Attorneys for the HEART Trust/NSTA say the agency may have little chance of overturning an order to release four years of its board minutes.
It’s in relation to an Access To Information, ATI, request by former HEART Senior HR Manager, Sonia Ingleton, as part of a long-term dispute with the Trust.
Ingleton used the ATI Act to get four years of the Trust’s board minutes, with HEART handing them over heavily redacted.
But the ATI Appeal Tribunal ordered full, unredacted disclosure.
Nationwide News has seen legal advice given to the Trust, which suggests it has little chance of overturning the ruling at judicial review.
Chevon Campbell reports.
Last month, the Access to Information Appeal Tribunal ordered HEART to hand over its unredacted board minutes from 2020 to 2023, including audit, human resources and finance committee reports.
The Tribunal found the Trust failed to justify a single one of its redactions.
In a brief to HEART dated October 26, the Trust’s attorneys say the decision may be beyond challenge, except on a few narrow points.
They put the chances of winning a judicial review at 50% to 55%.
The lawyers also acknowledge weaknesses in HEART’s own case.
They say the Trust gave no reasons when it first blacked out sections of the minutes, that its redactions changed during the hearing, and that its evidence was general.
They warn that a court challenge could be seen as further resisting disclosure.
Still, they advise that the minutes should not be handed over until the question of who pays to copy them is settled.
The documents also show the Trust had not itself reviewed its committee minutes to decide what should be disclosed before the Tribunal ordered their release.
The lawyers recommended a court challenge focused on protecting legal advice contained in the minutes.
They also suggested HEART consider releasing the parts that aren’t in dispute as a sign of good faith.
Days later, counsel asked HEART to choose how wide the challenge should be, from a narrow bid to shield privileged legal advice to an attempt to overturn the Tribunal’s entire decision.
The Tribunal’s 21-day deadline passed on November 2, and none of the minutes have been released.
The case was brought by former senior manager Sonia Ingleton, whose disciplinary process ended with her retirement in December 2024.
