The Information Rights Tribunal has refused the Information Commissioner's application to strike out an appeal relating to the application of s.42 Freedom of Information Act 2000 and the question of legal professional privilege (LLP).
The Appellant alleged that a local authority Monitoring Officer deliberately and unlawfully failed to disclose material documents pursuant to a Subject Access Request (SAR) and then fraudulently and/or dishonestly sought to conceal his misconduct by transmitting the SAR response to the applicant via a third-party firm of solicitors. The local authority refused to disclose documentation relating to the instructions to the third party firm on the basis that they were subject to LPP. The Appellant commenced Tribunal proceedings.
Curiously, the Information Commissioner made the strike out application rather than the local authority even though, on the basis of the Decision Notice, he had no special knowledge of the case and had simply decided that because third party solicitors were involved s.42 "automatically" applied. He presented no additional evidence or representations in support of the strike out application.
A Judge of the Tribunal has decided that the appeal does raise a triable issue so that the matter should proceed to a full hearing. The case continues.
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Ian Crow Multimedia Limited
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