In
the High Court had granted Valbonne the injunction in December to restrain the other parties from acting over a disputed property. In a further two-day hearing last month, Valbonne had applied to continue that injunction to trial, while the respondents sought for it to be set aside on the basis of a series of alleged misrepresentations and non-disclosures in the December hearing.
During the latest proceedings, it was described by Mrs Justice Bacon how a translation of a key document presented to the court was a ‘complete fabrication’. The judge did not apportion any blame to representatives of Valbonne but said the ‘inescapable conclusion’ was that the court was ‘seriously misled’. The injunction ordered in December was discharged and will not be re-granted, after it was found to have been obtained on the basis of ‘serious and substantial’ breaches of the duty of full and frank disclosure.
By Michael Cross2021-03-02T15:50:00+00:00
Business owners who accused a senior solicitor with the Environment Agency of initiating a ‘vindictive’ prosecution and being willing to go to any length to gain a conviction whether fair or not have agreed to apologise and pay damages following a defamation action. Dylan Sadler, a prosecutor with the agency took action against the owners and operators of the Plants Galore garden centres in Devon after they posted a press release online following convictions for operating an unlicensed waste site.
Sadler sued, describing the allegations were false, defamatory and without foundation. In
Sadler v Joyner & Anor the High Court found for the claimant. Mr Richard Spearman QC ruled that the statement set out a litany of extremely serious complaints about the conduct of the EA in general and the claimant in particular and questioned his suitability to occupy his position as a solicitor.