Yesterday morning in High Court 13 saw the first round in the legal battle between Dale Vince and Guido. On Friday Lord (Shaun) Bailey made his case for summary dismissal of Dale Vince’s claims. Which is a different approach to the one we are taking. Richard Tice’s barrister also made his preliminary case in Court 13 in the afternoon. All three hearings were in front of Mr Justice Pepperall.
This Court round was a trial of preliminary issues, to determine meaning and to establish what it is exactly that a full trial will be arguing about. This is designed to save time and money before a full blown trial. Even so at one point Guido counted 13 lawyers in the court room.
The arguments were technical, the meanings were contested, the issue as to whether the various statements by defendants were opinions is a key question. Much citing of legal precedents and authorities occurred. The judge was inscrutuable, taking copious notes and will deliver his ruling in weeks.
We are incredibly grateful to the 2,800 co-conspirators who have so far donated £89,711 to crowdfund this case. We could not have made our case as strongly without you – libel cases like this require specialist representation which is not cheap. More than anything, beyond the funds raised, it demonstrates that thousands of people want to Just Stop Dale…
Sarah Pochin at Reform Scotland’s manifesto launch event: “I really wanted to come on in a Reform tartan burka, but apparently I wasn’t allowed… One day let’s do one of these events not live-streamed. We’ll do all the naughty stuff…”