Another week, another chapter in the never ending merry go round of the bank penalty charges saga! (cue rolling of eyes from everyone here at Money Hospital!)
A High Court judge has warned banks to stop behaving badly when their customers accuse them of penalizing them with unlawful overdraft charges.
Judge David Mackie QC of the Royal Courts of Justice, said banks were simply wasting the time of claimants and the courts, by pretending they would defend claims when they clearly intend not to.
He added if banks continue to do this he might award damages against them.
Judge Mackie's comments appear to reflect the growing judicial annoyance at the banks' attempts to avoid a test case at all costs. The statements from Judge Mackie left the banks with what sounded like a final warning.
About 300 claims for refunds of allegedly unlawful charges have been lodged at the London Mercantile Court this year and most of these have been referrals from County Courts in the hope that one being heard in the High Court and produce a test decision.
"If the banks had won, many fewer customers would have sued," said Judge Mackie. "If the banks had lost, the claims would have been much easier to sort out than they are now," he added.
Banks have so far settled out of court, normally only a few days before their case is due to be heard, which led to Judge Mackie expressing his frustration: "On the face of things each case raises serious issues which the court would permit to proceed to trial. But this is fantasy because, at least for the moment, we all know that there will be no trial."
Judge Mackie said that in some cases bank customers had tried to claim damages for stress and inconvenience, but had so far been unsuccessful.
He did warn he would award damages in future if banks and their lawyers continued to:
- fail to respond to some claimants letters
- fail to negotiate for months and until a hearing date is set
- demand extra information from the claimants, knowing they had no intention letting a court hear the matter
- settle the case without telling the claimants they need not attend court
- fail to show up in court
"Looked at in the real world where there will be no trial, these steps, which place completely pointless work and some anxiety on litigants in person, constitute unreasonable behaviour," said Judge Mackie. "From now on we will generally be treating such conduct as unreasonable behaviour thus enabling any claimant who has been put to unnecessary work and inconvenience to be compensated for this."
So, is this really the final warning for banks?
Do we think they are going to take any notice of what Judge Mackie said or are they just going to carry on with their underhand ways?
This is one story that is definitely going to run and run!