Serial Litigants beware!
Comments (4) Take a look at this article from The Daily Telegraph. A good idea in principle but I’m wondering about the Data Protection issues involved, as well as the subsequent satellite litigation that would undoubtedly result. Does anyone remember the blacklist of “difficult” employees compiled by The Consulting Association (see my previous post on the subject here)? Or the National Staff Dismissal Register (see here) ?
I can accept that there is a world of difference between a register kept by employers and passed on to others to identify those employees who stand up for their rigths and those people who bring many different (and fabricated) claims – but how do you differentiate between the two in practice? I suppose we should bear in mind Oscar Wilde’s aphorism (albeit paraphrased) “To have one Discrimination claim is unfortunate, to have 34 is downright suspicious”. Preventing someone from asserting their legal rights is not something to be undertaken lightly.
It’s interesting that the Employment Tribunal isn’t keen to get involved and I can see why. These serial litigants might turn their hand to defamation or judicial review instead of discrimination claims. Tribunals are wary of awarding costs against litigants and they certainly aren’t going to relish banning individuals from bringing claims. Since 1993 they have had the power to make a “restriction of proceedings order”, but they are very rare. The way forward is shown by Her Majesty’s Courts Service, which runs all the civil and criminal courts (but not the Tribunals) in the country and which maintains a list of vexatious litigants on its website (www.hmcourtsservice.gov.uk). However, the people listed on there will have been declared a vexatious litigant in proceedings and thus there has been a judicial finding. If Mr Turner’s idea is to get off the ground (and it deserves to) he will need the ET to be more robust in making “restriction of proceedings orders” and then publishing that list.
