13th May 2021
This time yesterday Boris Johnson had a County Court Judgment (CCJ) against him that had been entered back in October 2020.
Like anyone with a contested CCJ he faced the irksome process of applying to the court to set the judgment aside and, if the claim was ill-made, striking out the claim.
The application process can take weeks or months for normal defendants in this predicament – and Johnson faced having to also explain his delay in contesting the case.
And now: it is reported that the CCJ is no more.
While Cameron squirms over how many times he used the Greensill private jet, I understand that No 10 has managed to get the county court judgement against the PM struck out
— Laura Kuenssberg (@bbclaurak) May 13, 2021
BREAKING: No. 10 has County Court Debt Judgement Against Boris Struck Out https://t.co/Khchl6V1F1 pic.twitter.com/tTeB7qS1OL
— Guido Fawkes (@GuidoFawkes) May 13, 2021
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That is extraordinarily fast for the civil justice system.
It would seem that it may be that an application was not even needed – and the courts set aside the claim and struck out the claim by their own motion.
The claimant has wrongly made, it seems, a defamation claim in the wrong court and in the wrong manner.
As such, the court can act without reference to the parties and end the claim there and then.
But.
For the rest of us the civil justice system is nowhere near as prompt.
Claimants and defendants can wait years for a hearing date.
Those with wrongful CCJs can suffer for months until the court gets round to hearing an application for the CCJ to be set aside.
There is nothing wrong whatsoever with the courts acting so swiftly to set aside the CCJ entered against Johnson.
What is wrong is that the rest of us do not get the benefit of civil justice at this same commendable speed.
Ah, well you see, Mr Green, all animals are created equal, but some are more equal than others! (George Orwell may come to be looked upon not as an author but, sadly, as a modern day Nostradamus!).
For the many not the few.
Shameless. But of course under the ancien régime the aristos weren’t taxed at all. Only the peasants. Plus ça change… Another roll of gold leaf Carrie Antoinette?
Will Ms Hobbs be getting her 35 pounds refunded ?
If Ms Hobbs had applied for a Warrant would the Court have accepted the fee on a judgment they now admit was wrong?
On the basis that not only the judgment but the claim itself has been struck out was Ms Hobbs ever contacted and/or given the chance to make representations.
Was Ms Hobbs given the chance to amend her claim?
Has British Civil justice been reduced to a computerised administrative cash cow?
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