What Is A Civil Restraint Order?
To be clear an Extended Civil Restraint Order is something that is best avoided right across the board by any party involved in litigation.
A civil restraint order is a Court order to prevent someone from continually appealing a judge’s decision. This prevents the party from repeatedly re-litigating matters and in effect pulling their opposing party in the litigation back to Court with all the associated costs. It also will aim to save court time from potentially being wasted which given the same is not unlimited can delay other litigants in having their cases heard.
What Is An Extended Civil Restraint Order?
An Extended Civil Restraint Order is a type of Court order that applies to certain Courts and lasts for three years. It is possible to renew it for a further three years.
Refusing To Accept A Judges Order
When a litigant refuses to accept a Court decision and repeatedly appeals then the risk is that the Court will issue an order that records that the applicant has made a Totally Without Merit Application (“TWMA”). The more times a TWMA arises the greater the risk of a litigant being issued with an Extended Civil Restraint Order (“ECRO”).
Hurst v Green
In the case, Hurst v Green & Ors [2022] EWHC 2895 (Ch) Mr Hust was recorded as attempting to annul his Bankruptcy for the fifth time. The precise detail in the case is not relevant per se to this article but what is relevant is how the judge articulated his refusal to entertain the permission sought and extended the ECRO by a further two years:
The latest allegations in his witness statements of 1st and 2nd November 2022 are attempts to throw some tiny specks of mud in the expectation they form substantial foundations of a house: the house being his dream that undue influence was exerted over his mother in 2003, and the foundations of which he believes would be sufficient to set aside the summary judgment granted against him by Master Price. Both the foundations and the house are a mirage which can only be seen by Mr Hurst. As both Fancourt J. and I have previously observed, he is unable to take an objective view of events. Indeed, in his witness statements of 1st and 2nd November 2022, I find he has lost all objectivity.
By agreeing to review the decision contained in my Order dated 20th December 2021 and by considering his further contentions, I can see I have encouraged Mr Hurst’s latest attempts to challenge my Order dated 28th October 2022, but Mr Hurst must understand that this will not be repeated. Indeed, his repeated groundless applications are precisely what an ECRO is designed to prevent.
In short, my Order dated 28th October 2022 stands. For what it is worth, I will also certify that his attempts in his witness statements of 1st and 2nd November 2022 to persuade me to grant permission also constituted an application which was totally without merit.
In extending the ECRO the judge then said:
Reverting to this case, Mr Hurst has shown no sign of moving on. He persists in an irrational refusal to take ‘no’ for an answer. Indeed, the three applications which he has made to me for permission which I have certified as totally without merit demonstrate that his persistence has continued. He has demonstrated no self-awareness that his quest is, from the point of view of any reasonable litigant, without any merit. Indeed, his latest contentions, set out in his witness statements dated 1st and 2nd November 2022, demonstrate just how out of touch with reality his contentions have become.
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