Appeal against an order of Deputy Master Eyre by which he struck out the appellant’s statements of case and dismissed the action with judgment for the defendant with costs. The claimant said that the procedures adopted by the Board in disciplinary proceedings had (inter alia) infringed her human rights. She had eventually been cleared of any breach of her professional code. The Board said that her claim had been delayed for more than a year and was out of time.
Held: There was sufficiently pleaded a case that the BSB indirectly discriminated against the appellant on racial or ethnic grounds by bringing the disciplinary proceedings against the claimant, but the claim was time-barred by section 7(5) of the 1998 Act: ‘Here, the ‘act complained of’ in the one human rights claim that I have held to be both adequately pleaded and sustainable for the purposes of a summary judgment application is the BSB’s ‘prosecution’ of the appellant. The decision to bring proceedings was taken on 9 June 2010 or at the latest in late July 2010 when the charges were served on the appellant. If time runs from either of those dates then the one-year time limit expired some 17 or 18 months before the issue of these proceedings in February 2013. If the BSB’s ‘prosecution’ of the appellant is considered to be a continuing state of affairs up to the tribunal decision, time under section 7 expired in May 2012.’
Judges:
Warby J
Citations:
[2014] EWHC 4324 (QB)
Links:
Statutes:
European Convention on Human Rights 14, Human Rights Act 1998 7(5)
Jurisdiction:
England and Wales
Cited by:
At first instance – O’Connor v Bar Standards Board CA 25-Jul-2016
The appellant said that the Board had infringed her human rights in its approach to disciplinary proceedings brought against her. She had been cleared and now sought a remedy. The Board successfully argued that her claims were out of time.
At QBD – O’Connor v Bar Standards Board SC 6-Dec-2017
The claimant barrister complained of the manner of conduct of the disciplinary proceedings brought against her. She had been cleared of any breach of the Bar Code of Conduct, but her claim was then ruled out of time under section 7(5)(a), time . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Legal Professions, Human Rights
Updated: 27 November 2022; Ref: scu.540258