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Footballer’s rent dispute published after court challenge

A regional daily was able to publish details of a Premier League footballer’s legal dispute with his former landlords after its reporter made a court challenge to allow her to see a claim document.

Reporter Emma King was at Newcastle County Court earlier this month where the case was due to go to trial involving former Sunderland player El Hadji Diouf, who now plays for Rangers.

He was taken to court by his previous landlords who claimed he owed them £12,000 from his time living at a property in the region but both parties agreed a settlement before it was due to start, which included a confidentiality clause.

Before the hearing, Emma asked the court clerk to ask the judge if she could see the claim form as it was a public document, arguing it was in the public interest to publish the allegations in the claim form.

When her request was mentioned in open court, Diouf’s barrister initially protested, citing the confidentiality agreement between the two parties.

But he was advised by Judge Christopher Walton that the case would be in the public interest because the footballer is a well-known figure and the barrister did not apply for an order to prevent publication of the document.

Emma said: “I was worried at one stage that I wasn’t going to get a story as I knew no details of the case would be mentioned in court both parties had agreed to settle out of court.

“But, as I was in court, I was able to make my interest in the claim form known and the judge then made clear that it was a public document, despite the existence of a confidentiality agreement between the two parties.”

The case centred on a house in the village of Ponteland which Diouf rented in October 2008 but left four months later, believing his tenancy was about to expire.

But the owners of the house, Walter and Lesley Zolnacz, maintained the tenancy was for 11 months, and claimed he failed to pay three instalments of his £4,000-a-month rent.

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