ALLIED DUNBAR ASSURANCE PLC v CHRISTINE JULIE IRELAND [2001] EWCA Civ 1129

IN THE SUPREME COURT OF JUDICATURE
COURT OF APPEAL (CIVIL DIVISION)
ON APPEAL FROM THE HIGH COURT OF JUSTICE
QUEEN'S BENCH DIVISION
BRISTOL MERCANTILE COURT
(His Honour Judge Weeks QC)
[2001] EWCA Civ 1129Case No A3/2001/0658Venue Royal Courts of Justice, Strand, London WC2
Between
ALLIED DUNBAR ASSURANCE PLCClaimant/RespondentCHRISTINE JULIE IRELANDDefendant/Appellant
Before
Lord Justice HenryLord Justice LongmoreMr Justice CarnwathMr S Salzedo (instructed by Messrs Streeter Marshall, Croydon) appeared on behalf of the Appellant Defendant.Mr R Neill (Solicitor Advocate) (instructed by Messrs Bevan Ashford, Bristol) appeared on behalf of the Respondent Claimant.Date 12 June 2001
[1]LORD JUSTICE HENRY Here we have an appeal against a summary judgment given in a case where the allegation is fraud. Such an allegation must be proved to a high standard and there must be a clear, plain case, particularly where (as here) the litigant accused of fraud has filed an affidavit categorically denying the fraud.[2]This may, when it is tried, prove to be a clear and plain case, but we cannot be satisfied on the material before us. We think there are too many loose ends, too many gaps in the evidence and no sufficiently detailed evidence of when the next day's price was either obtainable or obtained by Miss Ireland.[3]Accordingly, for those reasons we will allow the appeal.

Order

appeal allowed and judgment set aside; case to be tried by someone other than Judge Weeks QC; appellant to have the costs of the appeal, and the costs of the Part 24 application to be reserved to the trial judge; freezing order to continue until the end of the appeal; the police to preserve the appellant's computer and its software, the respondent's fax machines and the Saladin equipment for joint access of the parties, with liberty to the police to apply to this court on seven days' notice. [DOES NOT FORM PART OF APPROVED JUDGMENT]

Cited in 1 later judgment