Judge is berated for 'wounding remarks'

A deputy High Court judge, who made "wounding and sarcastic" remarks about barristers acting in a case he was trying, has been castigated by the Court of Appeal.

Judge Richard Seymour, well known in the Technology and Construction Court, was found to have lost his "objective judicial mind" during the trial involving an £11m claim for damages arising out of a dispute between the Co-op and an international computer company, then called ICL.

The Court of Appeal ordered the case to be re-tried after finding that Judge Seymour had acted unfairly, an allegation that the judges described as "very serious". The Co-op said last night that its management team had been treated "shamefully" by the judge.

Judge Seymour has been successfully appealed in the past. An Independent investigation has found that, in the past two years, nine out of the 15 reported appeals - 60 per cent - against Judge Seymour have been successful.

The Co-op claimed £11m damages from ICL for breach of contract and misrepresentation arising out of an IT project. The Co-op suffered a "comprehensive defeat" after the 20-day trial, when Judge Seymour decided that there had been no contract between the two parties and, therefore, no misrepresentation.

In one of his sarcastic attacks on the Co-op's lawyers, Judge Seymour said in his judgement: "The formulation of the case of CWS [Co-operate Wholesale Society] in this action does not seem to have benefited from any real legal analysis."

The Court of Appeal judges said in a judgement, handed down on 19 December but which had to await publication, that the "the wounding and sarcastic comments" which the judge made about the Co-op's barrister and other legal advisers were "unfair." ICL, now Fujitsu, declined to comment on the ruling. Judge Seymour was unavailable for comment.