ICO The complainant was the subject of a civil proceedings order issued under section 42 of the Supreme Court Act 1981. The complainant asked the public authority for a letter about him which was sent by the judges to the Attorney General’s Office after his court case that initiated this order. The public authority did … Continue reading Her Majestys Courts Service (Decision Notice): ICO 25 Mar 2009
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An ex parte order allowing an action by a vexatious litigant is not appealable by the prospective defendant to the action permitted. Such a defendant to proceedings by a vexatious litigant against whom a civil proceedings order had been made was neither a party to the application for leave under section 42(3) nor was entitled … Continue reading Jones v Vans Colina: CA 15 Aug 1996
Application for permission to appeal against civil proceedings order. Judges: Kay LJ Citations: [2001] EWCA Civ 1168 Links: Bailii Statutes: Supreme Courts Act 1981 42 Jurisdiction: England and Wales Litigation Practice Updated: 04 October 2022; Ref: scu.218240
Application for Civil Proceedings Order. Held: ‘This defendant has become a compulsive litigant who has lost touch with reality. Her remorseless pursuit of litigation is wholly without merit, is clearly vexatious and has perpetrated a waste of scarce judicial resources needed for the determination of proper claims. Nothing in the documents put in by the … Continue reading HM Attorney General v Foden: Admn 7 Apr 2005
Application had been made to register as a town or village green an area of land which was largely a boggy marsh. The local authority resisted the application wanting to use the land instead for housing. It then rejected advice it received from a non-statutory enquiry, and sought a declaration from the court as to … Continue reading Oxfordshire County Council v Oxford City Council and others: HL 24 May 2006
The respondent had been subject first to a Grepe v Loam order and then to an extended civil restraint order. The court had still faced many hopeless applications. An order was now sought that any future application for permission to appeal be heard by a nominated judge, and any oter application should be heard first … Continue reading Attorney General v Perotti: Admn 10 May 2006
The claimant had produced the Star War films which made use of props, in particular a ‘Stormtrooper’ helmet designed by the defendant. The defendant had then himself distributed models of the designs he had created. The appellant obtained judgment against the respondent in the US for punitive damages, but these had not been collected, and … Continue reading Lucasfilm Ltd and Others v Ainsworth and Another: SC 27 Jul 2011
The plaintiffs appealed an order that they should disclose who if any had funded their case. The case concerned failed business ventures in Portugal. Citations: [1997] EWCA Civ 2179 Jurisdiction: England and Wales Citing: Appeal from – Abraham and Another v Thompson and Others ChD 12-May-1997 The court may issue a stay of proceedings pending … Continue reading Abraham and Another v Thompson and Another: CA 24 Jul 1997
Civil Restraint Order Citations: [2003] EWHC 3114 (Admin) Links: Bailii Statutes: Supreme Court Act 1981 42 Jurisdiction: England and Wales Citing: See Also – Bhamjee v Forsdick and others CA 14-May-2003 . . See Also – Bhamjee v Forsdick and Others (No 2) CA 25-Jul-2003 The Court set out the range of remedies available to … Continue reading Attorney General v Bhamjee: Admn 8 Dec 2003
An order had been made enjoining the respondent from entering the Royal Courts of Justice, or commencing proceedings, without written leave. Some insolvency applications remained outstanding. The applications made several repetitions of applications already refused. No new evidence or arguments were put forward. ‘Mr. Ebert has either lost touch with the realities of his position … Continue reading Regina v Ebert: ChD 12 Nov 2001
A section 42 order embraced applications to or in the Court of Appeal as well as below. A person against whom a vexatious litigant order was sought could not seek to argue anew the findings which had already been made against him by the courts in which he had been litigating. In dealing with an … Continue reading Attorney General v Jones: CA 1990
The Court was asked whether an employee’s remuneration is taxable as his or her emoluments or earnings when it is paid to a third party in circumstances in which the employee had no prior entitlement to receive it himself or herself. Held: The company’s appeal failed. The purposive approach to the interpretation of the general … Continue reading RFC 2012 Plc (Formerly The Rangers Football Club Plc) v Advocate General for Scotland: SC 5 Jul 2017
The claimant sought leave to cross examine an officer of the defendant in connection with his affidavit sworn in search order proceedings. The case had a history of deceit and dishonest oral evidence. Held: Though such an order would be exceptional, sufficient grounds had been shown in this case. Judges: Morison J Citations: [2006] EWHC … Continue reading Kensington International Ltd v Republic of Congo and Another: ComC 20 Jul 2006
