The High Court has ordered Ryanair to provide a redacted internal investigation report to a former pilot defending the airline’s defamation action, subject to restrictions on who may see it and how it may be used. The court refused his separate application for documents from a safety presentation held after the incident.
The rulings, made by Mr Justice Barr on 6 November 2019, concern pre-trial discovery. They do not decide whether the pilot’s online posts were defamatory or whether his pleaded defences will succeed.
Ryanair’s action arose from posts made in December 2012 under the pseudonym “Enjoy The View” on the Professional Pilots Rumour Network. The posts criticised the airline’s safety culture and referred to a September 2012 incident involving a Ryanair flight approaching Memmingen Airport in Germany. The flight crew carried out a missed approach after terrain warnings and later landed safely. The cockpit voice recorder recordings were not available to investigators.
Ryanair claimed the posts conveyed that its procedures and workplace culture compromised safety. The defendant denied that they bore the meanings pleaded by the airline. He also pleaded, among other defences, that certain meanings were true and that the publication was fair and reasonable on a matter of public interest. Those matters remain for trial.
The pilot sought an unredacted copy of Ryanair’s Base Investigation Report, while accepting that names and other identifying details could be removed. Ryanair argued that aviation legislation protected the report’s confidentiality and that disclosure could discourage frank participation in future safety investigations. The pilot said the report was relevant to his defence.
Justice Barr found the report relevant and necessary to the issues at trial, including because it could assist the defence and the pilot’s challenge to Ryanair’s case. After balancing its importance against the confidentiality concerns, the judge ordered Ryanair to provide the report with identifying information redacted. He said he could not explain further the report’s materiality without revealing its contents.
The order limits circulation: Ryanair must provide six copies to the defendant’s solicitor, who may not copy them. Copies may be supplied to counsel and up to two retained experts, subject to conditions; the defendant may view the report at the solicitor’s office. The copies must generally be returned at the end of the hearing or on settlement. The order was stayed for four weeks, with the stay continuing if an appeal was lodged within that period, pending its determination.
The judge refused discovery of documents from an Operations Roadshow presentation given by Ryanair’s chief pilot after the incident. He found the request did not fall within the parties’ earlier discovery arrangement, there was no evidence of what the presentation materials contained or how they would assist the defence, and the presentation formed part of the airline’s ongoing safety management.