Open justice ‘victory’ revisited

The Supreme Court’s decision in Cape Intermediate Holdings Ltd v Dring (Asbestos Victims Support Groups Forum UK) [2019] UKSC 38 [2019] All ER (D) 161 (Jul) is important in the development of attempts by individuals who are not parties to litigation (‘non-parties’) to find out about a case by having access to court documents.

The news story in NLJ (‘Victory for open justice’  NLJ online 31 July 2019) reports that the Supreme Court said of the case: ‘The default position should be to grant access to documents placed before a judge and referred to by a party at trial unless there was a good reason not to do so. It should not be limited by what the judge has chosen to read.’ The court did say that but only because they were quoting what the Asbestos Victims Forum were asking for. It is not what the court ordered.

The court agreed with the Court of Appeal ([2018] EWCA Civ 1795 ...