Dominic Regan celebrates a list of legal losers
News of the 2014 Halsbury Legal Awards got me thinking. For every winner, anywhere, there is always in the shadows a string of losers. We should celebrate them.
This already happens in the film industry where each year the raspberry (or Razzie) awards are handed out. Adam Sandler set a new record for Jack and Jill. He portrayed twins and was simultaneously nominated for both worst male and female leads.
The law reports are full of unfortunate losers. Mr Lilley recently sued for a cool billion pounds damages but did not quite hit his target, being told that quantum was actually £83 (Lilley v DMG Events Ltd [2014] EWHC 610 (IPEC), [2014] All ER (D) 123 (Mar)).
Big names in big trouble
A resilient claimant, Mrs Ferguson, took on the might of British Gas. The company had bombarded her with threatening letters generated by their claims software. The poor woman launched an action for harassment under the 1997 Act. The novel defence advanced was that the computer was to blame rather than the
