There is light at the end of the exhaust pipe as closing submissions began this week in the Pan-NOx 'dieselgate' class action. 

After 10 weeks of hearings beginning in October, closing submissions are expected to run until 20 March so Obiter should not have been surprised when the claimants’ written submissions came to 721 pages. In fairness, there are five defendants, and a lot to get through. Still, that’s a lot of words. Obiter tried not to think about it as we began to read. 

Tom de la Mare KC, for the claimants, made a remark about the defendants’ wonderful use of language during his closing submissions.

Lady Justice Cockerill, sitting as a judge of the High Court, did not miss a beat. ‘There has been a wonderful use of language all around. I do not think you should give all the credit to the defendants,’ she said.

That prompted a ripple of laughter throughout the packed Court 73 in the Royal Courts of Justice. Knowing laughter, Obiter likes to think. After all, many of the people in the room will be responsible for creating more than 2,000 pages of written closing submissions (that’s claimants and defendants combined). 

Obiter is still reading but there’s been a fair bit of ‘wonderful’ language in those, too.

 

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