Press Release – 7 February 2014

The Commissioners are delighted to advise all its ratepayers that the legal action against the Authority, that commenced in June 2009, by their former clerk Charles Lewin has finally reached a conclusion, subject to any appeal, as the case was struck out by Deemster Christie in the …High Courts on Thursday 6th February.

Mr Lewin, who was dismissed for gross misconduct in 2007, sought damages for wrongful dismissal and loss of his pension rights to a value, he claimed, to be in excess of £1million.

Whilst Mr Lewin had always claimed that the damages he was seeking were considerable, he did not produce anything to the Courts to substantiate that claim.

Unfortunately for the ratepayers the legal costs of this case have exceeded £250,000, however the Authority was left with no choice but to defend the action because of his unjustified substantial claim, a stance that was supported with a legal opinion from Mr Philip Coppel QC.

They now intend to try and recover these costs from Mr Lewin as well as a substantial sum of money that they have lodged as a counter claim to Mr Lewin’s action.

The Commissioners wished to record their grateful thanks to their legal team, and all their staff who have endured a great deal of pressure and stress over these past 4 1/2 years as the matter slowly ground its way through the Court system.

They are encouraged that the unjustified actions of Mr Lewin have reached the correct conclusion and this now allows them to press on with their everyday work and development plans without the unwarranted time and financial restrictions caused by this failed litigation.

The Authority hope that its ratepayers will now understand that the removal of this liability played a part in the Authority’s 6p rate reduction announced last week.

The lengthy judgement is available shortly on the IOM Courts website; see links below:-

IOM Courts – Part 1

IOM Courts – Part 2

J C Whiteway MBA
Clerk
7th February 2014