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Hayes v Willoughby

Hayes v Willoughby

Case [2013] UKSC 17 20 March 2013

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Summary

Hilary Term
[2013] UKSC 17
On appeal from: [2011] EWCA Civ 1541

JUDGMENT

Hayes (FC) (Respondent) v Willoughby (Appellant)

before

Lord Neuberger, President
Lord Mance
Lord Wilson
Lord Sumption
Lord Reed

JUDGMENT GIVEN ON

20 March 2013

Heard on 17 January 2013

Appellant
Clive Wolman
(Instructed by Michael John Willoughby)

Respondent
Robin Allen QC
Akua Reindorf
(Instructed by Ginn & Co)

LORD SUMPTION (with whom Lord Neuberger and Lord Wilson agree)

Section 1(1) of the Protection from Harassment Act 1997 provides that a person "must not pursue a course of conduct (a) which amounts to harassment of another, and (b) which he knows or ought to know amounts to harassment of the other." Harassment is both a criminal offence under section 2 and a civil wrong under section 3. Under section 7(2), "references to harassing a person include alarming the person or causing the person distress", but the term is not otherwise defined. It is, however, an ordinary English word with a well understood meaning. Harassment is a persistent and deliberate course of unreasonable and oppressive conduct, targeted at another person, which is calculated to and does cause that person alarm, fear or distress: see Thomas v News Group Newspapers Ltd [2002] EMLR 4, para 30 (Lord Phillips of Worth Matravers MR). One of the more egregious forms of harassment is the stalking of women. But the Act is capable of applying to any form of harassment. Among the examples to come before the courts in recent years have been repeated offensive publications in a newspaper (as in Thomas); victimisation in the workplace (Majrowski v Guy's and St. Thomas's NHS Trust [2007] 1 AC 224); and campaigns against the employees of an arms manufacturer by political protesters (EDO MBM Technology Ltd v Axworthy [2005] EWHC 2490 (QB)).

The present appeal arises out of an action for damages for harassment and for an injunction to restrain its continuance. The question at issue is in what circumstances can such an action be defended on the ground that the alleged harasser was engaged in the prevention or detection of crime. Section 1(3) of the Act provides:

"(3) Subsection (1) does not apply to a course of conduct if the person who pursued it shows—

(a) that it was pursued for the purpose of preventing or detecting crime,

(b) that it was pursued under any enactment or rule of law or to comply with any condition or requirement imposed by any person under any enactment, or

(c) that in the particular circumstances the pursuit of the course of conduct was reasonable."

The plaintiff, Mr Timothy Hayes, is a businessman who used to manage a number of companies involved in software development. There is an issue about whether he also owns them, but for present purposes that does not matter. One of Mr Hayes's companies, IT-Map (UK) Ltd, used to employ the defendant, Mr Michael Willoughby. In 2002, the two of them fell out. Mr Hayes accused Mr Willoughby of…

Grounds of appeal

[14] The appellant contends that the primary judge erred in finding that the respondent had discharged the onus of establishing the matters required under the relevant provision.

[15] It was submitted that his Honour failed to give adequate weight to the evidence of the second witness, and that the findings of fact were not reasonably open on the material before the Court.

[16] The respondent, for its part, submits that no error is disclosed, and that the conclusions reached were well within the range of outcomes available to the primary judge.

Consideration

[17] It is convenient to deal first with the question of construction, as the resolution of that issue informs the remaining grounds advanced by the appellant.

[18] For the reasons that follow, we are of the view that the appeal should be allowed in part and the matter remitted for further determination.

Continue reading Hayes v Willoughby

Details

Case: [2013] UKSC 17
Decision Date