A court defeat for the Halifax has paved the way for more legal action by the thousands of investors who were left out of the windfall bonanza, campaigners claim. Brighton County Court has awarded Mark Bishop, a Halifax investor and British resident, 1,500 pounds in compensation on Friday, January 9, after the Yorkshire-based bank failed to send him his shares.

Eight and a half million people cashed in on the Halifax conversion on June 2 receiving an average 3,000 pounds windfall, but many people, including 6,000 who have already complained to the Building Societies Ombudsman, insist they were wrongly excluded from the share distribution.

Mr. Bishop is believed to be the first investor to win a court judgment against the Halifax, and his cause was in effect advanced by his legal opponents. Not only did the bank fail to send him his shares but their solicitors from Dibb Lupton Alsop in Leeds failed to arrive at court to contest the case.

Although the bank had already paid Mr Bishop 1,465 pounds in compensation, he claimed that the Halifax owed a further 1,500 pounds in compensation because he had missed out on the opportunity to invest his share entitlement in a personal equity plan. By investing directly in UK quoted companies, investors obtain certain tax breaks from the Government and it was on this basis that the county court was asked to hear his claim for compensation.

"The Halifax's solicitors never turned up," said Brighton County Court manager, David Wraith. He told the Yorkshire Post that the Halifax's lawyers have now made an application for the judgment to be set aside on Monday January 12, a stay of execution and a date for a re-hearing when they can dispute Mr Bishop's claim. Dibb Lupton Alsop solicitors have also applied for the procedure to be heard in chambers without the other party, Mr.Bishop, being present.

The news of the legal victory has delighted campaigner Brian Hazlehurst from Rio de Janeiro who is fighting for an estimated 314,000 people including the elderly, sick and disabled, relatives of people who have died, the under-18's, second-named joint account holders and 100,000 expatriates.

The organiser of UNHAVS - the UN-ited HA-lifax V-ictim-S - Internet campaign said: "Against the backdrop of total UK authority complacency, the recent Halifax defeat in Brighton County Court, represents a first-round knock-out victory for all in terms of jurisprudence and to encourage all other clients to get on the legal bandwaggon."

He said that the forthcoming legal action over the Halifax's share allocation to two underage Essex boys who were ineligible will also shake Halifax's distorted concept of mutual society ownership. The active expatriate group of excluded Halifax shareholders will also embark on multi-party litigation this month through Leeds solicitor, Jeff Goldberg of Cranswick-Watson Solicitors.

"In the USA, there would be a far greater scandal, and there would be lawyers queuing up to file ONE giant class action lawsuit, and, for that matter, on a contingency basis. In Britain what do we get?. No reaction from the authorities."

He said that each sub-group of excluded shareholders have to pay around 1,175 pounds for a barrister's opinion to examine if there is a case.
"The UK is nowhere near as well-equipped as the USA in defending consumer rights, especially when giant corporations are involved."

A spokesman for the Halifax said that the Brighton County Court judgment will be contested vigorously and that the absence of its legal representative was due to an 'administrative error.'