Suing the MoJ

[gio70]

So, this is my story/case in the nutshell: At the end of 2020 I brought up a case in my local county court against EU company using the EU small claims procedure. The claim was for just over a 1000 euros. As the defendant did not respond, I have asked my local court to enter default judgement.

Subsequently, the court "lost" the entire case and could not enter any judgement. I've exhausted their complaint procedure (going through the MoJ as well) and I am not satisfied with their response.

So, the question is: Can I sue the MoJ for torpedoing my case and, ultimately, denying me justice (I cannot submit another claim as we are not part of the EU anymore)?

I know I can take this to the Parliamentary Ombudsman, but I do not wish to pursue this route if I could take the MoJ to court and sue them instead.

Thanks.

[echat11]

So, this is my story/case in the nutshell: At the end of 2020 I brought up a case in my local county court against EU company using the EU small claims procedure. The claim was for just over a 1000 euros. As the defendant did not respond, I have asked my local court to enter default judgement.

Subsequently, the court "lost" the entire case and could not enter any judgement. I've exhausted their complaint procedure (going through the MoJ as well) and I am not satisfied with their response.

So, the question is: Can I sue the MoJ for torpedoing my case and, ultimately, denying me justice (I cannot submit another claim as we are not part of the EU anymore)?

I know I can take this to the Parliamentary Ombudsman, but I do not wish to pursue this route if I could take the MoJ to court and sue them instead.

Thanks.

No you can't, they have judicial immunity.

[gio70]

I disagree - see here: https://www.kingqueen.org.uk/i-sued-the-courts-and-won/ and here: https://www.theguardian.com/law/2019...discrimination

So, it is clearly possible (regardless of whether they have judicial immunity), the question is: can I and if not, why not?

[echat11]

Those cases involve disability and race discrimination.

[gio70]

Yeah, I know. The point I was trying to illustrate is that it is clearly possible (nothing to do with judicial immunity). I need to know in what circumstances I could do that and take the MoJ to court?

[des8]

IMO your only cause of action would lie in negligence (administrative staff mislaid your papers preventing you obtaining judgment in an undefended case)

You would have to show the MoJ owed you a duty of care (involving reasonable foreseeability of loss, sufficient proximity of relationship).
You would then need to show that the MoJ acted in breach of the standard of care required in the circumstances, and that you suffered loss as a result.

Whether or not possible and feasible and worth the stress I wouldn't care to guess.
I suspect if you instructed a solicitor his costs would outweigh any possible award.

[echat11]

Before you complain to the Parliamentary Ombudsman, it might be an idea to send the MoJ a SAR.
Hopefully that will provide more information.

[gio70]

Thanks for the responses DES & ECHAT. I definitely suffered a loss as a result of this negligence/maladministration (whatever the legal term for this is), without a doubt - the case was worth over 1000 euros that I did not get (as you rightly state - the case was undefeated) and I've also had to spent close to £100 on postage alone as well, not to mention time and effort invested in this.

ECHAT, I've already done that. They delayed my SAR response by 2 months (that is something which is currently with the ICO) and did not provide the full information I asked from them.

All of this is in addition to the complaint, which I did not get resolved (that response also got delayed, to the point that I've had to write to my own MP, which then escalated matters to the Minister for me to finally get a response).

So, given all of that, my original question still stands: can I take them to court and if so, on what grounds? If not, why not?

[echat11]

Here's some helpful info - http://ukscblog.com/case-comment-rob...sc-4-part-two/

[des8]

You can initiate a claim against the Secretary of State for Justice (after following the preaction protocols) for negligence if you are determined to follow your complaint through to the bitter end.

[islandgirl]

There is no certainty you would have been able to enforce the decision of the court - if the company did not pay you would have to go through further legal action in their country I assume? I can see you have a strong moral case to have your court fees and expenses reimbursed. The 1000 euros may be more difficult to justify in any action. Keep us informed please!

[gio70]

Thanks everyone for the responses above. Some good leads there. A few further thoughts on this...

The case would have been won was it not for the court to "lose" all the case papers (the defendant did not respond at all and I asked judgement by default to be entered). I have evidence of submitting the default judgement request and that it has been received by the court.

The only reason I did not get anything is because of the court's negligence and apparent ineptitude (I've actually got a note from a judge, telling me that since we are out of EU, a judgement cannot be entered - this was after receiving the final response to my complaint to the MoJ).

So, it seems I have 3 routes I could possibly take (not sure whether they are all mutually exclusive though):

1. Sue the MoJ (a "maybe" option). What I like about this is that I am in control of the case, even if this is the route laced with uncertainty and probably the most costly one to take.

2. As this was the EU small claims procedure, can I escalate matters to the ECJ? I know we left EU, but it is the court that did not follow through that process (and that process was established by the EU in the first place).

3. Head to the ombudsman and hope to get a sizable compensation. Not sure whether that stops me from pursuing all the other options above if I choose that route. Another aspect I do not like is that I have no control over the process - it is out of my hands and firmly dependent on the decision by the ombudsman. This is the least expensive option though. I am sort of inclined to take this route if it leaves option 1 (and possibly 2) above open to me after I get ombudsman's decision and don't like it.

Thoughts anyone?

[gio70]

Some progress on this, on option 3 above in particular... Spoke to the ombudsman to clarify my options and I was told that I could still go through them and if I am not satisfied with the response I could then request a judicial review.

Not sure what that means though and whether I would be able to challenge the MoJ's decision (or, in this case, indecision/negligence) or whether this judicial review will only be limited to what the ombudsman did/did not and, ultimately, get a better outcome if I choose to go that route.