An indictment had not been signed despite a clear statutory provision that it should be. The defects were claimed to have been cured by amendment before sentence. Held: The convictions failed. Sections 1(1) and 2(1) of the 1933 Act which provided for a bill of indictment (which had of itself no legal standing save as … Continue reading Clarke, Regina v; Regina v McDaid: HL 6 Feb 2008
The plaintiffs were Indian Chiefs from Canada. They complained that the 1982 Act which granted independence to Canada, had been passed without their consent, which they said was required. They feared the loss of rights embedded by historical treaties. The Attorney General sought the strike out of the claims. Held: The application for a strike … Continue reading Manuel and Others v Attorney-General; Noltcho and Others v Attorney-General: ChD 7 May 1982
The appellants were barristers against whom wasted costs orders had been made. They appealed. They had made allegations of fraud in pleadings, but without being able to provide evidence to support the allegation. This was itself a breach of the Bar Council Code of Practice. Held: A barrister must not draft a pleading containing an … Continue reading Medcalf v Mardell, Weatherill and Another: HL 27 Jun 2002
The Court set out the range of remedies available to protect court processes from abuse by litigants who persist in making applications totally devoid of merit. The courts are facing very serious contemporary problems created by the activities of litigants who bombard them with applications which have no merit at all. The court made an … Continue reading Bhamjee v Forsdick and Others (No 2): CA 25 Jul 2003
Judges: Brooke, Carnwath LJJ Citations: [2003] EWCA Civ 799 Links: Bailii Statutes: Supreme Court Act 1981 42 Jurisdiction: England and Wales Citing: See also – Bhamjee v Forsdick and Others (No 2) CA 25-Jul-2003 The Court set out the range of remedies available to protect court processes from abuse by litigants who persist in making … Continue reading Bhamjee v Forsdick and others: CA 14 May 2003
The appellant had been detained in a mental hospital after a conviction. Later released, he was recalled, but he was not given written reasons as required by a DoH circular. However the SS referred the recall immediately to the Tribunal. He appealed from refusal of a finding that his subsequent detention had been unlawful. Held: … Continue reading Lee-Hirons v Secretary of State for Justice: SC 27 Jul 2016
Civil proceedings order. The defendant had commenced ten sets of proceedings which the court held amounted to serial and repeated litigation of the same points. Held: The fact that new details had emerged which might throw new light on the underlying events did not mean that the respondent’s behaviour did not come within the section. … Continue reading HM Attorney General v Pepin: Admn 27 May 2004
A civil proceedings order was sought against the respondent. The respondent had commenced many actions against a particular company, which it was claimed were vindictive in nature. Held: Though the earliest proceedings had been vexatious it was not possible to characterise more recent attempts to litigate as such. ‘An improper motive may convert an otherwise … Continue reading HM Attorney-General v Ian Richard Flack: Admn 29 Nov 2000
(US Supreme Court) Underhill, a US citizen, had constructed a waterworks in Bolivar for the government which was eventually overthrown by revolutionary forces, one of whose generals was Hernandez. After Hernandez had captured Bolivar, Underhill sought to leave. Hernandez refused the request and confined Underhill to his house, in order to coerce Underhill into continuing … Continue reading Underhill v Hernandez: 29 Nov 1897
Appeals were made against orders under s42 of the 1981 Act restraining the appellants from commencing proceedings without consent of the court. Held: The non-disclosure of a bench memorandum was the usual practice internationally, and not a breach of the litigant’s human rights. The right to present a case, did not include the right to … Continue reading Attorney-General v Covey; Attorney-General v Matthews: CA 19 Feb 2001
An order that someone be denied access to the courts save with consent of a judge was a challenge to that individual’s constitutional rights, and should only be made if the statutory pre-conditions are fulfilled. It had to be shown that the litigant had habitually and persistently and without reasonable ground instituted vexatious civil proceedings. … Continue reading Attorney-General v Barker: CA 16 Feb 2000
The applicant sought to bring an action to challenge new rules on approval of export credit guarantees. The company was non-profit and founded to support investigation of bribery. It had applied for a protected costs order to support the application, and now appealed its refusal. Held: The court restated the practice on the making of … Continue reading Corner House Research, Regina (on the Application of) v Secretary of State for Trade and Industry: CA 1 Mar 2005
Challenge to the making of a non-party costs order under section 51 of the Senior Courts Act 1981 against the product liability insurer of one of the defendants in litigation being managed under a Group Litigation Order (‘GLO’). Many of the claimants in the successful action were not insured, and Travelers, the defendant’s insurers resisted … Continue reading Travelers Insurance Company Ltd v XYZ: SC 30 Oct 2019
