no refund policy

Summary

The requester sought internal documents and meeting minutes to challenge the General Registry's no-refund policy for court fees, alleging it was unlawful and incompatible with human rights. The authority responded by citing the Courts and General Registry (Miscellaneous Fees) Order 2025, stating that fees are payable immediately and no provision exists for refunds as the work cannot be undone.

Key Facts

• The request was made to the General Registry regarding their no-refund policy for court fees.
• The authority cited Article 6(2) of the Courts and General Registry (Miscellaneous Fees) Order 2025 as the legal basis for the policy.
• The response states that fees must be paid in full and immediately when due.
• No internal documents such as meeting minutes or filenotes were disclosed because the policy is established by statutory order.
• The authority explained that refunds are not possible because filed matters cannot be unfiled and work cannot be undone.

Data Disclosed

• 4678669
• 2025-05-21
• 2025-06-05
• 2025-06-18
• 2025-06-26
• Article 6 (2)
• Courts and General Registry (Miscellaneous Fees) Order 2025
• Interpretation Act 2015
• Freedom of Information Act 2015
• IM1 3AR
• (01624) 685979

Original Request

Please supply adequate information on the no refund policy such as management meeting agenda items, attachments such as filenotes and reports, minutes and decision date to establish the abusive/unlawful/unenforceable public counter no refund policy incompatible with human rights and/or fair trading and/or common law and/or contract law and/or equitable law and/or merchant terminal operator terms and conditions and financial services regulation and financial services ombudsperson.

Data Tables (1)

Full Response Text

General Registry Oik- Recortyssee Chief Registrar
Stuart Quayle Isle of Man Courts of Justice Deemsters Walk, Bucks Road Douglas, Isle of Man IM1 3AR

Telephone:
(01624) 685979 Email: DPO- GenReg@gov.im

Our ref: 4678669 5 June 2025

Dear #####

We write further to your request, received 21 May 2025, which states:

"Please supply adequate information on the no refund policy such as management meeting agenda items, attachments such as filenotes and reports, minutes and decision date to establish the abusive/unlawful/unenforceable public counter no refund policy incompatible with human rights and/or fair trading and/or common law and/or contract law and/or equitable law and/or merchant terminal operator terms and conditions and financial services regulation and financial services ombudsperson."

Our response to your request is as follows:

The Courts and General Registry (Miscellaneous Fees) Order 2025 may be located on our website www.courts.im under “Fees”. Article 6 (2) of Courts Services Fees states “The fee in respect of such a matter is payable in full and immediately when it falls due”.

The Fees Order makes no provision for a refund. It cannot be unfiled and the work cannot be undone so the fee is properly payable.

Please quote the reference number 4678669 in any future communications.

Your right to request a review

If you are unhappy with this response to your freedom of information request, you may ask us to carry out an internal review of the response, by completing a complaint form and submitting it electronically or by delivery/post.

An electronic version of our complaint form can be found by going to our website at https://services.gov.im/freedom-of-information/Review . If you would like a paper

version of our complaint form to be sent to you by post, please contact me and I will be happy to arrange for this. Your review request should explain why you are dissatisfied with this response, and should be made as soon as practicable. We will respond as soon as the review has been concluded.

If you are not satisfied with the result of the review, you then have the right to appeal to the Information Commissioner for a decision on; 1. Whether we have responded to your request for information in accordance with Part 2 of the Freedom of Information Act 2015; or 2. Whether we are justified in refusing to give you the information requested.
In response to an application for review, the Information Commissioner may, at any time, attempt to resolve a matter by negotiation, conciliation, mediation or another form of alternative dispute resolution and will have regard to any outcome of this in making any subsequent decision. More detailed information on your right to a review can be found on the Information Commissioner’s website at www.inforights.im. Should you have any queries concerning this letter, please do not hesitate to contact me. Further information about freedom of information requests can be found at www.gov.im/foi.

I will now close your request as of this date.

