Skinner Fencing v Felicity Lowde
| Jurisdiction | England & Wales |
| Judge | LORD JUSTICE CHADWICK |
| Judgment Date | 12 July 2004 |
| Neutral Citation | [2004] EWCA Civ 1058 |
| Docket Number | B1/2004/0341 |
| Court | Court of Appeal (Civil Division) |
| Date | 12 July 2004 |
[2004] EWCA Civ 1058
IN THE SUPREME COURT OF JUDICATURE
IN THE COURT OF APPEAL (CIVIL DIVISION)
ON APPEAL FROM OXFORD COUNTY COURT
(HIS HONOUR JUDGE HARRIS)
Royal Courts of Justice
Strand
London, WC2
Lord Justice Chadwick
B1/2004/0341
The Applicant did not appear and was not represented
The Defendant did not appear and was not represented
This is a renewed application for permission to appeal from an order made on 27th November 2003 by His Honour Judge Harris QC in the Oxford County Court, dismissing an appeal from an order made on 12th June 2003 by District Judge Campbell in the same court in proceedings brought by Skinner Fencing against Miss Felicity Lowde.
The applicant, Miss Lowde, is not here today to present her application for permission to appeal. She has sought an adjournment of the hearing today on the basis that she is abroad. She has already been granted one adjournment by Brooke LJ, on 15th June 2004; thereby vacating a fixture on 23rd June 2004. When granting that adjournment, Brooke LJ directed that the hearing be refixed for the first open day after 3rd July 2004. The applicant was notified on 21st June 2004 that the hearing had been fixed for today, 12th July 2004. Her request for a further adjournment was made towards the end of last week. I refused it. It is time that this renewed application was addressed and dealt with in this court.
It will be plain from the description of Judge Harris' order that an appeal in this matter would be a second appeal to which the provisions of CPR 52.13 and section 55(1) of the Access to Justice Act 1999 apply. Permission to appeal to this court cannot be granted unless the appeal would raise some important point of principle or practice, or there is some other compelling reason for the Court of Appeal to hear a second appeal in the matter. When refusing permission to appeal on paper, on 11th May 2004, Brooke LJ noted that the proposed appeal would raise no important point of principle or practice, and there is no other compelling reason for the Court of Appeal to hear this as a second appeal.
Having been refused permission on those grounds, it might have been expected that the applicant, in renewing her application at an oral hearing as she was entitled to do, would have sought to identify what the important point of principle or practice was on which she relied for permission for a second appeal, or what other compelling reason there was why the court should hear a second appeal in this matter. She has not done so. The documents before me appear to be the same documents as those which were before Brooke LJ when he refused permission on paper.
The proceedings in which this application is made arise out of an agreement between Skinner Fencing — which, as its name suggests is a fencing company — and Miss Lowde for the carrying out of landscaping work at her property, 53 Jackson Road, Oxford. The agreement is dated 19th May 2002. It contains a detailed list of the prices to be charged for each task that was to be carried out. The labour cost as indicated in the agreement of 19th May 2002 was to be £15 per hour. In addition to that, there were a number of other costs for the supply of material and the hire of equipment, including a digger.
Nothing is said in that agreement about value added tax in relation to the labour charges; although there is an indication that some other items will be charged with the addition of VAT. It appears that at the time, 19th May 2002, Skinner Fencing was not registered for value added tax. In those circumstances, the prima facie conclusion is that the £15 per hour is a gross figure which is not to be increased by the addition of 17.5 per cent tax.
The work having been carried out, Skinner Fencing delivered a final invoice on 5th June 2002. That invoice is itemised day by day — but most of the days include a labour charge for one or two men at £15 an hour for 8 hours, or in one case for 6 hours. The total charge for labour in that invoice is £1,480.50. Broken...
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