The appellant had had his case considered by the Employment Appeal Tribunal. He complained that his opponent had been represented in court by an advocate who himself sat part time in the EAT, and that this would lead to undue weight and respect being given to his arguments, so as to bias the tribunal. One of the EAT panel had previously sat on another panel with his opponent’s representative.
Held: The test was an objective one, whether a reasonable observer would see a risk of bias. The system of appointing part time members to the panel was appropriate and helpful. The reasonable observer must be assumed to be informed, and to make appropriate enquiries before reaching a conclusion. The system did include some measures to protect against this risk. In this case there were no additional ties between the representative and any member of the panel. (majority opinion)
Judges:
Lord Justice Mummery, Phillips MR, Pill LJ
Citations:
Times 07-Nov-2002, Gazette 28-Nov-2002, [2002] EWCA Civ 327
Links:
Jurisdiction:
England and Wales
Citing:
Cited – Porter and Weeks v Magill HL 13-Dec-2001
Councillors Liable for Unlawful Purposes Use
The defendant local councillors were accused of having sold rather than let council houses in order to encourage an electorate which would be more likely to be supportive of their political party. They had been advised that the policy would be . .
Cited – In re Medicaments and Related Classes of Goods (No 4) CA 26-Jul-2001
The parties had expended very considerable sums preparing for a hearing. The hearing became abortive when it was questioned whether a member of the court had given the appearance of bias. The parties sought payment of their wasted costs from the . .
Cited – Scanfuture UK Ltd, J M Link v K Bird J M Link C J Bennett Secretary of State for Department of Trade, Secretary of State for Department of Trade EAT 23-Mar-2001
The new system of appointment of lay members of employment tribunals is compliant with the right to a fair trial before an independent tribunal, particularly now where the Secretary of State had an interest in the proceedings. The Secretary had had . .
Appealed to – Lawal v Northern Spirit Limited HL 19-Jun-2003
Counsel appearing at the tribunal had previously sat as a judge with a tribunal member. The opposing party asserted bias in the tribunal.
Held: The test in Gough should be restated in part so that the court must first ascertain all the . .
Appeal from – Lawal v Northern Spirit Ltd EAT 6-Oct-1999
The applicant objected that one of the lay members of the Appeal Tribunal had, on other occasions, sat with a recorder who, as counsel, was appearing for a party in that appeal.
Held: There was no real possibility of bias from this scenario. . .
Application for leave – Lawal v Northern Spirit Ltd CA 15-Jan-2002
Application for leave to appeal . .
See Also – Lawal v Northern Spirit Ltd EAT 15-Feb-1999
The appellant wished to pursue an appeal against the striking out of his claim, and objected that contrary to the Rules, a member of the board who had heard the pre-hearing review had also sat on the full hearing.
Held: The appeal should be . .
See Also – Lawal v Northern Spirit Ltd EAT 15-Jan-2001
. .
See Also – Lawal v Northern Spirit Ltd EAT 15-Jan-2002
EAT Procedural Issues – Employment Appeal Tribunal. . .
See Also – Lawal v Northern Spirit Ltd EAT 15-Jan-2002
. .
Cited by:
Appeal from – Lawal v Northern Spirit Limited HL 19-Jun-2003
Counsel appearing at the tribunal had previously sat as a judge with a tribunal member. The opposing party asserted bias in the tribunal.
Held: The test in Gough should be restated in part so that the court must first ascertain all the . .
Full Appeal – Lawal v Northern Spirit Ltd CA 15-Jan-2002
Application for leave to appeal . .
Cited – Lawal v Northern Spirit Ltd CA 30-Oct-2002
. .
See Also – Lawal v Northern Spirit Ltd CA 19-Feb-2004
. .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Human Rights, Employment
Updated: 06 June 2022; Ref: scu.174768