Claimant v Acorn Mechanical Engineering Services Ltd (dissolved) — 2025

The tribunal struck out the claim under Rule 38 of the Employment Tribunal Rules of Procedure 2024. It held that it was no longer possible to have a fair hearing, and alternatively that the claim had no reasonable prospect of success.

The reasons given were procedural rather than merits-based. The respondent company had been dissolved, so there was no longer a respondent in existence against whom the claim could be pursued. The judgment also recorded that there had initially been an issue over the correct respondent identity: the claim form named "Mr Barry Mara, Acorn Engineering Services Limited", whereas the ACAS Early Conciliation certificate named Acorn Mechanical Engineering Services Limited. Companies House records showed that the two companies were not connected, and that Mr Mara was a director of Acorn Mechanical Engineering Services Limited. The tribunal treated Acorn Mechanical Engineering Services Limited as the correct respondent.

The claimant, Mr Anthony White, had died and Ms Carrie Mandeville, his daughter, appeared and wished to continue the claim as his personal representative. The tribunal recorded that Acorn Mechanical Engineering Services Limited had also since been dissolved. On that basis, there was no remaining respondent against whom the claim could proceed, so the claim was struck out. The tribunal did not determine the substantive merits of the underlying unfair dismissal, redundancy, breach of contract, unlawful deduction from wages, or disability discrimination claims.