On 22 March 2021 the High Court unlawfully sat in secret. Despite an assurance I would receive a transcript some 669 days later I’m still waiting.
“In light of the failures of the Court to grant you access to the hearing I have begun the process of obtaining a transcript of the hearing, and a copy of that will be provided to you as soon as it becomes available.“
Part of a series looking at Secret Courts
On 23rd November 2020 I remotely attended an application hearing in the insolvency matter of Arboretum Devon (RLH) Limited.
Arboretum Devon had received some £7.5m, crowdfunded by 4,500 members of the public using the Lendy peer-to-peer finance platform. Submissions on purported defects in the documentation of this fully FCA authorised company are worthy of intense scrutiny.
On 5th March 2021 I sent an e-mail to the court. This asked for any future listing dates for the Arboretum Matter.
The e-mail was not replied to.
At approx. 6.00am on 22nd March 2021 I came to be aware of a hearing before HHJ David Cooke (SAAHCJ) occurring later that day involving the Arboretum Matter. The case was not listed on CourtServe.
At about 09.00am I contacted the court by phone and was advised the hearing was commencing at 10.30am. To remotely attend the hearing I was advised to email the court on [thecourt]@justice.gov.uk. I did so also cc-ing the e-mail address clerkto[thejudge]@justice.gov.uk.
The e-mail was sent at 09.09am.
At 10.17am, having not received a response, I phoned the court again. I was advised the court had not received the e-mail. I forwarded the e-mail again at 10.17am. The e-mail was received instantly, and I was assured this would be sent to the clerk.
I had no responses to any of the e-mails sent above. I have had no explanation why remote access was not granted. I do not know what was discussed in court and I do not know the outcome of the hearing.
I made a complaint on 16th April 2021 and received the following response from Mr MF, the team leader at Birmingham. I have bolded a few key terms.
I pause to note that whilst seeming unable to keep to even the most simple of deadlines Mr MF has always been unfailingly polite, along with all the court staff at Birmingham.
Dear Mr Cloake
Thank you for your complaint received on 16 April 2021.
I am the Team Leader and I am writing in response to your complaint.
Firstly I apologise for the delay in sending this reply. The Court aims to respond to all complaints within 10 days of receipt, I am sorry that we were not able to provide this reply in that time.
With respect to your complaint and the four points at the end of your complaint I will respond in the order of those questions.
1. The Court did produce a Court list as attached to this reply providing any interested party the ability to access the hearing by emailing the BPC account. This would ensure that the hearing was in an “open and public character” however I accept that for the reasons I will go into below this was not the case.
2. Your emails of the 5 March and the two emails early on 22 March were not responded to. I cannot say why that were not responded to other than it was as a result of an Administrative error by the staff monitoring the accounts on those days in question and I apologise whole heartedly for this. As the Team Leader of the BPC team I have taken steps internally with the staff involved and highlighted to all the importance of replying to emails in a timely manner, with particular attention being paid to requests for access to hearing which will usually be at short notice and are to be treated as urgent. I see from a previous complaint filed last year that you experienced a similar issue and I am very sorry that this has once again become an issue, rest assured the matter is being taken seriously and steps are being put in place to stop any repeats of this mistake.
3. In light of the failures of the Court to grant you access to the hearing I have begun the process of obtaining a transcript of the hearing, and a copy of that will be provided to you as soon as it becomes available.
4. I can only apologise that the list was not on Courtel, I can see that the list was produced and put into the folder, which is why I was able to find it and attach it to this reply, it would appear that when the lists were emailed to Courtel there was an error and this list was not included. Again I am taking this matter further internally with the specific staff to prevent further instances of this happening.
Once again I would like to apologise for the failings of the Court in this matter, the service provided was not of the standard I would expect and I am dealing with the matter to ensure there are no further repeats of these mistakes. As said the process for obtaining a transcript has already begun and I hope to be able to provide that to you soon. I have placed a note onto the Court records that an email is to be sent to you to give you advance notice of any future hearing in this matter.
There have been a number of phone conversations and e-mails with Mr MF over the intervening time period. The last three are as follows:
22nd Sept 2022
“At the risk of sounding like a broken record I think it’s just the transcript from the following hearing that’s outstanding. I wonder if you could provide an update on that.
CR-2019-BHM-371 In the Matter of Arboretum Devon (RLH) Ltd before HHJ Cooke
Hearing date: 22 March 2021
Many thanks,
Daniel”
8th November 2022
“Dear Mr MF,
Me again. Sorry, I have yet to receive the transcript for the hearing in March 2021.
I’d be grateful for an update.
Thanks,
Daniel
20th December 2022
“Mr MF,
Please can I have an update.”
None have received a response. In March 2021 the court unlawfully sat in private and has failed to correct that position.
Mouse in the Court 