Ford v Mulder

An appeal cannot be brought to the Court of Appeal against a judge’s refusal of permission to appeal from a circuit judge’s decision where Access to Justice Act 1999, section 54(4) applies. A costs order may be challenged separately, but a second-tier appeal requires an important point of principle or practice, or another compelling reason. A party cannot use a challenge to costs to circumvent the statutory bar on appealing the substantive decision.

The defendant sought permission to appeal after a circuit judge in the Lambeth County Court made a possession decision. Ferris J refused permission to appeal and ordered the defendant to pay costs of £647.07. The defendant then applied to the Court of Appeal. The application concerned both the substantive decision and, potentially, the costs order. The central issues were whether an appeal from the refusal of permission was barred by Access to Justice Act 1999, section 54(4), and whether any separate challenge to costs satisfied section 55(1).

1. Application refused. The application for permission to appeal was hopeless.
2. There could be no appeal to the Court of Appeal from Ferris J’s refusal of permission to appeal against the circuit judge’s decision, by virtue of section 54(4) of the Access to Justice Act 1999.
3. The order for costs was theoretically capable of being challenged separately. Following Clark v Perks [2000] 4 All ER 1, a second-tier appeal required the applicant to show either that the costs order raised an important point of principle or practice, or that there was some other compelling reason for the Court of Appeal to hear the appeal.
4. The applicant came nowhere near satisfying either criterion. A party cannot circumvent section 54(4) by attacking the substantive possession decision under the guise of a challenge to costs. There must be a free-standing challenge to the costs order satisfying section 55(1) of the 1999 Act.
5. Order: application refused.

1. Lambeth County Court: The circuit judge made the underlying possession decision.
2. Queen’s Bench Division: Ferris J refused permission to appeal from the circuit judge’s decision and ordered costs of £647.07.
3. Court of Appeal (Civil Division): Permission to appeal was refused. The court held that section 54(4) barred an appeal concerning the substantive decision and that no separate costs appeal met the second-tier criteria.