Japanese Knotweed legal bill costs £100,000 after case is thrown out

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A London woman who sued her neighbour over claims that Japanese Knotweed had invaded her Islington home has lost her court battle, with subsequent court fees of £100,000 to pay.

Charron Ishmael claimed that her retired GP neighbour, Dr. Sheila Clark, was aware that she had the invasive weed in the garden of her property for years but chose not to act on it.

Dr. Clark insisted that she was unaware of the weed before 2017 due to her not being interested in gardening and having very little time for it due to her job. During the summer of that year, she had the infested area treated and had the plant removed a year later in 2018.

Japanese Knotweed legal bill

During this time, Mrs Ishmael claimed that the plant had grown up through the soil on her side of the garden, infesting it, and thus knocking £150,000 off the value of her property. At this point, she decided to take legal action.

The case was thrown out this week at the Central London county Court, as the judge deemed Dr. Clark to be a ‘logical’ witness who took reasonable action to eradicate the weed after she became aware of its presence. Dr. Clark got a specialist contractor in to address the issue, and the weed was eventually dug up in summer 2018.

The Court had heard that Dr. Clark had unknowingly sprayed the plant with regular weedkiller at some point prior, which may have made it even harder to treat. Mrs. Ishmael had meanwhile spent thousands of pounds to have it removed from her property.

Upon dismissal of the case, Judge Graham Aldous KC ordered Ishmael to pay Dr. Clark’s legal bills which were estimated to be £83,000, with £65,000 payable upfront, alongside her own costs for the case, totalling a loss of more than £100,000.

Mrs Ishmael argued that eleven months was too long of a delay before the weed was removed, as the rhizomes (roots), would have been continually growing in the soil beneath the two properties during this time. Evidence suggested that it had previously been treated some years prior by someone who didn’t know what they were dealing with.

Ishmael told the judge during the trial: “It is my belief she has known about the Japanese knotweed in her garden for many years and hasn’t dealt with it.” The house was since sold for £150,000 less than the £1,100,000 it was previously valued at.

Clark told the court that her previous gardener, now deceased, had stated to her that he knew nothing about Japanese Knotweed and was shocked to learn that it was present in the garden he was tending.

Judge Aldous stated that Clark was a ‘“careful witness who was trying to assist me”, whilst Ishmael was obstructive whilst standing in the witness box. He added:

“‘It seems to me that, confronted with a problem of which she knew nothing, what she did was approach it with her professional attitude of trying to explore the problem, identify choices between treatments and then get those treatments actioned”.

“It seemed to me that was a rational, logical and reasonable approach.”

Japanese Knotweed legal bill costs £100,000 after case is thrown out

A London woman who sued her neighbour over claims that Japanese Knotweed had invaded her Islington home has lost her court battle, with subsequent court fees of £100,000 to pay.

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