(1) There was no conceivable public interest in making scurrilous allegations against P & Q, transparently or indirectly.
(2) There was no realistic prospect of any defence succeeding.
(3) D had not confirmed he would not publish the allegations as threatened.
Comment
An example of a privacy injunction involving false information in which there was nothing at all to be put in the Defendant's scales for the 'ultimate balancing act.'
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Instructing Solicitors
Eversheds for the Claimants; Defendant in person