Group Litigation vs Post Office Limited
561
Following the High Court Hearing during October 2017, the deadline for serving and ex-Subpostmasters to join the Group Litigation was extended until November 2017, this has resulted in a total of 561 Claimants in this current action. A slight increase on the 2011 reply by Post Office’s CEO Paula Vennells to a parliamentary question, which stated, that there are only ‘a tiny number (later referred to as 4) of ex-subpostmasters who appear to be making distinct allegation with respect to the operation of the Horizon system’.
With this legal action now closed to new applicants, 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 wanted to register to join if they had be aware of it early, our advice is still to contact Freeths LLP, the legal firm representing the Claimants in this action.
Lead Cases for November 2018 Hearing
The 12 potential Lead Cases, 6 selected by Post Office Limited and 6 by Freeths LLP, have already been selected, and it is from this group that the final 6 cases will be chosen for the common issues hearing in November. This will not mean that these individual cases will be decided ahead of the rest of the Group of 561, but these cases will be used to demonstrate some of the key issues, in particular, regarding the nature of the contract between the Claimants and Post Office that affects the entire Group. The outcome of the common issues hearing will influence how the case proceeds thenceforth.
With this legal action now closed to new applicants, 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 wanted to register to join if they had be aware of it early, our advice is still to contact Freeths LLP, the legal firm representing the Claimants in this action.
Lead Cases for November 2018 Hearing
The 12 potential Lead Cases, 6 selected by Post Office Limited and 6 by Freeths LLP, have already been selected, and it is from this group that the final 6 cases will be chosen for the common issues hearing in November. This will not mean that these individual cases will be decided ahead of the rest of the Group of 561, but these cases will be used to demonstrate some of the key issues, in particular, regarding the nature of the contract between the Claimants and Post Office that affects the entire Group. The outcome of the common issues hearing will influence how the case proceeds thenceforth.