The Court of Appeal has blocked moves to reopen a dispute between neighbours in Clevedon despite having serious concerns about the district court’s handling of the case.
Joyce Gregory and her daughter Rita brought proceedings against their neighbours over an allegedly encroaching wall and garage, and abusive behaviour from builders. They were awarded £100 in damages, but were made to pay their legal costs of £2,000.
The court dismissed the appeal despite noting that the judge’s case-management decisions, including allocation of the dispute to the small-claims track, meant that “there was no proper hearing of much of the claimants’ evidence, nor cross-examination of that of their opponents”.
The court held that the law laid down by parliament was such that it could not allow an appeal against an earlier refusal of permission to appeal. It said: “The Gregorys may well be concerned to learn that we consider this to be the end of the road, despite our serious concern that something may have gone wrong in connection with the district judge’s handling of the case, and we are sorry if it did. This, however, is the effect of district judge’s decision, and of parliament’s decision not to permit an appeal against that decision.”
References: PLS News 21/02/03
