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Message
From: Tim Parker I
on behalf of Tim Parker!_
Sent: 08/03/2019
To: Cooper, Tom - UKGI
cc: Ke -Franklind
f Paula Vennells
nica Branton
Subject: Re: Postmaster Litigation - CONFIDENTIAL AND SUBJECT TO LEGAL PRIVILEGE - DO NOT FORWARD
Very disappointing: we now need to look at the detail.
Tim Parker
Chairman
National Trust
20 Grosvenor Gardens, London, SW1W ODH
Chairman
Post Office Limited
Chairman
Samsonite International SA
Westerring 17, B-9700 Oudenaarde, Belgium
From: Cooper, Tom - UKGI:
Sent: Friday, March 8, 2019 4:28 pm
To: Jane MacLeod
Ce: Tim Parker; Ken McCall1; Carla Stent1; Tim.Franklin1; Shirine Khoury-Haq; Paula Vennells; Alisdair Cameron;
Veronica Branton
Subject: Re: Postmaster Litigation - CONFIDENTIAL AND SUBJECT TO LEGAL PRIVILEGE - DO NOT FORWARD.
Jane
That’s obviously disappointing. Good that there are contingency plans in place.
I'd like to read the judgement itself please.
Tom
Sent from my iPhone
On 8 Mar 2019, at 15:26, Jane Macleod I wrote:
All
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We received the judgment this morning in the Common Issues Trial. The judgment is 325 pages and
very detailed, and as a result we have not yet read it completely or fully understood all the
arguments. However a high level review indicates:
e We have lost on all material points
e The judge has criticised Post Office comprehensively — both as to our historic operations and
behaviours and our conduct of the case
e The judge accepts the evidence of the Lead Claimants but is sceptical of our witnesses who he
characterises as ‘extraordinarily partisan’
e He has struck out the key contractual provisions which require postmasters to account to Post
Office, and
e He has stated that the Branch Trading Statement — which is the key document on which Post
Office relies for postmasters to account for cash and stock in branches — cannot be relied on as a
statement of account.
The judgment will be handed down formally either next Friday (15‘) or on Monday 18". In the
meantime we are working on grounds for appeal.
We have activated our contingency planning in order that we have communications and detailed plans
available and ready to launch at the point the judgment is formally handed down. In the meantime, the
judgment is subject to embargo and cannot be shared or discussed outside of Post Office and its legal
team. We are keeping the news to a tight team within Post Office.
There are many questions that we cannot yet answer and we need some time to fully digest the verdict.
We will therefore be setting up a Board call probably on Tuesday. In the meantime, please call either
myself or Al as needed.
Jane
<image001.png> Jane MacLeod
Group Director of Legal, Risk & Governance
Ground Floor
20 Finsbury Street
LONDON
EC2Y 9AQ
Mobile number:
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