The High Court has struck out proceedings issued in 2019 by Gerardine Scanlan against lawyers, Grant Thornton, the State and the Data Protection Commission, finding that the claims were fundamentally misconceived or an abuse of process. It also made an Isaac Wunder order requiring her to obtain High Court leave before bringing specified further proceedings connected with Grant Thornton and its legal representatives.
In a judgment delivered on 21 December 2021, Ms Justice Butler said the 2019 case sought to revisit issues raised in separate proceedings brought by Grant Thornton in 2015. Those proceedings, which concerned confidential material inadvertently sent to Ms Scanlan, had not yet reached trial. The judge stressed that the 2019 ruling did not decide the parties’ remaining claims in the 2015 case.
Ms Scanlan’s 2019 action alleged, among other matters, that the 2015 proceedings were unlawful, that she had been denied fair procedures and that the lawyers and public bodies had breached her rights. The defendants sought to strike out the case under the Rules of the Superior Courts or under the court’s inherent jurisdiction. The judge dealt with the applications together and struck out the claims under the court’s inherent jurisdiction.
The court found no stateable claim against the lawyers for acting for the opposing party in litigation. It also held that Grant Thornton’s decision not to pursue certain data protection claims in the 2015 proceedings did not give Ms Scanlan a right to sue over their withdrawal. Her remaining complaints about the handling of her data and the alleged breach could be pursued through her counterclaim in the 2015 proceedings, the judge said.
The claims against the State were dismissed. The judge held that the State was not liable for individual judicial decisions and that claims based on the Attorney General’s or the data protection authority’s failure to join the earlier proceedings amounted to a collateral attack on earlier rulings. As to the Data Protection Commission, the judgment said the evidence showed that it had investigated Ms Scanlan’s complaints. The court did not decide whether the Commission had been guilty of unreasonable delay; it held that a claim about delay in carrying out statutory functions could not properly proceed as a tort claim in these plenary proceedings.
The judge also ordered that Ms Scanlan may not bring further proceedings against Grant Thornton, its partners or employees, or the specified solicitors and barristers acting for it, without leave of the High Court. The order was limited to the firm and legal representatives who had acted or were acting against her on Grant Thornton’s behalf. The court noted that the 2015 proceedings remained live, including Ms Scanlan’s counterclaim for damages, and said those issues should be brought to trial without further unnecessary delay.