July 2003
Lady Archer's Confidential Facelift
Lady Archer won a court victory against her former secretary. For 13 years Jane Williams worked as a personal assistant to Lady Archer but decided to capitalise on her famous boss after being fired in November 2001. She sold story of Lady Archer's facelift to a tabloid newspaper. In February 2002, the Sunday Mirror reported that Lady Archer had had plastic surgery in New York in 1997 and 1998.
Lady Archer successfully argued that information disclosed to Ms Williams during her employment was confidential: "If it was not completely obvious that confidentiality was of the highest importance both pre and post termination (of her employment) it was explicitly stated on a number of occasions."
Lady Archer asked the High Court to award her damages for breach of confidence and a permanent injunction against the "trusted member of staff" who allegedly sold details of her private life to the media. During the trial Lady Archer emphasised that the aim of the litigation was not to secure damages but to protect Lady Archer's privacy and home life.
Lady Archer was awarded £2,500 in damages and an injunction was issued barring Ms Williams revealing further details about Lady Archer or her family. Ms Williams is also liable to pay for her ex-employer's legal costs estimated at around £100,000.
Briffa comment:
Obligation to keep information confidential can arise from mere circumstances but the best way to protect one's privacy and 'secret' information is to have a confidentiality agreement in place. Such agreement imposes duty of the party receiving information to keep that information confidential to the point when the information becomes public knowledge.