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Angry 'lost luggage' judge recused from BA price-fixing case

BRITISH High Court Judge Sir Peter Smith was recused from judging a price-fixing case involving British Airways after he threatened to summon the airline's CEO to his court to explain what happened to his lost luggage on a recent flight.

Under protest at being recused, Sir Peter said he didn't think any "reasonably minded observer would think, merely because I raised issues about the non-delivery of my luggage, that it should raise the possibility of bias," reported the London Independent.

But earlier When the airline appeared in court before him, he asked defending counsel: "Where are my bags?"

BA lawyer refused to answer, but instead asked him to stand aside from hearing - one of the biggest competition battles to reach the UK courts - involving allegations of overcharging customers for carrying cargo.

Sir Peter then threatened to have BA's chief executive summoned to appear before him to explain the fate of his luggage.

But sources told the Independent that having the judge stand down was part of a campaign by the airline to have him removed from the case, claiming that he did not have competition expertise.

A new judge will now be appointed for the long-running case, which dates back to 2006 when BA was raided by European Commission officials over suspicions of price-fixing in its air cargo business.

The EC later ruled that BA and a number of other airlines colluded to fix air cargo charges.

The airlines are now being sued by several hundred companies for losses and damages they say they suffered.

In 2008, Sir Peter was reprimanded by the Lord Chief Justice for failing to stand down in a case of legal professional negligence he was hearing, when it emerged he had been involved in discussions to join one of the legal firms involved in the case.

But the negotiations had ended acrimoniously and the firm claimed the judge had shown animosity towards it afterwards.

Sir Peter was also was criticised by Appeal Court judges and the matter was referred to the Office of Judicial Conduct - the first time a senior judge had been referred to it.