Quote:
Originally Posted by mark777
Would not an award on this issue imply a criminal action and open the floodgates to other claims?
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That's a difficult one. Whereas if his claim was successful it would certainly show that he has incurred damage as a result of the trial, it would not be making a judgement as to the criminality of the trials themselves (or rather it is unlikely to).
Furthermore, I doubt very much whether BT would not settle this matter before it goes to court. Stephen could refuse to accept that settlement and still take them to court on principle but a judge is going to be far less favourable in an aggressive action if fair and just settlement has been offered by BT. Courts are supposed to be a last resort only and vexatious claims are seen in very bad light.
However, the reverse may be true. If there is a criminal judgement it could almost definitely be used in a civil case and may even be grounds for a request for default judgement. I should stress though, whereas I pay a lot of attention to law and feel I have a reasonable grasp of it, I am not a lawyer so I could be wrong in anything I have stated above. My advice would be for Stephen to contact someone like Nicholas Bohm and politely ask him for an opinion on the matter.
Alexander Hanff