High court case appeal should not delay case by a year
According to the judge presiding at the recent High Court test case into bank charges, the decision by the UK banks to appeal against the ruling should not result in as serious a delay as some reports have indicated. Recent reports claimed that if banks appealed against the judge’s decision to allow the Office of Fair Trading to assess banks’ terms and conditions for fairness the case could be further delayed by over a year. However, Justice Andrew Smith has stated that this is not the case.
The judge said that despite the banks’ decision to appeal against the ruling the delay should not be anywhere near this serious, and the next stage of the court case should commence before the end of this year. According to reports it is likely that the appeal by the banks will be heard in autumn of this year, but any further delays may depend on whether either party decides to take the matter to the House of Lords.
One consumer group official said: ‘The judge has indicated he wants the OFT’s investigation to be wrapped up quickly, and that is a very positive move for consumers waiting in the wings. But the banks are appealing and it will be some time before a judgement is issued in that hearing and so consumers are still some way away from getting their money back.’
In the meantime many claims for returned bank charges remain frozen in the courts, as they have been since last summer when the decision was made to hold a test case into bank charges. Whilst the judge has ruled in favour of the OFT at his initial ruling, officials state that if banks get this decision overturned then they will end up winning the entire case.
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