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Threats! Email! Action!
By Steven | June 5, 2012
Barrister and privacy whizz John Edwards has found a way to get a quick injunction when privacy protection is urgently needed. It helps that the case looks like a slam dunk. The circumstances have a familiar ring: an ACC claimant mistakenly given private details about some other claimant’s claim, including her rehabilitation, threatens by email to release them, then when contacted by ACC refuses to promise not to.
Note though, that this case is not about Bronwyn Pullar. It involves a “Mr T”. Which might be why Ronald Young J said, in his written decision:
When punks start hasslin’ decent people, I make it my bidness.
Okay, he didn’t say that. But that’s the gist. He granted the injunction, after an urgent oral ex parte application under a special process in the High Court rules. The judge required the proceedings to be served on Mr T and gave him the right to apply to have the injunction set aside. When served, Mr T returned the papers and promised he had not retained other copies. As John says, a privacy win.
Oh, and memo to ACC: what’s going on with your data security? This is getting to be a habit.
Topics: Breach of confidence, Privacy tort | Comments Off on Threats! Email! Action!