At approximately 8:30am this morning three Just Stop Oil supporters entered the offices of the law firm DLA Piper, displayed banners and deposited a large amount of legal paperwork from a suitcase onto the floor.[1]
Theresa Norton, 65, from Scarborough in Yorkshire, is one of the named defendants on the controversial National Highways Ltd M25 structures injunction. Today, she “returned to sender” the vast amount of paperwork she has received from the firm in connection with the injunction.
Theresa is also appearing at the Royal Courts of Justice today along with 11 others accused of breaking the National Highways Ltd injunction when they climbed or attempted to climb gantries over the M25 in November 2022. [2][3]
DLA Piper is an international Law firm that claims to have green credentials and yet they are the firm profiting the most from the civil law injunctions brought by the government against Insulate Britain, Stop HS2 and Just Stop Oil.
Lawyers for DLA Piper charge the government between £90 and £412 per hour for their services, fees which the government then seeks to recoup from the people named on injunctions in the form of legal costs. For example, lawyers acting for the government in respect of the National Highways Ltd M25 injunction originally sought costs of £727,574 against the 133 defendants. People named on injunctions are frequently faced with huge legal bills whether or not they broke the injunction. [4]
In addition to legal costs running to tens of thousands, those convicted of breaking an injunction face up to 2 years in prison, an unlimited fine and seizure of assets. Many of those in court this week have already spent long periods on remand, experienced restrictive bail conditions and ankle tags and, in an apparent case of double jeopardy face trial for public nuisance in criminal courts in 2024/5. [5][6]
A spokesperson for Just Stop Oil said
“More and more ordinary people understand what these lawyers apparently do not and that is that no-one is safe from the consequences of runaway global heating. Your fat salary might give you a few months respite from extreme heat waves and mass crop failure, but in the end we will all see our children starve and have to face riots and war.
“Why, then, are lawyers aiding and abetting our criminal government in persecuting ordinary people trying to protect humanity when we should all be working together to deal with the impacts of climate breakdown and societal collapse? Lawyers must be responsible. Stop profiting from genocide”
Two further hearings at the Royal Courts of Justice are scheduled for the remaining 32 people who participated in the M25 gantry actions in November 2022.
Just Stop Oil supporters are not prepared to stand by and watch while the government plans for millions to die and destroys everything we care about. It’s up to all of us now to come together and resist. We cannot let them divide us. Together we can be the real opposition this country needs and we will win. We will stop new oil and gas. People are coming together from all over the UK to march day after day in London from 30th October. It’s People vs Oil!
ENDS
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Notes to Editors
[1] Just Stop Oil is a coalition of groups working together to demand that the government immediately halt all future licensing and consents for the exploration, development and production of fossil fuels in the UK. Just Stop Oil is a member of the A22 Network of civil resistance projects. Climate Emergency Fund is Just Stop Oil’s primary funder for recruitment, training, and capacity building.
Just Stop Oil ‘Blue Lights’ policy: our policy is, and has always been, to move out of the way for emergency vehicles with siren sounding and ‘blue lights’ on.
[2] The 12 in Court are CHARLOTTE KIRIN, DANIEL JOHNSON, GAIE DELAP, JOSEPH LINHART, LUKE ELSON, MAIR BAIN, PAUL BLEACH, PAUL SOUSEK, PAUL VINCENT BELL, ROSEMARY JACKSON, THERESA HIGGINSON, THERESA NORTON
[3] https://juststopoil.org/2023/10/24/just-stop-oil-12-in-court-over-m25-injunction-break/
[4] Further information on injunctions, the NHL injunction and the repercussions of breaking them can be found here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1-k-JlmOgk6Uv1phNhEiIRg9Uc1qeSpCQIF5pHDYJmLM/edit?usp=sharing
[5] Climate activists face ‘crippling’ legal fees for injunctions banning protest
Protesters facing criminal convictions are being punished twice as National Highways and TfL seek costly injunctions: https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/civil-injunctions-just-stop-oil-insulate-britain-extinction-rebellion-punishment-protests/
[6] Punishment without trial: Britain’s latest weapon in the war against dissent https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/jun/29/punishment-without-trial-britain-civil-injunctions-climate-activists
