MBR Acres Ltd -v- Free the MBR Beagles
| Jurisdiction | England & Wales |
| Judge | Mr Justice Nicklin |
| Judgment Date | 22 December 2022 |
| Neutral Citation | [2022] EWHC 3338 (KB) |
| Docket Number | Case No: QB-2021-003094 |
| Court | King's Bench Division |
[2022] EWHC 3338 (KB)
THE HONOURABLE Mr Justice Nicklin
Case No: QB-2021-003094
IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUSTICE
KING'S BENCH DIVISION
MEDIA & COMMUNICATIONS LIST
Royal Courts of Justice
Strand, London, WC2A 2LL
Caroline Bolton and Natalie Pratt (instructed by Mills & Reeve LLP) for the Claimants
Cathryn McGahey KC (instructed by Cohen Cramer Solicitors) for the Fourth Defendant
Adam Tear (of Scott-Moncrieff & Associates Ltd) for the Fifth, Seventh, Eighth and Twenty-Second Defendants
Ashley Underwood KC and Adam Tear (instructed by Scott-Moncrieff & Associated Ltd) for the Sixth, Twelfth, Thirteenth and Twenty-Third Defendants
The Ninth, Eleventh, Fourteenth, Eighteenth, Twentieth, Twenty-First and Twenty-Fourth Defendants appeared in person
Ashley Underwood KC and Adam Tear (instructed by Scott-Moncrieff & Associated Ltd) for Gillian McGivern, an interested party
The Third, Eighteenth, Nineteenth and Twenty-Third Defendants (and the “Persons Unknown” Defendants) did not attend and were not represented
The claim against the First and Second Defendants has been stayed
The claim against the Fifth and Nineteenth Defendants has been compromised
Hearing date: 25 July and 7 October 2022
Approved Judgment
This judgment was handed down by the Judge remotely by circulation to the parties and their representatives by email and by release to The National Archives. The date and time for hand-down is deemed to be 10:30am on 22 December 2022.
This judgment deals with the Claimants' application to vary the interim injunction that was granted on 10 November 2021 (“the variation application”) (see Section B: [13.]–[17.] below). It also deals with a discrete point about whether Gillian McGivern has become a defendant to the proceedings (see Section F: [81.]–[88.] below).
A: Background
The general background to the litigation, and the reasons for granting the injunction are contained in the judgment handed down on that date ( [2021] EWHC 2996 (QB)) (“the Injunction Judgment”).
(1) Alternative service orders
On 12 August 2021, the Court granted permission for alternative service of the Claim Form on the “Persons Unknown” Defendants. The order provided:
“Pursuant to CPR Part 6.14, 6.15, 6.26 and 6.27 the Claimants have permission to serve the Tenth Defendant, Persons Unknown, by the following alternative forms of service:
(1) Affixing copies (as opposed to originals) of the Claim Form, the Injunction Application Notice, draft Injunction Order and this Order permitting alternative service, in a transparent envelope on the gates of the First and Third Claimants' Land and in a prominent position on the grass verge at the front of the First and Third Claimant's Land.
(2) The documents shall be accompanied by a cover letter in the form set out in Annexure 2 explaining to Persons Unknown that they can access copies of
(a) the Response Pack;
(b) evidence in support of the Alternative Service and Injunction Applications; and
(c) the skeleton argument and note of the hearing of the Alternative Service Application
at the dedicated share file website at: [Dropbox link provided]”
(3) The deemed date of service for the documents referred to in (1) to (3) above shall be two working days after service is completed in accordance with paragraphs (1) to (3) above.
The Defendants (including those in the category of “Persons Unknown”) were required to file an Acknowledgement of Service 14 days after the deemed date of service.
Similar orders have been made for service of the Claim Form by an alternative method on the additional categories of Persons Unknown Defendants as they have been added to the claim. Following the imposition of the exclusion zone by the interim injunction order of 10 November 2021, the location at which the relevant documents were to be displayed was moved to a noticeboard opposite the entrance of the Wyton Site.
(2) Initial hearings of the variation application
The variation application was originally...
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