Tuesday 13 October 2009

Carter Ruck goes much, much, much too far

The notorious law firm Carter-Ruck specialises in protecting rich clients and big companies from the glare of publicity through libel actions and the threat of them, not to mention all-encompassing super-injunctions.

The Guardian is reporting this afternoon that Carter-Ruck has now dropped an injunction, which it gained last night, which prevented it reporting a parliamentary question revealing that Carter-Ruck had obtained an earlier injunction to cover-up oil trader Trafigura's outrageous behaviour in having toxic waste dumped in the Ivory Coast.

Yes, that's right. A judge actually granted an injunction that prevented a newspaper reporting the proceedings of Parliament. It is not clear which action is the most shameful, Carter-Ruck's attempt to challenge one of the basic freedoms of our democracy or the judge's decision to back them.

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