Post Office and Fujitsu have been accused of driving up authorized prices and delaying a former sub-postmaster from suing them for £4m in damages over the Horizon IT scandal, the High Court heard.
Lee Castleton OBE was pursued by the Post Office to get better £25,000 of money it alleged was lacking from his department in Bridlington, East Yorkshire, in 2007. His two-year authorized struggle noticed him declared bankrupt following authorized prices of £321,000.
At the primary listening to in his declare on Friday, the court docket was advised that Fujitsu, the corporate chargeable for the defective software program, had already racked up greater than £700,000 in authorized prices.
Mr Castleton is the primary particular person to take authorized motion in opposition to each organisations.
Friday’s preliminary listening to was about how the case ought to proceed.
The court docket heard that “hurdles” have been being put in entrance of Mr Castleton to make his declare as “difficult, time-consuming and expensive as possible”.
His authorized workforce allege the Post Office’s resolution to pursue its 2007 civil declare in opposition to him was an “abuse of process of the court”, and that the eventual judgment was obtained by fraud.
They additionally all declare the state-run establishment conspired with Fujitsu to pervert the course of justice by “deliberately and dishonestly” withholding proof.
Mr Castleton was certainly one of 555 sub-postmasters who took the Post Office to court docket in an epic authorized battle, led by Sir Alan Bates.
They gained their case in 2019 and agreed a settlement however they by no means acquired correct compensation as a result of the cash they acquired was largely swallowed up by the large prices to fund their case.
Mr Castleton desires that settlement to be put aside, alleging it was fraudulently obtained involving “sharp practice” by the Post Office.
Both Post Office and Fujitsu are but to file a defence to Mr Castleton’s claims however referred to as for his case to be break up into two trials.
They desire a court docket to resolve if the settlement settlement bars the previous sub-postmaster from continuing along with his personal particular person declare and if it does, this could “dispose of the proceedings in their entirety”. Doing it this fashion, they argued, would save money and time.
But in written arguments on behalf of Mr Castleton, the court docket heard the reverse could be true and that his declare was of the “utmost simplicity.”
His barrister, Paul Marshall KC, rejected the necessity for a separate trial.
But on the conclusion of the listening to, Mr Justice Trower and Judge Francesca Kaye ordered for the trials to be break up in two, saying they’d give the explanations for his or her resolution at a later date.
The Post Office, which is owned by the federal government, stated it had made each effort to have interaction with Mr Castleton to overturn his civil judgment and remained greater than prepared to take action, however it didn’t settle for his present declare was “a good one and it had a duty to its shareholders to defend it”.
Mr Castleton desires “vindication” that the judgement in opposition to him, that had “blighted” his and his household’s life for 20 years, was obtained dishonestly by the Post Office and for a decide to resolve what he’s owed.
Speaking exterior of court docket, Mr Castleton advised the BBC: “We know what we need to do and we’re very happy where we are.
“We’ll get a defence and that is what we have been ready for. The details aren’t going to vary. It’s simply the cash.”
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