Hinduja v Hinduja – Georgia Bedworth and James Kirby in the Court of Appeal
5th Dec 2022
On 11 November 2022, the Court of Appeal handed down judgment in Hinduja v Hinduja [2022] EWCA Civ 1492. The judgment permits reporting of Court of Protection proceedings relating to SP Hinduja, whilst preserving some reporting restrictions to safeguard his privacy in relation to health, care and family life. It is the first time the Court of Appeal has considered the transparency provisions which govern matters of privacy and reporting in the Court of Protection.
Georgia Bedworth and James Kirby acted for SP Hinduja’s daughters, Vinoo and Shanu SP Hinduja. The Court of Appeal’s judgment represents a significant victory for Vinoo and Shanu’s position: namely, that the identification of the parties could be permitted, so long as reporting of the most private aspects of SP Hinduja’s private life remained protected. The Official Solicitor, as SP’s litigation friend, had advocated the lifting of virtually all reporting restrictions. The Court of Appeal rejected this position.
The wider Court of Protection proceedings concern the property and affairs and welfare of SP Hinduja, the patriarch of the Hinduja family and leader of a global business empire. They have been ongoing since June 2020 and have been the subject of numerous hearings before Mr Justice Hayden, the Vice-President of the Court of Protection.
The Court of Protection case is one of a number of sets of proceedings in multiple jurisdictions relating to the Hinduja family and its businesses. These include proceedings in the Chancery Division, in which Eason Rajah KC, Georgia Bedworth and James Kirby have acted for SP Hinduja (acting by Vinoo Hinduja as his litigation friend). These were reported in Hinduja v Hinduja [2020] EWHC 1533 (Ch), [2020] 4 WLR 93. For more details, please see here.
The Court of Appeal’s judgment has attracted widespread media interest, including in The Times, the Financial Times and Bloomberg, as well as in the Indian press.
Georgia Bedworth
Call 2001
James Kirby
Call 2017
