The parties had had a fight and claimed against each other for assault. The judge had to identify which party had started the fight. Having heard their evidence and that of the claimant’s son, the judge warned counsel that he could not decide the issue; and in due course, without apparently any express explanation for his difficulties, he dismissed both claims by reference to the burden of proof.
Held: The judge had been entitled so to do. Chadwick LJ: the case was of the exceptional type described in Morris and he distinguished Sewell as being a case in which the evidence was expert and inherently credible. Sedley LJ: there would be the occasional case in which the common path to the resolution of the ultimate issue, namely who was telling the truth, was blocked by an intractable evidential tangle.
Judges:
Chadwick LJ, Sedley LJ
Citations:
[1999] EWCA Civ 640
Links:
Jurisdiction:
England and Wales
Cited by:
Cited – Stephens and Another v Cannon and Another CA 14-Mar-2005
The claimants had purchased land from the defendants. The contract was conditional on a development which did not take place. The master had been presented with very different valuations of the property.
Held: The master was not entitled to . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Litigation Practice
Updated: 30 November 2022; Ref: scu.145555