Elaina Cohen v Khalid Mahmood MP

Parties

Procedural Posture

Employment Appeal / Post Rule 3(10) Hearing, Application for Documents

Legal Issues

1. 1 Whether a non-party observer is entitled to documents from an Employment Appeal Tribunal hearing under the open justice principle
2. 2 Whether repeated applications for remote attendance and document provision justify refusal based on administrative burden and privacy concerns
3. 3 Whether the appellant's appeal grounds demonstrate any arguable error of law

Ratio Decidendi

Ms Cetin was permitted to attend the hearing remotely but was refused access to documents because she failed to provide sufficient justification for their necessity under the open justice principle, did not answer legitimate questions about her journalistic credentials or prior publication of tribunal materials, and the requested documents were not necessary to understand the limited scope of the Rule 3(10) hearing. The administrative burden and risk of dissemination of private material outweighed any asserted public interest.

Court Disposition

application for documents refused; remote attendance permitted

Orders

• Ms Cetin permitted to attend hearing remotely
• Ms Cetin refused provision of requested documents