The Isle of Man High Court has delivered judgment on the latest aspect of a property dispute involving the Top Gear presenter Jeremy Clarkson and has decided that Mr Clarkson's case is out of time and cannot be pursued. This is the latest stage of continuing litigation regarding public rights of way over a coastal area to the south of the Isle of Man where Mr Clarkson has a property.

Mr Clarkson and his wife Frances Clarkson originally brought a petition to the Isle of Man High Court in February 2009 seeking various declarations in respect of their land and property at Langness, Isle of Man including a declaration that no rights of way existed over the property or alternatively a declaration as to the nature and precise extent of such rights.

The Clarksons' petition was stayed in July 2009 pending the outcome of a public inquiry into rights of way over the Langness property. The inspector concluded after the public inquiry that certain parts of the Langness area could be deemed to have been dedicated as public rights of way for the purposes of section 88 of the Highways Act 1986 of Tynwald. In May 2010 the Isle of Man Department of Infrastructure gave notice of its intention to amend the definitive map of the Isle of Man to include such public rights as had been found to exist in the public inquiry report. The Clarksons lodged an objection to the Department of Infrastructure's proposal.

Accordingly the Department of Infrastructure in September 2010 applied to the High Court for statutory permission to amend the definitive map in relation to Langness. At a court held in March 2011, His Honour Deemster Doyle adjudged that the findings of fact contained in the public inquiry report should be treated as evidence and the findings could be treated as conclusive and that it was not appropriate at that type of hearing for the court to hear objections to the granting of leave on the basis of grounds which should properly have been pursued as a doleance claim. A petition of doleance is an ancient Manx remedy akin to a judicial review of administrative action in the United Kingdom.

The Clarksons then applied for permission to file a petition of doleance out of time and that application was again heard by His Honour Deemster Doyle. By a judgment dated 30 September 2011, His Honour Deemster Doyle has refused to grant the Clarksons permission to file the doleance claim out of time. In giving judgment, His Honour Deemster Doyle stated that he had not been persuaded that there was any good reason for the delay in filing the doleance claim and that there were no matters of general public importance raised on the face of the doleance claim. His Honour Deemster Doyle commented:

"I do not say that rights of way at Langness have not received attention from Attorneys General, the media, Tynwald and the courts. Anyone who reads the newspapers, listens to the radio or looks at internet news sites will know that the matter has received the attention of the media. No doubt the identity and media profile of one of the Respondents has added to the interest of media. Despite the media profile of this case we need to keep matters in perspective when considering whether the issues raised in the doleance claim are issues of "general public importance". Important as the media are in a democratic society, simply because a matter has received the attention of the media does not automatically mean that the matter is a matter of "general public importance". The media covers many matters that are not of general public importance."

The Deemster cited rule 14.23 of the Isle of Man High Court Rules 2009 which states that a doleance claim must be filed promptly and in any event no later than three months after the grounds to make the claim first arose. Deemster Doyle stated that the doleance claim in this case should have been filed promptly and in any event no later than three months after 11 May 2010 (the date when notice of the proposed change to the map was given). It was filed late on 14 June 2011 although an application for leave to file the doleance claim out of time was filed on 12 April 2011, together with a draft doleance claim.

John T Aycock

M&P Legal

jta@mplegal.im

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