Attorney General v ESTHER MODUKPE DZAGBLEY MENSAH
| Jurisdiction | England & Wales |
| Court | Court of Appeal (Civil Division) |
| Judge | LORD JUSTICE MUMMERY |
| Judgment Date | 19 July 2004 |
| Neutral Citation | [2004] EWCA Civ 1083 |
| Docket Number | C1/2004/1152 |
| Date | 19 July 2004 |
IN THE SUPREME COURT OF JUDICATURE
IN THE COURT OF APPEAL (CIVIL DIVISION)
ON APPEAL FROM THE HIGH COURT
QUEEN'S BENCH DIVISION
THE DIVISIONAL COURT
(MR JUSTICE PITCHERS)
Royal Courts of Justice
The Strand
London, WC2A 2LL
Lord Justice Mummery
C1/2004/1152
The Appellant appeared in person
The Respondent did not attend and was not represented
(Approved by the Court)
Monday, 19 July 2004
This is an application for permission to appeal made in person by Miss Esther Mensah. The order which she wishes to appeal was made by the Divisional Court, Auld LJ and Pitchers J, on 13 May 2004. The order was made on an application by the Attorney-General for an order under section 42 of the Supreme Court Act 1981, a civil proceedings order. The court ordered that Miss Ester Mensah should be prohibited from instituting any civil proceedings or continuing any civil proceedings or making any application other than an application for permission required by section 42 in any civil proceedings instituted in any court by any person unless Esther Mensah obtained the permission of the High Court, having satisfied the High Court that the proceedings or applications were not an abuse of process of the court in question and there are reasonable grounds for the proceedings. It was also stated in the order that, for the avoidance of doubt, the order should apply to proceedings and applications in any Employment Tribunal and in the Employment Appeal Tribunal.
The background to the case is that, as is common in section 42 applications, there was a long history of unsuccessful litigation. Miss Mensah was a registered midwife employed by the Berkshire Area Health Authority in 1976. Disciplinary proceedings were taken against her for misconduct, and in February 1978 the Central Midwives Board removed her name from the Roll of Legal Midwives and cancelled her practising certificate. She was later restored to the Roll but was only able to secure work as what was called a "bank" midwife. She failed to get permanent employment and was later removed from the "bank" register.
From 1979 onwards there has been a long history of litigation, principally in the Employment Tribunal and the Employment Appeal Tribunal, but also by way of judicial review proceedings. The position is, for example, that from 1993 onwards no less than 25 sets of proceedings were instituted by Miss Mensah against NHS Trusts, health authorities and others, alleging race discrimination, victimisation, breach of contract, breaches of European Community law and European Convention of Human Rights law, conspiracy and so on. Nearly all the claims were attempts to relitigate previously unsuccessful claims.
The history of the litigation is set out in the judgment of Pitchers J, which was concurred in by Auld LJ. Their conclusion was first, that Miss Mensah had habitually and persistently instituted civil proceedings which failed, and secondly, they decided that "court" within the meaning of section 42 covered employment tribunals and the Employment Appeal Tribunal.
Miss Mensah has submitted that there are many grounds on which she should be entitled to appeal successfully against the order. She submitted a detailed skeleton argument on 28 June 2004, and she has added to those points at the oral hearing today. She...
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