Press victory for freedom of speech in relation to sexual harassment allegations
Judge refuses to grant injunction, in case supported by the National Union of Journalists.
Taylor Hampton successfully acted for Shaun Dey, a film maker from Reel News, in defending an application by the Transport Salaried Staff’s Association (TSSA) for an interim injunction against the reporter and Reel News to stop publication of allegations of sexual harassment at the Union. Shaun Dey was supported throughout in resisting the injunction by the National Union of Journalists.
Mr Dey had produced and published a video interview with a former TSSA employee revealing allegations of sexual harassment at the Union. The former employee had signed a non-disclosure agreement settling her case on leaving her previous role. Following the publication of the video, the TSSA applied for an immediate injunction requiring Mr Dey to remove the video and preventing publication of any further information which may allegedly be in breach of the non-disclosure agreement.
The Judge hearing the case refused to grant the injunction. In his decision the Judge ruled that the TSSA had not shown they would be more likely than not to establish at trial that the publication should be prohibited, and so refused to grant an interim injunction.
The content of Mr Dey’s video was firmly established in the public domain, and had been widely viewed on Reel News and its social media platforms, in addition to an article by The Guardian which was published during the hearing. Mr Justice Lane also took into consideration Mr Dey’s intention to defend the publication at trial as being in the public interest. Having dismissed the TSSA’s application for an injunction, the Judge ordered the TSSA to pay Mr Dey’s legal costs.
Following the court’s judgment the TSSA issued a press release announcing that it has agreed to meet with the TUC to establish an independent investigation into the allegations of sexual harassment and will re-evaluate its use of non-disclosure agreements with employees. The TSSA concluded that in future they hope to achieve full transparency and would not be seeking further injunctions or similar legal action.
Mr Dey was represented by Taylor Hampton Solicitors and Aidan Eardley QC of 5RB.