Yours sincerely

FOI Co-ordinator

General Registry Oik- Recortyssee Chief Registrar
Stuart Quayle Isle of Man Courts of Justice Deemsters Walk, Bucks Road Douglas, Isle of Man IM1 3AR

Telephone:
(01624) 685979 Email: DPO- GenReg@gov.im

Our ref: 4678669 18th June 2025

Dear ####

We write further to your request received 21 May 2025, which states:

"Please supply adequate information on the no refund policy such as management meeting agenda items, attachments such as filenotes and reports, minutes and decision date to establish the abusive/unlawful/unenforceable public counter no refund policy incompatible with human rights and/or fair trading and/or common law and/or contract law and/or equitable law and/or merchant terminal operator terms and conditions and financial services regulation and financial services ombudsperson."

Our original response to your request was as follows dated June 5th 2025:

“The Courts and General Registry (Miscellaneous Fees) Order 2025 may be located on our website www.courts.im under “Fees”. Article 6 (2) of Courts Services Fees states “The fee in respect of such a matter is payable in full and immediately when it falls due”.

The Fees Order makes no provision for a refund. It cannot be unfiled and the work cannot be undone so the fee is properly payable”

Further to your request for an internal review dated June 5th 2025 stating:

“Please review the response on the basis that the referenced regulations are under primary legislation Interpretation Act 2015 to clarify legal powers and lawful policies and lawful procedures not to define unlawful fees rules or define unlawful "procedural unfairness" in breach of human rights, in particular, vulnerable litigants in person.

I have copied to internal legal counsel to highlight the scale of breaches of human rights.

I have requested information or documents on the basis of the obviously unlawful and/or "procedural unfairness" in breach of human rights with a blanket ban on refunds, i.e. a no refund policy. A policy requires a meeting agenda item, draft papers, minutes with a formally documented decision. An unpublished policy inconsistent with a published policy on access to justice is unlawful: Lord Dyson in R (Lumba) v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2012] 1 AC 24, a policy, "if unpublished…must not be inconsistent with any published policy"

The reference to the regulations appears to incorrectly purport to represent fee rules in their entirety but that is untrue because the fee remission rules are an exception and do not require an immediate fee payment. Reasonable refund exceptions could be defined with an amendment or other regulations to assist lawful interpretation of the primary legislation and associated rules.

Nothing that presently defines an immediate fee payment precludes a refund of the immediate fee payment and it appears disingenuous to claim otherwise.

https://www.lawgazette.co.uk/news/moj-to-refund-court-fees-after- overcharging/5066408.article

The court accepted a payment in good faith but the court has not yet processed the form and I note that a refund is a reasonable expectation and I wish the court to cease and desist efforts to evade such a legal obligation: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/fees-in-the-civil-and-family-courts-main- fees-ex50/pay-a-civil-or-family-court-fee-get-help-with-fees-or-get-a-refund .... Get a fee refund You may be entitled to a refund on a court fee if you need to cancel the application, claim or other undertaking and the court has not yet processed it.

For example, if you have made a court claim for money and the defendant has since settled, you can request a refund of the fee if the court has not yet issued the claim.

You may also be entitled to a refund if:

the court has mistakenly processed the claim or application after you have made the request to cancel it you have paid for a service online and the payment has been taken more than once because of system error Contact the court immediately if you want to cancel a court service.

To apply for a refund, write to or email the appropriate business or service centre. You must explain why you think you should have a refund. You must also apply for the refund as soon as possible after you have paid the fee.

If you have paid by cheque or with a credit card, do not cancel the payment as this may lead to the court pursuing the fee as a civil debt.

https://www.barristerconnect.com/blog/how-to-reclaim-fees-when-your-court-hearing- is-vacated?hs_amp=true .... Claiming back your court fees is more straightforward than you might think, so here’s what you can expect from the process…

What Does It Mean When a Hearing is Vacated?
A vacated hearing means that a previously scheduled court hearing has been cancelled or postponed.
.... The main reasons hearings are vacated include procedural errors, scheduling conflicts, or settlements reached outside of court. It's worth noting that vacated hearings don't automatically trigger a refund, so you'll need to take proactive steps to reclaim your court fees.

