Dominic Regan casts a wry eye over some interesting cases...
Be honest. What would you do if you were having problems with your neighbour? Kill them? Of course, which is what the defendant in Martin v Sherwood [1995] tried to do. His attempt to mow down the claimant only caused her £500 of injury for which she sued. The defendant then filed a remarkable defence asserting that she had sought to commit suicide by jumping in front of his vehicle. Even the Court of Appeal could see that this defence was a tad unreasonable and so awarded costs in a small claim as it is entitled to do where there is unreasonable conduct-CPR 27.14.
Another exotic defence was put forward in Ferguson v British Gas [2009] EWCA Civ 46. The claimant was bombarded with gas bills by the defendant for supplies she had never had from them. Eventually the claimant brought proceedings for harassment under the 1997 Protection From Harassment Act. Particularly handy here is a six-year limitation period and the ability to recover damages for mere distress as opposed to identifiable mental injury. Anyway,
