The High Court has ruled in favour of extending the time limit for a human rights claim brought against Manx Care and the Department of Health and Social Care.
The unnamed claimant, who is living with Parkinson’s disease, alleges he suffered “organisational abuse” during his 18-month residence at Southlands Resource Centre between February 2022 and August 2023.
The claim includes allegations of negligence, breaches of duty, and violations of Article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights, which prohibits torture and inhuman or degrading treatment.
It is claimed that systemic failures at Southlands led to physical and mental injuries, with a safeguarding report dated 27 October 2023 substantiating concerns about “organisational abuse”.
Granted
Deemster John Needham acknowledged the delay in filing the human rights claim but deemed it equitable to grant an extension.
“The cumulative nature of the allegations in a human rights context is important,” he said.
It strikes me that the chronic nature of the alleged failures, if proved, would raise a matter of significant public interest.
Deemster John Needham
The defendants opposed the extension, arguing the claimant failed to justify the delay.
However, Deemster Needham said that while responsibility for issuing the claim within the time limit “rested firmly with the claimant”, he was not impressed with the way Manx Care and the DHSC had responded to it.
He added that “it does appear to me to be relevant that the defendants, despite their obvious access to legal advice and the size of their resources, were not able to give a substantive response to the letter before claim in a timely manner”.
The Overriding Objective does expect both parties to act properly in such circumstances and, unfortunately, I find that the Defendants did not act properly in that regard.
The case will now proceed, with the Deemster saying the human rights claim will likely form a central part of the proceedings.
You can find the full ruling here.
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