Fiona Horlick KC successful in contempt of court case in the Court of Appeal

Fiona Horlick KC successfully acted for the appellant in his appeal against an order for committal to prison for contempt of court in the Court of Appeal on 12 December 2023. The judgment is now available [2023] EWCA Civ 1504.

Fiona had not acted for the appellant at the original hearing but was instructed at short notice for the appeal.  The judgement reiterated the fundamental importance of the correct procedure being followed in contempt proceedings.

The appellant had been a designated member of an LLP.  Committal proceedings were brought against the LLP only.  However, the original judge wrongly found that she had could adjudicate on a contempt allegation against the appellant personally.

As stated by Warby J “…there were two separate flaws.  First, and fundamentally, there were no proceedings against this appellant. This contempt application was not brought against a party to the proceedings in respect of which the contempt was said to have been committed….There was no attempt to effect personal service of the contempt proceedings nor was any application made for an order dispensing with service or permitting service by an alternative method. In those circumstances I doubt the court had jurisdiction to adjudicate on any allegation of contempt against him.  In civil matters the court’s jurisdiction over a person is generally established by identifying them as a party to the proceedings in the document that initiates the proceedings and serving that document upon them in a way recognised by the CPR….The second flaw is that the application notice did not set out particulars of the case against this appellant. That was an essential ingredient of any fair process. There was nothing that could fairly be said to amount to a satisfactory alternative. The case was not clearly or distinctly set out in the application notice, supporting affidavits, correspondence or skeleton arguments”.

The judgment, handed down on the 21st December 2023, is available to view here.

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Fiona’s practice encompasses Health and Safety, a wide variety of Regulatory work, Disciplinary proceedings and Specialist Crime – particularly business crime, medical crime, and health and safety criminal proceedings. She has extensive experience as an advocate in all courts from the Privy Council (defending in murder appeals), the Court of Appeal, the High Court, Crown Courts (all types of crime), regulatory proceedings and inquests. She honed her skills on criminal work and jury trials before expanding her work profile.

News 21 Dec, 2023