Can You Claim Back Court Fees When Your Hearing is Vacated?
Absolutely. When a hearing is vacated, you have every right to apply for a refund of court fees. However, it's essential to follow the proper procedures to ensure your application is successful.

First, check if you're eligible. Generally, if the hearing is vacated due to circumstances beyond your control, you qualify for a refund. Keep in mind that there may be specific deadlines for submitting your application for refunding court fees, so acting swiftly is crucial. .... The Refund Process
The refund process for vacated hearings often isn't as complex as it might seem.
.... What if my case was settled out of court?
If your case was resolved outside of court, you might still be eligible for a refund. Contact the court to discuss your specific situation and determine your eligibility.

Do I need legal representation to claim back court fees?
While legal representation can be helpful, it's not required for reclaiming court fees.

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/claim-a-court-fee- refund#:~:text=The%20Ministry%20of%20Justice%20has,charged%20a%20fee%20 at%20all .... The Ministry of Justice has launched a court fee refund scheme because we have identified that some fees have either been: overcharged – where we have charged a fee that is greater than the cost of the service mischarged – where we have charged the wrong fee or we should not have charged a fee at all

https://www.hja.net/expert-comments/blog/personal-injury/do-i-have-to-pay-a-court- fee-if-court-proceedings-are-issued-for-my-personal-injury-claim/?/expert- comments/blog/medical-negligence/do-i-have-to-pay-a-court-fee-if-court-proceedings- are-issued-for-my-personal-injury-claim/

.... What if the Court fee has already been paid? If you have already paid a court fee and this was in the last 3 months, provided you met the eligibility criteria when you paid it, you may be entitled to a refund.

Equally, it appears obvious that if I was accidentally overcharged £10 in a credit card payment I would have a right to a refund via the court or via the merchant terminal operator or via the credit card operator. Therefore, the court must accept that a refund policy does the so called no refund policy does not have any legitimate basis in law or by any benchmark with the UK.

https://www.courts.im/media/3941/250424-adt-public-record-of-complaints-upheld- and-decisions.pdf Further, I will highlight a newly published Advocates Disciplinary Tribunal judgment re James Quinn. “some text removed” I simply expect rules consistently applied to advocates and to litigants in person.

I look forward to an agreement on a refund procedure next week”

An internal review was conducted by a different officer within the General Registry and found the following:

“A review of the relevant Fees Order (COURTS AND GENERAL REGISTRY (MISCELLANEOUS FEES) ORDER 2025) and as far as can be reasonably ascertained, the Order is explicitly clear on the ‘no refund policy’ for certain application types. The Legal Officer in their capacity has adequately provided an explanation in this respect.
The Fees Order in question (and all Fees Orders) are drafted by the Attorney General’s Chambers and are subjected to legal scrutiny.

There are some options available to the General Registry (Chief Registrar/Courts etc.) to refund customers, but this will only happen in exceptional circumstances and for other miscellaneous fee types in other Orders or collection of Fixed Penalty Notices, such as when there has been a clear administration error or if a customer has mistakenly overpaid a fee.

In certain circumstances, the Chief Registrar (General Registry) does have the power to consider an application made by a respondent for the remission of specified fees, in cases of claimed financial hardship”

Please quote the reference number 4678669 in any future communications.

Your right to appeal to the Information Commissioner:

If you are not satisfied with the result of this internal review, you then have the right to appeal to the Information Commissioner for a decision on; 1. Whether we have responded to your request for information in accordance with Part 2 of the Freedom of Information Act 2015; or 2. Whether we are justified in refusing to give you the information requested.
In response to an application for review, the Information Commissioner may, at any time, attempt to resolve a matter by negotiation, conciliation, mediation or another form of alternative dispute resolution and will have regard to any outcome of this in making any subsequent decision. More detailed information on your right to a review can be found on the Information Commissioner’s website at www.inforights.im. Should you have any queries concerning this letter, please do not hesitate to contact me. Further information about freedom of information requests can be found at www.gov.im/foi.

I will now close your request as of this date.

Yours sincerely

FOI Co-ordinator