Allison Bailey won

[Ramblingnamechanger]

Allison BAiley has just posted that GArden Court Chambers has been ordered to pay 20000 costs, although the chambers wanted her to pay their costs. Another day for good news. Cheers Allison

Yay! I shall raise a glass with dinner tonight. Excellent result.

More good news 😊 bloody good for her. Brave woman

Oopsy! Another stunning and brave victory for 'Stonewall law'. Get your wallet out lads!

Was just coming to see if this had been posted! https://allisonbailey.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/Press-Release-Public.pdf?mc_cid=88049ca0e9&mc_eid=78077c1b05

Get in! Quite a week of legal victories for the adults in the room.

The press release makes it crystal clear that part of the reason for costs being awarded to Allison was for the unreasonable conduct around how Garden Court prepared the 'bundles' of information:

"The Tribunal finds that a central reason for the problems with the bundle was that Garden Court had “chopped up” email chains into separate emails, which made it difficult to follow the threads, and had produced these as a single pdf of more than 1000 pages which was not indexed and could not be electronically searched.

The Tribunal finds that when Miss Bailey’s solicitors pointed out these problems and tried to find solutions, they were met with “unmerited and unhelpful” accusations that it was they who were not cooperating, but that despite this “for a time the claimant’s team kept going with stoic goodwill”. The Tribunal concludes: “There were some real problems in how the bundle was being put together. [Garden Court’s] solicitor was not prepared to address them in a constructive way, sometimes not at all.” "

Well done all the fine minds who thought they'd get away with that nonsense in court.

Great news! Well done Alison!!

It actually cost nearly £1.5 million in combined costs from both parties, the £20,000 was the maximum that could be awarded without having to have further court examinations of the costs which would ironically increase those costs further.

I do hope that the talk of bundles doesn't summon a frequent visitor to these parts.

Yes, here's an extract from the email sent to all of us who donated to her fund:

My costs application against Garden Court centred around their preparation of the bundle at trial. Those who attended the trial will recall how chaotic the bundle was, and how this was blamed on my lawyers by Garden Court’s barrister when he was cross examining me. This was wrong: it was the fault of Garden Court’s lawyers, as the Tribunal has now found. The effect of the chaotic bundle was severe, both in the trial and in preparing for the trial. As a barrister, I’ve spent my career preparing for and attending trials - I would estimate hundreds in total. But last summer’s trial was the most stressful I have ever experienced, in large part because it relied on a bundle of over 7,000 pages of documents, large parts of which were unindexed, unsearchable, and effectively arranged at random.

There are certain vocal legal people who might be wise to stay a bit quieter now ...

Brilliant - Allison's remarkable persistence pays off again!

Presumably Garden Court paid for that bundle preparation. Do they get to ask for their money back?

She really is amazing. I read her bit of autobiography in her statement to the Tribunal - an amazing woman of huge accomplishment against all the odds. But so modest & unassuming. The kind of person anyone would love to know.

If only it could have been more - seems a ridiculously low limit given the huge costs

but even though it’s a drop in the ocean, the mere fact that it has happened - a very rare ruling - must leave GCC with so much egg on their face one wonders if they will have to reinvent themselves totally to continue ?

(And I suspect we’re all
guessing who the ‘dear friend’ is )

Sshhhhhh don't mention the bundles 😀

Glad they've been made to pay.

Good news and a shameful indictment of GCC. Imagine considering employing them only to see that their evidenced hostility and chaotic management in this case. You'd go somewhere else wouldn't you?

Well done Allison, not only for winning but also for putting up with working in such an awful environment for so long.

Well-done Allison and Co. Its been a good week.

No-body say “bundle” three times while looking in a mirror, or you know what will happen.

Congratulations Alison

Do we know who Garden Court’s solicitors were?

Shhhhhh @Shortpoet !

Well done Allison! Delighted for you

My first thought was JKR?

Congratulations Alison 🎉🎊.

That's made my bloody day.

Because they will have been responsible for the terrible bundle (either through incompetence or more likely litigation games) and should be named and shamed IMO.