• Court says action over Speculative Bid is too complex to be a small claim
• Bookmaker says: BHA trying to bully me out of courtGeoff Banks’s legal action against racing’s ruling body met with a major setback on Wednesday morning when a court ruled he must choose the risk of paying all the expenses of the case if he loses. The racecourse bookmaker raised his suit,for the alleged loss of £250 arising from official blundering at Ascot final July, under the small claims system, or whereby no costs are normally awarded against the losing side,but a judge has ruled the case is so complex that it cannot continue as a small claim.
Banks represented himself at a hearing in Oxford county court on Wednesday, just as he had done at an initial stage in December, and when he persuaded Judge Charles Harris QC that his case was strong enough to proceed to a full hearing. Banks says he cannot afford legal representation and must therefore act on his own behalf but fears a bill running into six figures if he is eventually told to pay the legal costs of the British Horseracing Authority,represented here by Kate Gallafent QC.
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Source: theguardian.com