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WOMBLE
CONFIDENTIAL AND LEGALLY PRIVILEGED BOND
POST OFFICE GROUP LITIGATION
Steering Group: 10 October 2019 DICKINSON
24
2.2
PROCESS FOR FURTHER ISSUES CLAIMS
BACKGROUND
On 25 October 2019 the Claimants will serve particulars of claim for four test cases - Abdulla,
Bates, Sabir and Stockdale. These claims will set out the losses claimed to have been suffered
and form the foundation for deciding the issues at the Further Issues trial: namely whether those
losses are recoverable in principle and, if so, what is the correct way to quantify each loss.
Post Office has until 25 November 2019 to draft its Defences. Both Helen Davies QC and Tony
Robinson QC, plus junior Counsel, have been retained for this work due to it needing to be
conducted in a short space of time. Our recommendation is that Helen is the Counsel who
appears in Court and at trial for Post Office due to her having a clean slate with the Judge.
However, the period for the Defences overlaps with the hearing for permission to appeal the
Common Issues judgment (12 November) and so we advise that Post Office keeps both leading
Counsel engaged at this stage to ensure sufficient capacity in the legal team. This
recommendation is going to the board sub-committee who have expressed an interest in
inputting on this decision.
We do not currently know what the Claimants will allege. Some basic information is provided in
their Schedules of Information but not enough for us to fully understand the claims that will be
advanced. We have nevertheless sought to be as prepared as possible. Substantial work has
gone into investigating the background to each case and legal research done into points of law
that might be in dispute. A conference with Counsel is arranged for 18 October 2019 to further
consider these matters in advance of the claims landing
Because we are unsure what the Claimants may allege, we have already raised with the Judge
the possibility that the claims may be inappropriate or lack sufficient clarity. Post Office may need
to challenge the claims suitability for trial or raise some requests for further information. Of
particular concern is that the Claimants may try to rely on some highly contentious background
facts in a trial that is supposed to proceed on assumed facts, with no witness evidence on
contested points. To cater for this, the Court has scheduled a hearing for 7 November at which
Post Office may raise any concerns or make any applications.
ACTIONS FOR POST OFFICE
Once the claims land, Post Office will need to make a number of quick decisions, including:
2.1.4 Should the claims be challenged / further information sought at the hearing on 7
November 2019.
2.1.2 Should Post Office plead back to all factual issues or limit its pleading to only the
disputed points around loss.
We have set out below a provisional timetable of steps / decision-points. This may need to be
revised once we see the claims.
Date Step
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Friday 25 October I Claims served
By Wednesday Initial assessment and recommendations from the legal team
30 October
31 October / Likely decision window for Post Office to decide on strategic way forward.
1 November
Does Post Office wish to schedule any meetings with SteerCo, GE or the
board sub-committee in this window?
Monday 4 Deadline for Post Office to file any applications before the 7 November
October hearing
Thursday 7 Provisional date for Court hearing
November
Monday 18 Draft Defences provided for Post Office sign off
November
Does Post Office wish to schedule any meetings with SteerCo, GE or the
board sub-committee in this window?
Monday 25 Deadline for filing Defences
November (4pm)
2.3 In addition to Post Office's internal governance approval of the Defences, they will need to be
signed under a statement of truth. This is a statement that the signor believes the Defences to
be true. Past Defences have been signed by Jane MacLeod. WBD can sign the Defences on
behalf of Post Office, but only if we have instructions from Post Office that the Defences are
believed to be true. We would recommend that Post Office identifies now who will be the person
authorised to sign off the Defences so that arrangements can be made for that person to be
briefed in advance and available for final sign off on Monday 25 November.
3. UPDATE ON OTHER MATTERS
3.1 A settlement meeting between the lawyers is being held on the morning of 10 October. A verbal
update will be provided on this at the Steering Group meeting. At present, the mediation is
expected to take place on 27-28 November. The review of all cases is underway and a report
back on the findings is due in November.
3.2 The permission hearing for the Common Issues Appeal is still scheduled for 12 November 2019.
Helen Davies QC will shortly be providing a note on her proposed approach to that hearing.
3.3 In relation to the Horizon Issues trial:
3.3.1 The Managing Judge has indicated that the Horizon Issues Judgment will not be
provided before the end of October 2019.
3.3.2 Fujitsu have revealed that they failed to provide Post Office with a number of Known
Error Logs that were at the heart of the trial. This has been notified to the Claimants
and the Court. A review is underway of the undisclosed documents and an audit of
Fujitsu's disclosure is being scoped. This is a potentially very damaging development
as it could substantively effect the Horizon Issues and the Judge's views on Post
Office's level of transparency. It may also cause a delay to the Horizon judgment,
which in turn could cause a delay to the mediation and the Claimants serving their
claims for the Further Issues trial.
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3.3.3 We have been granted permission to file 3 pages of submissions that were accidentally
omitted from our closing submissions.
3.3.4 The Judge has begun to ask the parties small questions about the Horizon Issues by
email. This is the same as his approach in the Common Issues. The legal team are
addressing these questions.
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