Oxford: Manches wins significant legal victory
Julie Bond, head of litigation at solicitors Manches LLP's Oxford office, has won a significant victory acting for its client, the Surrey and Newbury-based Institute for Animal Health in striking out multiple claims made on behalf of a group of livestock farmers following from the outbreak of Foot and Mouth Disease in 2007.
The claimants, none of whom had lost livestock during the outbreak, sought compensation for the losses they suffered as a result of not being able to trade during the movement ban imposed by the Government in the immediate aftermath of the outbreak.
Claims were made against the Institute for Animal Health, Merial Animal Health and Defra, based on allegations of negligence, private nuisance and breach of the rule in Rylands v Fletcher, which imposes strict liability on landowners for the escape of dangerous substances from the land they own.
In a lengthy judgment, Mr Justice Tugendhat found that the claimants had no prospect of succeeding with their arguments at trial and that, accordingly, the case should be struck out.
The decision was based in part on the House of Lords decision in Sutradhar v NERC in which Julie Bond and her team also represented the successful defendant. Merial Animal Health were represented by Covington and Burling. Defra were represented by their in-house team and the claimants by Thring Townsend Lee and Pembertons.
The claimants will not seek leave to appeal and the case will not therefore continue any further.
