In the recent case of Forrest v Amazon Web Services, the Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) upheld the Claimant’s appeal against a decision to strike out his claim for failing to comply with an order to provide a list of issues by a set date.
The EAT confirmed that the original Tribunal had erred in striking out the Claimant for non-compliance, as they had not considered an unless order or whether a fair trial was still possible without the provision of the list of issues.
The EAT therefore has found that even if a party ignores an order a Tribunal must still consider whether a fair trial is possible and if so, the case should continue in the normal way. If a fair trial is not possible without compliance with the order, a Tribunal should issue an unless order before striking out a claim for non-compliance.
This case reaffirms the position that a strike out should be the last resort and a Tribunal must exhaust all possibilities to secure compliance, giving litigant in person more opportunity to comply and more support.
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This article was written by Gabrielle Scriven.