SCOTLAND
Scottish Legal News
A legal challenge over the appointment of Susan O’Brien QC to chair an inquiry into historic child abuse in Scotland has been refused by a judge in the Court of Session.
The Congregation of the Poor Sisters of Nazareth and The Daughters of Charity of Saint Vincent de Paul sought judicial review of the decision of the Scottish Ministers to appoint Ms O’Brien – who had previously acted for alleged victims of abuse – as chair to the Historical Child Abuse Inquiry in terms of section 4(1) of the Inquiries Act 2005, relying on the common law principle of “apparent bias”.
However, Lord Woolman ruled that the “fair-minded and informed observer” would not conclude that there was a real possibility of bias.
The court heard that in 2007, two alleged victims of abuse had sought damages from the Poor Sisters of Nazareth, but their claims were held to be “time barred” and Ms O’Brien represented the two clients in an appeal before the House of Lords, which upheld the time bar plea.
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