A section 51 application was made because the cover was limited under the defendant’s liability policy and insufficient to pay all the damages, let alone any part of the costs, and the defendant was not worth powder and shot. Nonetheless the claim fell squarely within the cover provided by the policy. It was an insured … Continue reading TGA Chapman Limited; Benson Turner Limited v Christopher and Sun Alliance and London Insurance Plc: CA 8 Jul 1997
May LJ said that the three questions which a Judge has to decide under section 69 so as to conclude whether a defamation trial should by by jury or judge alone, ‘requires a value judgment, based on what he is told by counsel, and his experience at the Bar and on the Bench.’ Judges: May … Continue reading Viscount de L’Isle v Times Newspapers Ltd: CA 1988
The claimant was detained in a secure Mental Hospital. He complained at the seclusions policy applied by the hospital, saying that it departed from the Guidance issued for such policies by the Secretary of State under the Act. Held: The House allowed the Hospital’s appeal. The policy was lawful. Seclusion was to be seen as … Continue reading Regina v Ashworth Hospital Authority (Now Mersey Care National Health Service Trust) ex parte Munjaz: HL 13 Oct 2005
Limits to Police Exemption from Liability The claimant, an elderly lady was bowled over and injured when police were chasing a suspect through the streets. As they arrested him they fell over on top of her. She appealed against refusal of her claim in negligence. Held: Her appeal succeeded. It is normally only in a … Continue reading Robinson v Chief Constable of West Yorkshire Police: SC 8 Feb 2018
Rehearing/Review – Little Difference on Appeal The appellant asked the Court to reverse a decision on the facts reached in the lower court. Held: The appeal failed (Majority decision). The court’s approach should be the same whether the case was dealt with as a rehearing or as a review. Tanfern was limited to appeals from … Continue reading Assicurazioni Generali Spa v Arab Insurance Group (BSC): CA 13 Nov 2002
The defendant had instituted over 80 fruitless actions over years. He had been made subject to a vexatious litigant order, but the Attorney General now requested additional injunctive relief. This was a very extreme instance of extreme litigation. He had since applied for permission over 150 times to begin different kinds of proceedings. He had … Continue reading HM Attorney-General v Ebert: Admn 21 Sep 2001
The claimants sought to bring an action for damages after a family member suspected of dealing drugs, was shot by the police. At the time he was naked. The police officer had been acquitted by a criminal court of murder. The chief constable now appealed a finding that he might nevertheless be liable in a … Continue reading Ashley and Another v Chief Constable of Sussex Police: HL 23 Apr 2008
The House considered the court’s jurisdiction to award costs out of central funds. Held: In this case there was no such power, but: ‘still more important, in the present context, is the special constitutional convention which jealously safeguards the exclusive control exercised by Parliament over both the levying and expenditure of the public revenue. It … Continue reading Steele Ford and Newton v Crown Prosecution Service (No.2): HL 1993
The claimant appealed against the denial of her claim that the defendant had infringed her right to respect for her private life. She was a model who had proclaimed publicly that she did not take drugs, but the defendant had published a story showing a picture of her leaving a drug addiction clinic, along with … Continue reading Campbell v Mirror Group Newspapers Ltd (MGN) (No 1): HL 6 May 2004
The trustees had contracted to sell shares in a private company held within the estate. A family member now claimed that they were held in trust after a settlement of a possible challenge to the will based in lack of testamentary capacity and undue influence. The trustees requested the court to determine the trusts on … Continue reading Jones and others v Firkin-Flood: ChD 17 Oct 2008
The claimant had been a passenger in a car driven by his now partner. They had an accident in New South Wales. The car was insured in Australia. He sought leave to sue in England and Wales because Australian law would limit the damages.
Held: . .
The parties had engaged in a bitter 95 day trial in which allegations of forgery, theft, false accounting, blackmail and arson. A company owning patents and other rights had become insolvent, and the real concern was the destination and ownership of . .
The two prisoners, serving life sentences for murder, had had their appeals rejected. They continued to protest innocence, and sought to bring their campaigns to public attention through the press, having oral interviews with journalists without . .
References: (1897) 168 US 250, [1897] USSC 197, 18 SCt 83, 42 L.Ed. 456 Links: Worldlii Coram: Fuller CJ (US Supreme Court) Fuller CJ said: ‘Every sovereign state is bound to respect the independence of every other sovereign state, and the courts of one country will not sit in judgment on the acts of the … Continue reading Underhill v Hernandez; 29 Nov 1897
