Mortimer v Motor Insurance Bureau, First Great Western

An appeal concerning a time-limited general civil restraint order becomes academic when the order has expired and the appeal can no longer achieve any useful purpose. In that situation, the Court of Appeal may dismiss the appeal summarily, particularly where the appellant is absent and does not advance the points for which permission was granted. Questions about the order’s wider legality, including the reach of an order made by a judge sitting under section 9, should not be determined where they are unnecessary to dispose of the expired appeal.

Mrs Mortimer appealed against a general civil restraint order made by His Honour Judge Griggs on 14 January 2008. The order required her to obtain permission before issuing claims or applications in the High Court or in Devon and Cornwall county courts, and was to last for two years.

Richards LJ granted permission on paper, raising questions about the order’s inclusion of the High Court and the Administrative Court. Before the appeal was heard, the order expired. The Civil Appeals Office invited withdrawal on the basis that the appeal had become academic. Mrs Mortimer sought a declaration of invalidity but did not attend the hearing or provide the requested documents. The central issue was whether the expired appeal should nevertheless proceed.

1. Appeal dismissed summarily. The general civil restraint order had expired on 14 January 2010. The appeal could therefore no longer achieve any useful practical purpose.
2. Lord Justice Wilson observed that some points raised when permission was granted concerned convenient judicial deployment rather than the legality of the order. Other points might have merited consideration after a full enquiry during the period when the order remained in force. The court did not decide those questions because they were no longer necessary to the disposition of the appeal.
3. The appellant was absent and had not advanced the points relied upon in support of the appeal. In those circumstances, the court considered summary dismissal appropriate. The decision was confined to disposing of the now-academic appeal and did not determine the underlying legality or scope of the expired order.
4. Lord Justice Toulson and Lord Justice Longmore agreed with Lord Justice Wilson. Order: appeal dismissed.

• Court of Appeal (Civil Division): Appeal from the Torquay and Newton Abbot County Court dismissed summarily because the general civil restraint order had expired and the appeal could no longer achieve any useful purpose.
• Torquay and Newton Abbot County Court: His Honour Judge Griggs made the general civil restraint order on 14 January 2008.