Civil Team leader, James Bogle, acting for the applicant/defendant, recently succeeded in the Queen’s Bench Division of the High Court in varying a long-standing judgment of 7 years to allow the applicant to go to trial and plead extortionate credit bargain and a penalty. The applicant did not learn of the judgment, obtained in October 2007, until November 2012. The claimant/respondent was claiming approximately £1.5 million interest on a short-term bridging loan said to have been for 14 days in 2006, but at a rate of interest which, compounded, exceeded 1000% per annum, and claimed that it was now too late to challenge the judgment, loan and outstanding sum. The court disagreed and varied the judgment down to £35,000 and allowed the applicant to argue for a non-extortionate rate of interest that was an accurate pre-estimate of loss and not a penalty.