Interim and final injunctions against unidentified defendants (Canterbury City Council v Persons unknown)

Article summary

Dispute Resolution analysis: This decision of Mr Justice Nicklin is another robust judgment in the context of interim and final injunctions obtained by local authorities (in this case, Canterbury City Council (the Council) against ‘Persons unknown’ (in this case, as described by the relevant witnesses, ‘persons living a traveller lifestyle’). The decision criticises the ‘feeding frenzy’ of local authorities in the context of these injunctions (as explained by the Court of Appeal in London Borough of Bromley v Persons unknown) and strongly cautions against making attempts to obtain such injunctions simply because other local authorities have succeeded in doing so. The court indicated here that as the claim form had not been served, no order had been made permitting service of the claim form by alternative means, the court had not dispensed with the requirement to serve the claim form and the period within which to complete the relevant step to serve the claim form had expired, the...