Judge unable to deliver verdict on bank charge case yet
February 18, 2008
The judge that has been dealing with the High Court test case into bank charges has announced that although the case has now been concluded he cannot deliver his verdict yet because he has a lot of work to do before he will be able to do this. Justice Andrew Smith stated that he had no idea when he would be able to deliver his ruling with regards to the case, which was brought by the Office of Fair Trading against the banking industry.
The hearing concluded after fourteen days, and the judge is now working towards delivery his ruling as early as possible, although there is no indication as to when this may be. He simply stated: “I have a great deal of work to do before I make my judgement.”
He did state that once his ruling has been delivered it could help to clarify the many claims that are already pending and could also provide clarification for the county courts that will be dealing with the cases.
In the meantime lawyers for the banks have expressed concerns that the decision of the judge may be leaked between him making a decision and officially delivery the ruling. One lawyer stated: “The key point is to ensure there is no breach of confidentiality on the draft judgement.”
This worry has also concerned the judge, who stated that the draft ruling would only be provided to the banks and to a ‘very tight circle’ of lawyers.
Bank officials have requested that the ruling be delivered on a Friday, because they anticipate a high volume of calls and claims in the event that the judge rules in favour of the OFT, and therefore want the weekend to prepare themselves for the increase in the number of calls and claims requests that are likely to come in.
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