Gillian Ridley v Blackpool County Court

An extended civil restraint order may be made only where a party has made at least three claims or applications that are totally without merit and has acted persistently. The court must then exercise its discretion proportionately. It should consider whether a limited order would suffice and assess the threat of further unmeritorious litigation.

Repeated attempts to relitigate finally determined issues, without any relevant change of circumstances or arguable basis for reopening, can establish a high threat level. A litigant’s genuine sense of grievance, or honest belief in the merits of the claim, does not justify the continued misuse of court resources. An extended order is appropriate where a limited order would not adequately prevent further claims or applications connected with the concluded proceedings.

This was a directed oral hearing to decide whether a civil restraint order should be made against Mr Shamlou. He had repeatedly sought to reopen the refusal by Pill LJ in 2005 of permission to appeal from the refusal of permission to apply for judicial review.

The underlying dispute concerned a business tenancy and a sequence of County Court orders made between 2001 and 2003. Ms Ridley had sought judicial review instead of pursuing the available appeals. Sullivan J and Richards J refused permission, principally because the application was late and judicial review was inappropriate. Following Ms Ridley’s death, Mr Shamlou claimed standing as her assignee.

Seven applications to reopen the 2005 order had followed. Several were certified totally without merit. Mr Shamlou relied on his mental-health condition and alleged procedural errors, judicial fraud and bias as reasons for a further opportunity to reopen.

1. An extended civil restraint order was made. The threshold for such an order was met. At least three applications had been determined to be totally without merit, and the court was satisfied that Mr Shamlou had acted persistently.

2. Persistence required an evaluative assessment beyond the numerical threshold. Mr Shamlou’s applications repeatedly advanced the same objective and substantially the same arguments. They sought to relitigate matters already determined, without any relevant change of circumstances. He had not engaged with the decisive reasons why the judicial-review application failed: delay and the availability of an appeal.

3. The court applied the proportionality approach in Ludlam (a Bankrupt) [2009] EWHC 2067 (Ch). The central consideration was the threat of continued unmeritorious litigation. Mr Shamlou’s stated intention to continue applying, despite repeated final determinations, showed a high threat level. His mental-health condition had been carefully accommodated at the hearing, but it did not alter that assessment.

4. The alleged error in Pill LJ’s description of the underlying relief was immaterial. There was no arguable factual basis to reopen the final refusal of permission to appeal, and the very high threshold for reopening had not approached satisfaction.

5. A limited order would not suffice. The continued litigation was an abuse of process and an unfair, disproportionate drain on scarce court resources. The extended order was therefore necessary to restrain new claims or applications concerning, relating to, touching on, or leading to the underlying proceedings without prior permission.

• Court of Appeal (Civil Division): At this directed hearing, the court made an extended civil restraint order: [2023] EWCA Civ 586.

• Court of Appeal (Civil Division): Pill LJ refused permission to appeal on 21 April 2005, declining a lengthy extension of time and holding that any errors should have been pursued through the ordinary appeal system.

• Administrative Court: Richards J refused permission to apply for judicial review on 23 July 2003. The application was out of time and judicial review was inappropriate because appeals were available from the County Court decisions. Sullivan J had initially refused permission on the papers on 4 June 2003.