Ms R Meade v Westminster City Council and 2 others — 2023

At the preliminary hearing on 11 April 2023, the tribunal dismissed two strike-out applications directed at the claimant's Second Claim (2211483/22) and dealt with a Rule 50 application by the first respondent, granting anonymity for comparators but refusing anonymity for the first respondent's witnesses. The claimant then applied on 14 April 2023 for a costs order of £6,625 plus VAT against both respondents for the strike-out applications and against the first respondent for the Rule 50 application. By this judgment, dated 4 July 2023, Employment Judge Nicklin dismissed the costs application.

On the strike-out issues, the tribunal held that neither the first respondent's application based on no reasonable prospect of success nor the respondents' abuse-of-process application amounted to unreasonable conduct. The tribunal found that the point whether the appeal outcome letter rescinding the final written warning could amount to a detriment was an arguable issue for final hearing, and that the abuse argument was also arguable because some matters might have been brought earlier by amendment, but the first claim was still live and the second claim concerned later events after the earlier proceedings and shortly before the vacated December hearing.

The tribunal did find that the first respondent had acted unreasonably in pursuing the Rule 50 application for witness anonymity without evidence as to the Article 8 impact on the witnesses and in advancing it broadly in respect of all witnesses before narrowing it the day before the hearing. It nevertheless declined to make a costs order, taking into account the limited time spent on that issue, the overlap with the successful comparators application, the broader hearing context, and the exercise of discretion under the costs rules.