Sue me!

Warning: non local issue coming up.

There's a very intriguing story doing the rounds which is getting a few people a little upset.

It seems that some chappie has sued his MP for not doing enough work on his behalf. Plenty of indignation left, right and centre that this is going to open the floodgates for lots of constituents to sue their MP's, that a prescidant has been set, etc. etc.

A lot of this is coming from the press who frankly, should know better.

Like Paul Waugh.

As far as is clear from the facts available, this chap applied to his county court for a judgment. He probably did this through the small claims track which is specifically designed to simplify the process and make getting a judgment easier and fairer.

From what I can make out, he applied, the court sent papers with his allegation to this MP with a date to reply by. She didn't reply, didn't turn up in court, so the court issued judgment in his favour by default regardless of facts (because she didn't reply). That's how it works - otherwise no case would ever get settled because no-one would turn up.

(Perhaps there's some truth in his allegation that she's lazy?)

The second part of the story that most people have missed is that she later applied to the court and they withdrew the judgement - so actually she doesn't have to pay. This last bit seems a bit strange to me, unless the due process wasn't followed in the first place. Will try and find out more.