Reporting the class action against the Post Office at the High Court

Hi there.

A press release from Luther Pendragon, the PRs for Freeths (solicitors for the claimants) came through today. It doesn’t tell you anything avid readers of this blog don’t know already, but as things kick off a week today, I thought it might be a helpful aide memoire.

Post Office Group Litigation update

4 March 2019

The judgement on the Common Issues trial in the Group Legal Action against Post Office Ltd is likely to be formally released in the week of 11 March. It is expected to be extremely detailed and will give full analysis and findings on the 23 separate issues addressed in the trial, as well as observations and findings on the evidence given by the witnesses for both sides.

Interpretation by Freeths on behalf of the JFSA will be made available as soon as possible after the judgement is handed down.

The second trial in the group action will take place in the Rolls Building, Fetter Lane, London and will commence on 11 March. This trial will focus on several issues relating to the accuracy and robustness of the Horizon system used across the Post Office branch network. Ahead of this trial, independent IT experts have been appointed by each of the parties, each of whom will give evidence at trial.

Summary Trial 2 timetable

The trial timetable is subject to change so we cannot provide a detailed account of what is happening each day, however in summary:

Week 1 commencing 11 March

11 March – barristers for each side give opening legal submissions

12-14 March – evidence from claimants

15 March – court not sitting

Week 2 commencing 18 March

18-21 March – evidence from defendants

22 March court not sitting

Week 3 commencing 25 March

Court not sitting

Week 4 commencing 1 April

1-2 April – evidence from claimants’ expert

3 April – evidence from claimants’ expert and defendant’s expert (1/2 day each)

4-5 April – evidence from defendant’s expert

Week 5 commencing 8 April

8-9 April – court not sitting

10 April – claimants’ closing submissions

11 April – defendant’s closing submissions

12 April – court not sitting

The Managing Judge has stated that he will continue to pro-actively manage the Group Litigation to a final conclusion as quickly as possible, whilst recognising that this is a major case with a large number of complex issues which need to be broken down and determined in stages.

ENDS