Lt Bailiff Hazel Marshall KC said the Guernsey Financial Services Commission’s appeal did not have a reasonable prospect of success and the original judgement was not of public importance to warrant revisitation.
The GFSC will appeal to a single Judge of the Court of Appeal, however if that attempt also fails it can make a renewed application to the full Court of Appeal.
The judgment which overturned the regulators’ ruling was not on a points of legal principle but on points of application, Lt Bailiff Marshall said.
“All points made that there was an arguable error of law were constructed from particular cherry-picked statements I made without regard for the totality of the judgement.”
She added it was not as if punishment for misconduct found within the regulators’ investigations had been swept aside since some “pretty serious” sanctions against the individual’s had remained, albeit reduced.
She was also “very conscious” of the “stresses and strains” placed on the concerned staff who would continue to be tied up in additional legal proceedings.
The parties accepted that an application for costs for the trio should be made at subsequent court appearances.
The respondents’ counsel also queried if there would be issues with publishing the GFSC’s original counter argument. Lt Bailiff Marshall couldn’t see why not as after being spoken in open court they amount to public documents, but they need to anonymised.
