Civil Way: 26 September 2014

Harassment in Court

Restraint and vexatious litigant orders have their place but they fail to compensate the hapless litigant in a pecuniary way for the agony of being dragged to more civil court venues than is healthy for the organs. Fox v Hall [2014] EWHC 2747 (QB), [2014] All ER (D) 78 (Aug) (in which, incidentally, the claimant came a cropper) reminds that, as a matter of law, it is possible for litigation to constitute harassment. In Allen v Southwark London Borough Council[2008] EWCA Civ 1478, [2008] All ER (D) 113 (Nov) the Court of Appeal held that a number of wrongly issued possession proceedings could amount to harassment. And in Baron v CPS(13 June 2000, unreported) Morrison J said that if civil proceedings were being used for an ulterior purpose, namely to air legitimate grievances but to cause distress to those involved in the process, then the line may be crossed and the acts may become unlawful under the Protection from Harassment Act