A litigant whose application to make an anonymous statement in open court was refused cannot then claim anonymity for the application itself, the High Court has held.
Ruling in SWS v Department for Work and Pensions [2018] EWHC 2282 (QB), Mr Justice Warby held that there was no more than a ‘speculative possibility’ that the litigant’s identification might cause him embarrassment and damage to reputation, which was ‘not enough to justify anonymity’. The anonymous statement in open court was requested as part of a settlement between the man and the department after details of his health were revealed to his employer.
However, Warby J said: ‘Open justice is always the starting point; derogations can only be justified to the extent that they are necessary; and… the burden of adducing evidence and/or reasons to justify a derogation from open justice always falls on the applicant for such an order.’
