Its seminal
importance in the early gangster movie cycle
outweighed only
by its still exhilarating brilliance, this Howard Hughes production was the one unflawed classic the tycoon was involved with.
Would the public interest and the proper administration of justice
outweigh in
importance any public interest that may be protected
by upholding the claim for privilege?
It is useful to quote key observations
by Stadlen J [at paras 126 - 129]: «In my view, notwithstanding the absence in the FTPP proceedings of some of the statutory and non-statutory safeguards which apply to criminal proceedings... [I] n deciding whether it would be fair to admit the hearsay evidence, the requirements both of Article 6 and of the common law obliged the FTPP to take into account the absence of all those [safeguards]... [I] n my judgment, no reasonable panel in the position of the FTPP could have reasonably concluded that there were factors
outweighing the powerful factors pointing against the admission of the hearsay evidence... The means
by which the claimant can challenge the hearsay evidence are... not in my judgment capable of
outweighing those factors... The reality would appear to be that the factor which the FTPP considered decisive in favour of admitting the hearsay evidence was the serious nature of the allegations against the claimant coupled with the public interest in investigating such allegations and the FTPP's duty to protect the public interest in protecting patients, maintaining public confidence in the profession and declaring and upholding proper standards of behaviour... However, that factor on its own does not in my view diminish the weight which must be attached to the procedural safeguards to which a person accused of such allegations is entitled both at common law and under Article 6... The more serious the allegation, the greater the
importance of ensuring that the accused doctor is afforded fair and proper procedural safeguards.
The author emphasizes the
importance of Google's freedom of expression, which
outweighs the privacy interest, if any — privacy not being generally protected
by most state law.