The Supreme Court has overturned part of a discovery order requiring the Church of Scientology Mission of Dublin and three individual defendants to obtain documents held by a Scientology organisation in England.
Mary Johnson brought proceedings in 1995 seeking damages for alleged conspiracy, misrepresentation, breach of constitutional rights and libel, along with repayment of money she said had been obtained through undue influence. The underlying claims remain to be decided and were not determined in this appeal.
The dispute before the Supreme Court concerned documents Ms Johnson said had been created during activities at Scientology premises in East Grinstead, England. These included test results, a “Success Story”, a security checklist and an agreement said to have been signed with the Sea Org.
The High Court had concluded that the documents were effectively obtainable by the Dublin defendants because the English and Irish Scientology bodies were branches of the same institution. It directed the first defendant to procure and disclose them.
Mrs Justice Denham, delivering the Supreme Court judgment, held that the relevant discovery rule requires disclosure of documents in a party’s possession, custody or power. A document is within a party’s “power” where that party has an enforceable legal right to obtain it.
The Supreme Court found that the English Scientology organisation and the Dublin defendant were separate corporate bodies. Although they pursued common objectives and had co-operated in some matters, it had not been established that the English organisation acted as agent for the Dublin body in creating or holding the documents at issue.
The court therefore found no enforceable legal right allowing the defendants to compel production of those documents from England.
The appeal was allowed on that basis. The ruling dealt only with the disputed discovery obligation and did not determine the merits of Ms Johnson’s substantive claims.