"I am not prepared to grant any relief"...

...so said Mr Justice Floyd in the High Court today, making a ruling that sees the owners of Liverpool FC, Gillett and Hicks, lose their battle to stop the sale of the club, clearing the way for it to be sold to the company that owns the Boston Red Sox, New England Sports Ventures.

As this is a matter of company law and also involves the interests of the bank to whom the owners owe serious amounts of wedge, the venue was the High Court, Chancery Division. You can read an account of the proceedings here, and watch a video.

Gillett and Hicks have been refused permission to appeal by the trial judge, but given the amount they stand to lose, I wouldn't be surprised if they make an application to the Court of Appeal for permission as a last throw of the dice.

The true motivation behind the Civil Procedure Rules?

Cartoon from Queen's Counsel, The Times.

Lord Chief Justice - podcast

Interesting interview here with the Lord Chief justice - good insight on both sentencing and the civil courts - both relevant topics for A level students!

By the way, his name is Lord Igor Judge - or "Judge Judge" to his colleagues, presumably.

The "super injunction" they didn't want you to see...

...has now been published by the Guardian. Have a look here.

Trafigura and super-injunctions

Can't believe I haven't blogged this yet... this has been a massive week for the law, freedom of speech and social media.

Should a company be allowed to obtain an injunction restricting the press from reporting something, AND restricting the press from reporting the injunction itself?

Oil-trading company Trafigura have been in hot water, accused of dumping potentially toxic waste off the Ivory Coast, which was alleged to have caused illness and injury to many people.

They commissioned a scientific report into the matter, and then attempted to keep it secret, presumably not liking the contents, which included the idea that the dumping of waste could hace caused effects such as severe burns to the skin and lungs, eye damage, permanent ulceration, coma and death (although the report was expressed in cautious terms).

Clearly those people suing Trafigura for personal injury would have liked to see this report!

Last month Trafigura paid residents of Abidjan in Ivory Coast £30m plus costs in a confidential out of court settlement.

Before the settlement announcement, Trafigura's lawyers Carter-Ruck obtained a super-injunction from Court, banning the press not only from revealing the existence of the Minton report, but also from telling anyone about the existence of the injunction. They also attempted to stop reports of questions about this matter that were asked in Parliament.

As a result Trafigura and their lawyers have been accused of trying to gag Parliament and infringe on freedom of speech. Another feature of this case was the pressure applied by people using Twitter, who were outraged by the injunction!

Read Charlie Brooker on this here.

Manchester's Civil Justice Centre

£160 million pounds, 16 storeys high...

...and it can be seen from the upper floors of Loreto. It's an amazing building and open to the public so go and have a look! Read about it here or have a look at a video clip here.

They've come a long way from the dusty old buildings on Deansgate that I used to have cases in!

Cameras in Court?

Is this a good idea?

In America, many trials are televised, with some becoming media sensations.

So, what use is it to have cameras in court? Keir Starmer QC (pictured), the new Director of Public Prosecutions, has said that he is not opposed to the idea.

For an example of what it might look like, have a look here at three Scottish judges delivering a verdict on the Nat Fraser, who lost his appeal against a life sentence for murdering his wife.

Media madness or justice being seen to be done? You decide!

Court cuts

The Ministry of Justice want to save £1 billion over the next 3 years - a lot of which may come from the Court Service budget.

What do you think the impact of this will be? A lot of people see trouble ahead...

Listen to a podcast on this here...

AS mock exams!

Will be held in the first week after half term. The paper will be 2 hours long and will contain 4 questions in the usual two-part format (18 marks for part "a" and 9 for part "b"). Topics covered will be:

Juries
Magistrates
The Legal Profession
Civil Courts
ADR.

Make sure you do your revision over half term and check with myself, Miss Standing or Ms Vollam as to exactly when your mock will take place.

Some people like the Buzan method of note taking to help them learn information for exams. Have a look and see what you think! If you do this, and plan and practice essays as well you should be fine....

"What's a Circuit Judge"?

...is a question I was asked today. You can find out about Circuit Judges here. They generally hear the more complex civil cases in the County Court and sometimes the High Court.

Also, have a look at a day in the life of a Circuit Judge for an insight into what they get up to! If you're feeling brainy you can read a report into the performance of the Manchester Civil Courts here. The foreword to this is written by the Designated Civil Judge for Manchester, HHJ Holman - his title means he's responsible for ensuring that the Woolf Reforms are working properly here!

Small Claims Online

AS students - we are now studying the Civil Courts. One of the advantages of the Small Claims Track is supposed to be its speed. Now you can bring a small claim online - have a look around the
website here. See if you can find out:

• who cannot use the service;


• who cannot be sued using it;


• what a vexatious litigant is...

Also you can read an offical leaflet all about the Small Claims Track here. Print one out and put it in your file!

Civil Courts: Cost, delay, complexity... is it better now?

The Woolf Report is something you need to know about as part of the Civil Courts topic. Remember that the key theme here is access to justice - in other words, can the public easily use the justice system?

Before Lord Woolf (above) reported on the civil justice system, it was in a bit of a mess, and very difficult to use. Some of the problems are referred to here. Things have improved since then - have a look at this powerpoint by Kennedys solicitors on the impact of "Woolf" and future reforms.

Following Woolf, the Civil Procedure Rules have been introduced. These are the first reference point for lawyers running civil cases and they are all online here.

The Middleton Report into the Civil Court system is also available to view here.

TASK: Find out from the website given here what the overriding objective of the CPR is and note it down!

Remember: you need to know what the problems of the system were, and how well Woolf has addressed these - what has and hasn't improved? TASK: Make a list!

Civil Courts - black hole?

Is there a BLACK HOLE in the budget of the Civil Courts to the tune of £90m?

If so, what do you think the impact of this will be on Court users?