Kirsten Morel legal fees payment (FOI)

​​Request

Please tell me IF Mr Morel paid for the legal fees HIMSELF for this case & IF so I am not seeking any further information!

OR IF the legal fees were paid for by the Government the total costs with breakdown of costs!

Many thanks

Response

Your Freedom of Information request is presumed to relate to a court application made by Bretagne Angleterre Irlande SA seeking permission to bring a judicial review of a decision made by the Minister for Sustainable Economic Development. 

This action was taken against the Minister for Sustainable Economic Development as a corporation sole under the States of Jersey Law 2005 and not against Deputy Morel as an individual or current office holder. Therefore, costs for the court case were covered by Government of Jersey. 

Following the decision by the Court of Appeal to dismiss the request for a judicial review, the Government of Jersey will be seeking a recovery of costs in line with usual protocols.

Both the total cost and their constituent parts are commercially sensitive. Therefore, Article 33 of the Freedom of Information (Jersey) Law 2011 has been applied.

Article applied

Article 33 - Commercial interests

Information is qualified exempt information if –

(a) it constitutes a trade secret; or

(b) its disclosure would, or would be likely to, prejudice the commercial interests of a person (including the scheduled public authority holding the information).

Public Interest test

Article 33(b) of the Freedom of Information Law allows an authority to refuse a request for information where its disclosure would, or would be likely to, prejudice the commercial interests of a person (including the scheduled public authority holding the information). 

Whilst it is accepted that the public may have an interest in the requested information, it is considered that releasing this information could affect the commercial interests of the suppliers and the Government of Jersey.​