Leigh drops case

Kate Chapman at Stuff reported:

It is a brave woman who takes on a government alone.

But with her professional reputation in tatters and a successful communications career hanging by a thread, Erin Leigh felt she had few options left.

It also takes a rich woman to challenge the establishment and, despite a recent Supreme Court ruling in her favour, Ms Leigh has had to abandon her defamation suit against the Environment Ministry and former deputy secretary Lindsay Gow. …

Ms Leigh has been caught up in the Christchurch earthquakes and felt financially unable to carry on the legal battle.

While happy with the result, she regretted not being able to carry on her own fight.

We should all remember the Leigh case in future, in case Labour tries to position itself as a champion of whistle-blowers.

Ms Leigh says his claims of her incompetence were completely untrue. She also laughs at accusations of being a National lackey.

“I’d always been a Labour Party voter. The first MP that I voted for was actually Trevor Mallard.

“It was beyond my imagination at that point that they would actually make up a whole lot of stuff that wasn’t true.”

That was the culture of the times. If you spoke out, you were dealt to.