Summary judgment applied for in SOS case
The 17 defendants involved in the legal action taken by the four claimants representing the Save Our Society group (PJ, 21 February, p206) filed their defence this week. They have made an application for summary judgment.
Speaking on behalf of the defendants, the Society’s President Gill
Hawksworth explained: “A hearing of an application for summary
judgment is not a full trial; it is essentially concerned with whether
or not a claim gives rise to a triable issue or whether it can be disposed
of at an early stage in the proceedings.” She added: “We
have decided to proceed in this way because we believe it affords the
best chance of a speedy resolution of the case.”
Summary judgments can be given if the court decides that the claimants
have no prospect of succeeding and that there is no other reason why
the case should go to trial.
A favourable decision on the application for summary judgment would,
in effect, bring current proceedings to an end. Otherwise, the matter
would proceed to a full hearing in the normal way.
The High Court has yet to decide a date for hearing the application. |
The
Pharmaceutical Journal