Some legal challenges ‘clogging up’ court time, judge says

A senior judge in Belfast today criticised the merits of some legal challenges "clogging up" High Court time.

Mr Justice Weir described one case brought over child maintenance payments as being "just a fee gathering exercise". He also questioned the need for a separate action dealing with potential cuts to a man's disability benefits.

The judge insisted: “Not only in judicial review, but in for example children’s proceedings, one should only come to court as a matter of last resort.” His assessment came as he dealt with a series of legal challenges.

In one a father was contesting an assessment of his liabilities made by the North’s Child Maintenance Service. The dispute was said to involve a figure of £18 (€22) a week.

As the case was called Mr Justice Weir commented: “I’m absolutely astonished people should be coming here to invoke judicial review proceedings in cases of this type. “This is just a fee gathering exercise.”

Despite protestations by counsel on behalf of the applicant, the judge described preliminary written arguments as being “not good for my blood pressure”.

He questioned whether the dispute could not be resolved by an alternative means, suggesting an approach to an ombudsman as one possibility. “To commence judicial review proceedings to sort out something of this sort seems to me to be extreme overkill,” Mr Justice Weir added.

As lawyers in that case were given time to explore their options, he turned to a second challenge over disability allowances. Action was brought by man on benefits who was allegedly secretly filmed marching at a parade.

According to the judge an assessment of his physical status should be carried out by medical experts rather than the courts. “I don’t think this matter, any more than the last matter, is a matter for clogging up the High Court with judicial review proceedings,” he said.

“You should only need to have recourse to judicial review if every other sensible means of producing a resolution has been tried and not achieved.”