Is Howell v Lees-Millais the most cursed case of the century, wonders Dominic Regan
Howell v Lees-Millais has it all. A judge obsessed with the Titanic who delivers judgments containing secret messages, a brave barrister, disturbing facts, alleged professional negligence by solicitors, secret evidence, and a failed attempt to anonymise a judgment plus the worst costs dispute since the turn of the century.
Appeal antics
Where to begin? What one can tell from the latest Court of Appeal judgment is that it concerns a bitter dispute between trustees and beneficiaries ([2011] EWCA Civ 786, [2011] All ER (D) 48 (Jul)). Lord Neuberger MR, the most gentle of men, is moved to describe the circumstances leading to the costs order under appeal to his court as “unusual, complicated and disturbing”. We are not given any material to support that view. Indeed, the underlying dispute is shrouded in mystery for the Court of Appeal directs that neither of two earlier judgments or evidence adduced in those hearings should enter the public domain without leave of the court. A request by the trustees for the Court of
