I Want To Appeal The Appeal

May Donoghue and Walter Leechman applied for leave to appeal to the House of Lords from the Inner House of the Court of Session. They were supported by William Milligan, who prepared a detailed and persuasive petition for them.

They expected the Inner House to grant them leave to appeal, as it had done in some previous cases where the law was unclear or controversial. They thought that the Inner House would recognize the importance and the difficulty of their case.

But they were wrong. The Inner House refused to grant them leave to appeal. It said that their case did not involve any point of law of general public importance or any point of Scots law requiring clarification by the House of Lords. It said that their case was clear and settled by the existing rules and precedents of Scots law.

It also said that it was not satisfied that their case had any reasonable chance of success in the House of Lords. It said that their case was hopeless and futile. It dismissed their application and ordered them to pay David Stevenson's costs.

May Donoghue and Walter Leechman were shocked and dismayed by the decision. They felt that they had been denied a fair and proper hearing. They thought that they had been shut out from justice.

But, they had come so far. They decided that they were going to take it all the way, so decided to apply for leave to appeal directly to the House of Lords. They instructed William Milligan to continue to represent them and to challenge every aspect of the Inner House’s decision.

Milligan prepared a new and revised petition for them. He repeated and refined his arguments and authorities for their case. 

Again, he argued that their case involved a point of law of general public importance because it concerned consumer rights and the duty of care of manufacturers to those consumers around defective products. He argued that their case involved a point of Scots law requiring clarification by the House of Lords because it concerned the application and development of negligence law in Scotland.

Milligan asked the House of Lords to grant them leave to appeal and to hear their case.

The case was considered by five Law Lords: Lord Buckmaster, Lord Atkin, Lord Tomlin, Lord Thankerton, and Lord Macmillan. They examined the petition and the judgments of the lower courts.

Their decision?  To the relief and delight of The Snail Team, they were granted leave to appeal and the Paisley Snail case was going to The House of Lords.

The date for the ultimate final rematch was set for 12 December 1931.