Striking out a claim

Case 5: The facts

A tribunal struck out Mr James’s claim of race discrimination, on the grounds that he had conducted the proceedings unreasonably by failing to provide the further information and other documents that he had been ordered to. When the Employment Appeal Tribunal held that the tribunal was wrong, James’s employer appealed.

The ruling

The Court of Appeal agreed that the tribunal had been wrong to strike out James’s claim. James had been “difficult” and “uncooperative” in many respects, but this did not prevent him from pursuing a claim.

The tribunal had wrongly stated that James had not provided further information at all – in fact he had provided it, although it appeared to have been received much later than it was due.

Additionally, the tribunal should have taken into account the fact that the employer’s application for the claim to be struck out was not made until the day of the hearing; it would take something “very unusual indeed” to justify striking out a claim at that stage, the court said.

Blockbuster Entertainment Ltd v James [2006] EWCA Civ 684