The respondent had been awarded substantial damages after an accident for which the appellant was responsible. The appellant now said that the claimant had exaggerated his injuries and misled the judge. The defendant argued that the correct approach where fraud was alleged was to commence an action to set aside the judgment.
Held: Permission to appeal was granted, the new evidence admitted, the appeal allowed and the matter remitted for rehearing. Where new evidence, which might show that the judge at first instance had been deliberately misled, was admitted at appeal, a new trial should be ordered only if the fraud was admitted or if the evidence was incontrovertible. If neither applied, then the issue of the fraud should be settled before a decision was made on further progress.
Sedley, Smith, Elias LJJ
[2010] EWCA Civ 224, [2010] WLR (D) 73
Bailii, WLRD, Times
England and Wales
Citing:
Cited – Ladd v Marshall CA 29-Nov-1954
Conditions for new evidence on appeal
At the trial, the wife of the appellant’s opponent said she had forgotten certain events. After the trial she began divorce proceedings, and informed the appellant that she now remembered. He sought either to appeal admitting fresh evidence, or for . .
Cited – Flower v Lloyd CA 11-Jun-1877
The plaintiffs tried to restrain the defendant from infringing their patent. They succeeded at first instance but the order was overturned on appeal. An expert went to inspect the process at the defendant’s works. Later, employees gave affidavits . .
Followed – Jonesco v Beard HL 1930
The plaintiff was a race horse trainer. He had made two claims against the defendant owner alleging first that the defendant had agreed to give him a share in some horses and second that the plaintiff had sold two horses to him but not been paid for . .
Cited – Hamilton v Al Fayed CA 21-Dec-2000
The claimant sought an order saying that his counsel had discarded confidential documents which were retrieved from his dustbin by a Mr Pell who then sold them to his opponent who had used them to obtain an unfair advantage.
Lord Phillips MR . .
Cited – De Beauville v Swycher and Co and Another 22-Nov-1999
. .
Cited – Mulholland v Mitchell HL 1971
The House was asked whether to re-open an assessment of damages where there had been a very marked change in the injured person’s situation shortly after the trial. There was no suggestion of fraud. The Court of Appeal had decided to admit the fresh . .
Cited – Skone v Skone and Another HL 1971
The husband appealed, seeking a new trial of a divorce petition following the discovery of fresh evidence consisting of a bundle of love letters from the co-respondent to the wife clearly showing that, contrary to his sworn evidence, he had . .
Cited – Roe and Another v Robert McGregor and Sons Ltd; Bills v Roe CA 1968
The plaintiff was driving a van at night. He didn’t see a ‘road closed’ sign erected by the defendant contractors, and proceede down a 30 ft bank injuring himself and his passenger. He said the contractors’ the sign was inadequate and that he had . .
Cited – Hip Foong Hong v H Neotia and Co PC 15-Jul-1918
An appellate Court has inherent power to set aside a judgment obtained through fraud. Lord Buckmaster described how an appellate court should deal with an allegation that an earlier judgment had been obtained by fraud: ‘Where a new trial is sought . .
Cited – Sir William Jaffray and others v The Society of Lloyds CA 20-Jun-2007
The appellant sought to re-open a decision of the Court of Appeal saying that fresh evidence had emerged which he said demonstrated that Lloyd’s had misled the court at first instance. . .
Instructive – Hamilton v Brodie Brittain Racing Ltd CA 13-Dec-1995
The defendant disputed at trial the authenticity of invoices, but provided no forensic evidence to support his challenge. The trial judge had accepted the invoices as authentic. The defendant subsequently adduced evidence which strongly suggested . .
Cited – Sohal v Sohal CA 30-Jul-2002
It was alleged that a verdict upholding a will had been obtained by fraud. Permission was sought to appeal.
Held: It is possible to seek to establish that a judgment was obtained by fraud by adducing fresh evidence on an appeal: ‘There is no . .
Cited – Taylor v Lawrence CA 4-Feb-2002
A party sought to re-open a judgment on the Court of Appeal after it had been perfected. A case had been tried before a judge. One party had asked for a different judge to be appointed, after the judge disclosed that he had been a client of the firm . .
Cited by:
Main Judgment – Owens v Noble CA 18-Mar-2010
In its principal judgment the court referred the case back to the judge to assess whether one or more of the parties had committed a fraud on the court. The court now explained its answer to submissions made on the draft judgment.
Held: It was . .
Cited – Sharland v Sharland CA 10-Feb-2014
Appeal against the order of Sir Hugh Bennett dismissing the application of the appellant wife to resume the hearing of her claim for financial provision following her divorce from the respondent.
Held: (Briggs LJ dissenting) The appeal failed. . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Torts – Other, Litigation Practice
Updated: 21 January 2022; Ref: scu.403316