Suspected blogger wins costs award against EQC
A man accused by the Earthquake Commission of leaking client files has been awarded yet-to-be-determined costs in the High Court.
Hot Topic
Long reads
A man accused by the Earthquake Commission of leaking client files has been awarded yet-to-be-determined costs in the High Court.
In April, EQC lodged proceedings against “unknown defendants”.
The commission successfully obtained court orders preventing further publication of what it believed were leaked confidential information about 83,000 clients who own residential properties in Canterbury.
When it began its proceeding EQC did not know who was responsible for leaking the information.
But it knew that an EQC employee had inadvertently emailed to Bryan Staples a spreadsheet containing details of the 83,000 clients.
Mr Staples is a former EQC employee and now an earthquake repair contractor.
EQC sent a copy of its proceedings and the court order to Mr Staples.
His lawyer Kathryn Dalziel – sister of Labour MP Lianne – went for costs against the commission.
Ms Dalziel argued that Mr Staples should not have been served, nor his name referred to in the EQC statement of claim, and that EQC had no information to suggest he supplied material to the blogger. He was not legally a party to the proceedings.
EQC’s lawyer says Mr Staples was not “served” but was given a “complementary copy” of the proceedings, that his position was that of a “prospective intervener”, and it gave Mr Staples the opportunity to determine if he was a person to whom the court orders were directed.
Justice David Collins accepts Mr Staples had not been served and that it was unusual for a non-party to be awarded costs.
But he says it is now clear Mr Staples has been put to unnecessary expense and that in these circumstances it is appropriate he be awarded costs.
The blogger who was the target of the EQC action has subsequently been revealed as Marc Krieger.
Chris Hutching
Thu, 04 Jul 2013
Thu, 04 Jul 2013
© All content copyright NBR. Do not reproduce in any form without permission, even if you have a paid subscription.
Suspected blogger wins costs award against EQC
30593