Kevin Winters, Niall Murphy, Joesph McVeigh, Gerard McNamara, Peter Corrigan, Michael Crawford, Paul Pierce, Darragh Mackin and KRW Law LLP and News Group Newspapers Limited
| Jurisdiction | Northern Ireland |
| Judge | McFarland J |
| Judgment Date | 19 April 2023 |
| Neutral Citation | [2023] NIKB 45 |
| Date | 19 April 2023 |
| Court | King's Bench Division (Northern Ireland) |
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Neutral Citation No: [2023] NIKB 45
Judgment: approved by the court for handing down
(subject to editorial corrections)*
Ref: McF12136
ICOS No: 16/123266
Delivered: 19/04/2023
IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUSTICE IN NORTHERN IRELAND
___________
KING’S BENCH DIVISION
___________
Between:
KEVIN WINTERS
NIALL MURPHY
JOSEPH McVEIGH
GERARD McNAMARA
PETER CORRIGAN
MICHAEL CRAWFORD
PAUL PIERCE
DARRAGH MACKIN
KRW LAW LLP
Plaintiffs
v
NEWS GROUP NEWSPAPERS LIMITED
Defendant
__________
Mr F O’Donoghue KC with Mr P Girvan and Mr P Wilson (instructed by KRW Law
Solicitors) for the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 6th, 7th, and 9th Plaintiffs
Mr P Hopkins (instructed by Phoenix Law solicitors) for the 5th and 8th Plaintiffs
Dr T McGleenan KC with Mr J Scherbel-Ball (instructed by A&L Goodbody Solicitors)
for the Defendant
___________
McFARLAND J
Introduction
[1] This judgment sets out my ruling in respect of an application on summons by
the defendant made on 21 February 2023 for discovery and inspection of specified
documents by the plaintiffs. The fifth and eighth plaintiffs had responded to the
summons by providing discovery of documents within their control to the
satisfaction of the defendant and as a consequence no order is sought against them.
These plaintiffs did not participate in the hearing on 27 and 28 March 2023. The
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provision of these documents resulted in the defendant expanding the list of
documents sought from the remaining plaintiffs under the summons. The first,
second, third, fourth, sixth, and seventh plaintiffs are represented by the ninth
plaintiff (a firm of solicitors in which they are partners). The ninth plaintiff also
represents itself. The fifth and eighth plaintiffs are represented by Phoenix Law.
[2] For convenience I will refer to the first, second, third, fourth, sixth, seventh
and ninth plaintiffs as “the KRW plaintiffs” and the fifth and eighth plaintiffs as “the
Phoenix plaintiffs” in this judgment. At the time of the issue of proceedings in 2016
the first, second, third, fourth, fifth, sixth and seventh plaintiffs were partners in the
ninth plaintiff and the eighth plaintiff was an employee of the ninth plaintiff.
Background
[3] By writ of summons issued on 16 December 2016, the KRW plaintiffs and the
Phoenix plaintiffs claimed damages for harassment, defamation, breach of privacy
and data protection, and breach of copyright. The claim arises out of the publication
by the defendant in its newspaper The Sun and its on-line version of that newspaper
of articles on 7 December 2016, 8 December 2016 and 10 December 2016.
[4] I have set out below the dates of the pleadings and a judgment relevant to this
application:
a) Writ of summons dated 16 December 2016.
b) Statement of claim served 6 February 2017.
c) Defence served 9 March 2017.
d) Reply to defence served 21 April 2017.
e) Amended statement of claim served 15 June 2017.
f) Judgment of Stephens LJ dated 6 November 2017 ([2017] NIQB 100) (“the
meanings judgment”).
g) Second amended statement of claim served 30 November 2017.
h) Amended defence served 21 December 2017.
[5] The KRW plaintiffs have applied by summons dated 24 February 2023 to
further amend their statement of claim and their reply to defence. The KRW
plaintiffs have furnished six further versions of their proposed amendments to the
statement of claim and two versions of their proposed amendments to the reply to
defence. The court has fixed 12 May 2023 for determination of this application
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