Court of Appeal help

[butcher1]

Hello everyone,

 

I was wondering if anyone could help to point me in the direction of any web resources that may help me construct a proper request for permission to appeal to the Court of Appeal?

 

It's the wording I'm having problems with as it's too easy to go into detail, but how much of it they want to read I don't know.

 

My reason for appealing is for inadequate reasons (the judge dismissed vital evidence without giving any reason). It's the ET and it can only be on a point of law, this is my last chance so I need to get it right!

 

Thank you in advance

[citizenB]

I will try and find some help for you - it might be later today when someone pops in.

[ericsbrother]

You can only appeal on either a point of law or if you believe the decision was perverse-ie one that no reasonable person could have come to. Dismissal of evidence can be a reason if the evidence is something that has been decided in a higher court as judges/tribunals cannot ignore a decision of a higher court. this does not mean that they have to side with you because you raised it, just that they have to consider it. There is no compunction for them to tell you that they have considered it but it would be unusual not to.

I dont think you dont need permission but you must tell the tribunals service within 14/28 days of your intention to appeal. I hope you are very rich or very right.

[SweetLorraine]

Hi butcher1,

 

 

just to clarify, do you mean an EAT appeal (following on from an ET hearing and judgment) or do you mean a Court of Appeal hearing (after an EAT hearing and judgment)?

[butcher1]

Hi there, it is to the Court of Appeal, I just need a bit of guidance as to how to word the error in law, thank you very much

[steampowered]

Something like this needs to be pretty brief. Explain the error of law in a sentence, then follow up with a few more sentences explaining the circumstances. For the purposes of filing an appeal you generally would not go into the background details at all - purely the reason why the judge made an error of law.

 

Failure to give proper reasons does count as an error of law. But its a tough one. You would need to clearly explain what reasons were not given that should have been given. You should read these cases: http://www.bailii.org/uk/cases/UKEAT/2007/0194_07_3010.html and http://www.bailii.org/ew/cases/EWCA/Civ/1987/9.html.

 

I'm not sure why the Court of Appeal is involved here. Appeals from the Employment Tribunal are to the Employment Appeal Tribunal, not to the Court of Appeal.

 

Once you get into Court of Appeal territory, you will be responsible for the employer's legal costs if you lose. Winning an appeal in the CoA on something like 'failure to give proper reasons' is really incredibly difficult. I would advise getting proper legal advice.

[butcher1]

Hello everyone, thank you all for your help. I did lodge an appeal with the EAT but it was dismissed - the point they made was irrelevant to what I was trying to argue though. I have no option but to take it further, but if my chances are slim I may just call it a day. Pity I couldn't get an oral hearing.

 

The decision at the original ET hearing was also a bit perverse in that my employer actually owned up in a letter to me, this is the vital evidence that was dismissed by the judge.

 

Win some, lose some...

[Pusillanimous]

To take a decision of the EAT to the Court of Appeal, you need to seek the permission of the EAT to do so. If your appeal was dismissed after a full hearing, you need to show an element of "public interst"; i.e., an issue the CoA would do well to clarify ( for example, are lapdancers employees or self-employed/ is making a Christian work on a Sunday religious discrimination). This had to be done very promptly.

 

It sounds as though you did not even get a hearing, do appeal again, and ask for an oral hearing if not out of time.

[butcher1]

Thank you for the advice, no this was a preliminary hearing where the judge struck out what I thought was something pretty straightforward. This has left me with a lesser claim to be heard at a full hearing in a couple of months.

 

I think I will submit an appeal to the Court of Appeal to see if I can get an oral hearing, or get the struck out part put back into my original claim. You never know

[Pusillanimous]

First you need to get the PH written reasons, and then permission to appeal to CoA. Good luck with that, but fees to take out an appeal are steep and if you lose - likely, as you are without representation - you will be liable for the other party's costs.

[butcher1]

Hi everyone, looks like I'm wearing them down, they've started offering settlements etc I just have a quick question though, I had an idea that if an employee had a contract with company sick pay this was a benefit and could be calculated as a loss if a redundancy/unfair dismissal situation came about. I was just wondering, how do you start calculating a loss like that?

 

Thank you!

[steampowered]

If you've been offered a settlement for the claim you are appealing, I would seriously considering taking it.

 

Appealing to the Court of Appeal after the EAT has already rejected your appeal is risky. Appeals in the Court of Appeal are very difficult to win, even with a barrister (most solicitors do not have the right to represent clients in the Court of Appeal), and almost impossible for a litigant in person.

[butcher1]

Hi Steampowered,

 

Thank you for your reply, yes I will accept, but I was was wondering that as I do have a nice contract that I would be giving up, it includes enhanced company sick pay and holiday pay, would they take those into account as part of the settlement as it would take ages to build that up to where I was with another employer?

[steampowered]

Hi, it is difficult to give a clear answer to that unfortunately.

 

People use many reasons for calculating settlement figures - it depends on a cocktail of management's emotional response to the claim, what they think your chances of winning are, how much you could be awarded, how much their legal costs might be and how much time it will take their management to deal with it.

 

The fact that you are giving up enhanced sick pay and holiday pay might be a good reason to ask for a slightly higher figure if you are negotiating. They might not have thought about it.

[butcher1]

Thank you, I will give it a try and will let you know how I get on