Ipswich Town Football Club Company Limited v Chief Constable of Suffolk Constabulary
[2017] EWHC 375 (QB)
09 Mar 2017
Share
Judgment was handed down on 27 February in stage two of this case, which is of interest for its relevance to the scope and basis of restitutionary damages against a public authority.
Counsel for the Claimant argued that the football club was entitled to repayment of sums overpaid to the police under (amongst others) the "Woolwich principle" – the main advantage of which, for the Club, is that the police could not then run certain restitutionary defences otherwise potentially available to them.
The police argued that the attempt to apply the Woolwich principle to a private agreement between a public body and private body was taking matters too far, and the principle was properly limited to ultra vires demands for payment of tax or similar levies backed by compulsion.
The Club was successful on this point.
The full judgment can be read here.
Nick De Marco acted for the Claimant, Ipswich Town Football Club Company Limited.
