Jonathan Aitken needs no reminding of the serious consequences which can follow from telling lies in Court. His unsuccessful crusade against ‘the cancer of bent and twisted journalism’, has cost him his reputation, marriage, financial security and freedom. After the collapse of Aitken’s libel action his debts were estimated at £8.5 million. He has now been declared bankrupt and his personal belongings are being auctioned by trustees acting for his creditors.
In January this year he pleaded guilty to perjury and perverting the course of justice. His crime was to lie to the High Court about details surrounding his stay at the Ritz Hotel in Paris and to draft a witness statement for his daughter which contained false information. He was sentenced by the Old Bailey in June to eighteen months in prison.
Prior to the Woolf reforms, litigating parties such as Jonathan Aitken, did not have to address the consequences of giving knowingly false accounts of events until reaching trial. Pleadings could be settled and witness statements drafted by lawyers without their clients or witnesses having any personal exposure for their inaccuracy. They were not sworn under oath and the legal system allowed amendments to be added to the case as new facts emerged.
The new Civil Procedure Rules introduced on 26 April 1999, however, require statements of case, defences and all witness statements to be verified by a Statement of Truth. This is a statement signed by the litigating party in a personal action, or in the case of a company, by one of its senior officers. The statement requires its maker to confirm his or her belief in the accuracy of the facts contained in the document. This will obviously require the maker of the statement to have full knowledge of all the facts within the document which is being verified.
Whether in business or personal actions this change will make litigants directly responsible to the Court for the accuracy of the information upon which their case is based and potentially liable for severe penalties if not.
The lesson is that, in the future, litigants will have to take more care if they are not to follow in the footsteps of Mr Aitken.
For further information please contact Simon Miller, 2 Park Lane, Leeds LS3 1ES, UK, Tel: +44 113 284 7000
This article was first published in the July 1999 Hammond Suddards Commercial Dispute Resolution Newsletter.
The information and opinions contained in this article are provided by Hammond Suddards. They should not be applied to any particular set of facts without appropriate legal or other professional advice.
