Claim for compensation for prosecution ending in acquittal

Justices: Øie, Normann, Noer, Bull, Arntzen

A partner of an audit and consultancy firm, who had been indicted of breach of section 12-1 cf. section 12-2 of the Tax Assessment Act, was acquitted by the Court of Appeal. During the years of trial, his share of the firm's profit, the firm being organised as an internal partnership, had been reduced because of his work with the criminal case. The Supreme Court found that this represented a loss for which compensation could be sought under section 444 subsection 1 (a) of the Criminal Procedure Act. It was not a corporate loss for which the partner would not have been entitled to compensation. The claim was not based on a loss of income for the firm, but on a changed internal distribution of the profit between the partners. It therefore concerned a reduction of his personal, contract-based claim against the firm. This loss had been sustained, irrespective of whether the firm had incurred any damage.