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Strange but true

11 July 2014 / Dominic Regan
Issue: 7614 / Categories: Features
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Dominic Regan admires the fortitude of those who have taken on the big guys in court

“It is one of the glories of this country that every now and then one of its citizens is prepared to take a stand against the big battalions of government or industry” opened Jacob LJ in Ferguson v British Gas Trading Ltd [2009] EWCA Civ 46.

It was not difficult to see which way this dispute, between customer and supplier, was going to go. The gas company had threatened Lisa Ferguson for having failed to pay bills which simply were not due. She resorted to the Protection from Harassment Act 1997. The court was as unimpressed with the contention that it was the computer that sent the letters as it was by the argument that she could not have been troubled since she knew the claims were groundless.

The same legislation was relied upon last year, to the joy of Jackson LJ, in Roberts v Royal Bank of Scotland [2013] EWCA Civ 882 where an unrepresented claimant extracted

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Birketts—trainee cohort

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NEWS
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From oligarchs to cosmetic clinics, strategic lawsuits against public participation (SLAPPs) target journalists, activists and ordinary citizens with intimidating legal tactics. Writing in NLJ this week, Sadie Whittam of Lancaster University explores the weaponisation of litigation to silence critics
Delays and dysfunction continue to mount in the county court, as revealed in a scathing Justice Committee report and under discussion this week by NLJ columnist Professor Dominic Regan of City Law School. Bulk claims—especially from private parking firms—are overwhelming the system, with 8,000 cases filed weekly
Writing in NLJ this week, Thomas Rothwell and Kavish Shah of Falcon Chambers unpack the surprise inclusion of a ban on upwards-only rent reviews in the English Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill
Charles Pigott of Mills & Reeve charts the turbulent progress of the Employment Rights Bill through the House of Lords, in this week's NLJ
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