Bates & Ors v the Post Office Ltd (No 6: Horizon Issues) (Rev 1) [2019] EWHC 3408 (QB) (16 December 2019)

Bates & Ors v the Post Office Ltd (No 6: Horizon Issues) (Rev 1) [2019] EWHC 3408 (QB) (16 December 2019)

The court held that the correct construction of the Horizon Issues, particularly Issue 1, is that the inquiry is into whether bugs, errors, or defects in the Horizon system had the potential to cause discrepancies or shortfalls in Subpostmasters’ branch accounts generally, not whether they did in fact cause such discrepancies in the claimants’ accounts specifically. The term 'robustness' is to be understood as the system being extremely unlikely to be the cause of shortfalls, but not infallible. The court found that the Horizon system was not robust in the sense claimed by the Post Office, as it contained numerous bugs, errors, and defects with the potential to cause accounting...

Citation
[2019] EWHC 3408 (QB)
Parties
Claimants: Alan Bates and Others; Defendant: Post Office Limited
Jurisdiction
England and Wales
Judgment Date
16 December 2019
Procedural Posture
Group Litigation Order (glo) Under CPR Part 19 / Judgment on Substantive Issues (horizon Issues) After Trial
Outcome
Judgment for the claimants on the Horizon Issues; Horizon system found not robust as claimed by the Post Office; system had bugs, errors, and defects with potential to cause discrepancies.
Legal Topics
Reliability of IT Systems, Breach of Contract, Evidence (expert and Factual), Group Litigation, System Defects and Liability
Contract Law Information Technology Law Civil Procedure Reliability of IT Systems Breach of Contract Evidence (expert and Factual) Group Litigation System Defects and Liability

Case Brief

Summary, issues, holding and outcome

More case intelligence is available

Unlock the full research layer for this judgment.

Full judgment text Downloadable case file Legal principles 2 Authorities cited 7 Party arguments 2
Sign in to unlock

Parties

Alan Bates and Others

Claimants

Post Office Limited

Defendant

Procedural Posture

Group Litigation Order (glo) Under CPR Part 19 / Judgment on Substantive Issues (horizon Issues) After Trial

Legal Issues

  1. 1 Whether bugs, errors or defects in the Horizon system had the potential to cause discrepancies or shortfalls in Subpostmasters’ branch accounts
  2. 2 Whether the Horizon system was 'robust' and extremely unlikely to be the cause of shortfalls in branches
  3. 3 Extent and effect of Post Office and/or Fujitsu's ability to access, edit, or rebuild transaction data remotely

Ratio Decidendi

The court held that the correct construction of the Horizon Issues, particularly Issue 1, is that the inquiry is into whether bugs, errors, or defects in the Horizon system had the potential to cause discrepancies or shortfalls in Subpostmasters’ branch accounts generally, not whether they did in fact cause such discrepancies in the claimants’ accounts specifically. The term 'robustness' is to be understood as the system being extremely unlikely to be the cause of shortfalls, but not infallible. The court found that the Horizon system was not robust in the sense claimed by the Post Office, as it contained numerous bugs, errors, and defects with the potential to cause accounting...

Court Disposition

Judgment for the claimants on the Horizon Issues; Horizon system found not robust as claimed by the Post Office; system had bugs, errors, and defects with potential to cause discrepancies.

Orders

  • Technical Appendix and summary of bugs, errors, and defects to be appended to the judgment
  • Further issues in the group litigation to be determined in subsequent judgments