The Court of Appeal has handed down judgment in PMC v Cwm Taf Morgannwg University Health Board, determining several important jurisdictional questions concerning the principle of open justice.
These include the Court’s determination that there is a limited power at common law to derogate from that principle in civil or family court proceedings by making, within proceedings, both (a) an order to withhold or anonymise the names of a party or witness, including withholding information that would identify that person (a withholding order) and (b) an order restricting the reporting of material disclosed during the proceedings, whether in open court or through the public availability of court documents (a reporting restrictions order).
The context for the appeal was an application for an order containing both a withholding order and a reporting restrictions order (an anonymity order) in a personal injury claim brought by a severely injured child through his litigation friend. Nicklin J had refused to grant the order sought on the basis that (a) there was no statutory basis for making a reporting restrictions order in the absence of a withholding order and (b) the evidence did not support the making of a withholding order because material concerning the claimant and his claim was already in the public domain. The Judge concluded that a derogation from the open justice principle was not necessary.
The Court of Appeal’s judgment ([2025] EWCA Civ 1126) setting out its reasons for allowing the claimant’s appeal, and for concluding that an anonymity order drafted in prospective terms was strictly necessary in this case in the interests of justice, is here. It was handed down on Thursday 28 August. Nicklin J’s first instance judgment ([2024] EWHC 2969 (KB)) is here.
Luke Browne was counsel for the BBC as an interested party.