Yet another Major Victory in Group Litigation vs
Post Office Limited
Post Office Limited
Following completion of 5 week Common Issues trial held in the High Court’s Technology and Construction Court at the Rolls Building in London during November 2018, the Judgment for this trial, the first major victory for the group, was handed down on March 15th 2019.
The second of this series of trials, which addressed the issues relating to the Horizon system itself, including expert evidence from IT experts, began on 11th March 2019. This trial was interrupted on 21st March 2019 when Post Office Limited lodged an application for the Managing Judge, HH Justice Fraser to recuse (sack) himself, alleging that he was 'biased' in the Judgment he had handed down on 15th March. On 9th April 2019 the application was refused, as was leave to apply to the Court of Appeal.
Friday 10th May 2019, The Court of Appeal dismissed Post Office Limited’s application for permission to appeal Mr Justice Fraser’s recusal judgment. The Horizon trial continued from 4th June 2019 under the same Managing Judge.
Thursday 23rd May 2019, at a hearing under the direction of the Managing Judge, HH Justice Fraser, Post Office Limited was refused permission to appeal the Common Issue Judgment on all of the 48 grounds it had sought permission to. Post Office Limited was also ordered by the court to pay £5.5 million towards the Claimants' legal costs of the Common Issues Trial and a further £300,000 towards the legal costs of Post Office Limited's failed recusal application.
The second part of the delayed Horizon trial took place during weeks of the 3rd and 10th June 2019 when expert evidence of the IT system was heard. Closings for this trial were heard on 1st and 2nd July 2019 and the Judgment is due to be handed down at 2pm on Monday 16 December 2019 in the Rolls Building, London.
On 28th June 2019, Post Office Limited made an application for permission to appeal the Common Issues Judgment to the Court of Appeal. This application was heard by Lord Justice Coulson at the Royal Courts of Justice on 12 November 2019 and on 22 November 2019 the Application was refused on all of its 26 grounds. This now means that the Common Issues Judgment stands which not only has major implications for the Post Office with regard to the legal action but should have significant impact on all other serving Subpostmasters.
The next trial, which will address limitation and breach, is currently set to begin the week of 2nd March 2020.
If you want to keep up with the latest progress of the trials, Nick Wallis, the reporter who has been following this issue for a number of years, attends each day of the court sits and has been keeping his http://www.postofficetrial.com/ website updated, where you can find his reports from previous days and a number of associated articles.
This legal action is now closed to new applicants, however the JFSA has updated its advice to any serving Subpostmaster who finds they have run into problems with Post Office whilst using its Horizon system, and details can be found here. For any ex-Subpostmaster who has only just discovered the legal action and would have registered to join if they had been aware of it early, our advice is still to contact Freeths LLP, the legal firm representing the Claimants in this action.
The second of this series of trials, which addressed the issues relating to the Horizon system itself, including expert evidence from IT experts, began on 11th March 2019. This trial was interrupted on 21st March 2019 when Post Office Limited lodged an application for the Managing Judge, HH Justice Fraser to recuse (sack) himself, alleging that he was 'biased' in the Judgment he had handed down on 15th March. On 9th April 2019 the application was refused, as was leave to apply to the Court of Appeal.
Friday 10th May 2019, The Court of Appeal dismissed Post Office Limited’s application for permission to appeal Mr Justice Fraser’s recusal judgment. The Horizon trial continued from 4th June 2019 under the same Managing Judge.
Thursday 23rd May 2019, at a hearing under the direction of the Managing Judge, HH Justice Fraser, Post Office Limited was refused permission to appeal the Common Issue Judgment on all of the 48 grounds it had sought permission to. Post Office Limited was also ordered by the court to pay £5.5 million towards the Claimants' legal costs of the Common Issues Trial and a further £300,000 towards the legal costs of Post Office Limited's failed recusal application.
The second part of the delayed Horizon trial took place during weeks of the 3rd and 10th June 2019 when expert evidence of the IT system was heard. Closings for this trial were heard on 1st and 2nd July 2019 and the Judgment is due to be handed down at 2pm on Monday 16 December 2019 in the Rolls Building, London.
On 28th June 2019, Post Office Limited made an application for permission to appeal the Common Issues Judgment to the Court of Appeal. This application was heard by Lord Justice Coulson at the Royal Courts of Justice on 12 November 2019 and on 22 November 2019 the Application was refused on all of its 26 grounds. This now means that the Common Issues Judgment stands which not only has major implications for the Post Office with regard to the legal action but should have significant impact on all other serving Subpostmasters.
The next trial, which will address limitation and breach, is currently set to begin the week of 2nd March 2020.
If you want to keep up with the latest progress of the trials, Nick Wallis, the reporter who has been following this issue for a number of years, attends each day of the court sits and has been keeping his http://www.postofficetrial.com/ website updated, where you can find his reports from previous days and a number of associated articles.
This legal action is now closed to new applicants, however the JFSA has updated its advice to any serving Subpostmaster who finds they have run into problems with Post Office whilst using its Horizon system, and details can be found here. For any ex-Subpostmaster who has only just discovered the legal action and would have registered to join if they had been aware of it early, our advice is still to contact Freeths LLP, the legal firm representing the Claimants in this action.