In the course of a personal injury trial, the judge asked counsel to his room, where he said that having been conviced that the claimants were not lying, the defence had no prospect of success, and complained that ‘Insurance companies are trying to send out a message about fraudulent claims to the Asian community, if there was such a thing.’ The defendant claimed bias.
Held: It is not acceptable for the judge to form, or to give the impression of having formed, a firm view in favour of one side’s credibility when the other side has not yet called evidence which is intended to impugn it. He appeared here to have not allowed for a possibility that he would on hearing the defendant also find him credible. The defendant’s appeal succeeded. A party wishing to raise such a matter should normally raise it immediately.
Judges:
Sedley, Smith, Hughes LJJ
Citations:
Times 31-Jul-2007, [2007] EWCA Civ 625, [2007] 1 WLR 2484
Links:
Jurisdiction:
England and Wales
Citing:
Cited – Hart v Relentless Records Ltd, Relentless Music Publishing Ltd, Media Village PR Ltd ChD 4-Oct-2002
The judge had informally met counsel in the corridor outside court, and advised him of the need to settle the case. The client asked the judge to recuse himself, having compromised his independence and impartiality.
Held: Such meetings were a . .
Approved – Project v Hutt EAT 6-Apr-2006
Lady Smith discussed the limits of case management powers when it came to persuading the parties to settle: ‘There are, of course, occasions when a judge or tribunal can quite properly explore difficulties that have become apparent from the evidence . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Personal Injury, Litigation Practice
Updated: 11 July 2022; Ref: scu.253710