Dr A Abdel Bari v East Lancashire Hospitals NHS Trust — 2021

This judgment concerned the claimant's application to strike out the respondent's response, made on 2 November 2021 and repeated in later emails. The tribunal refused that application.

The tribunal stated that strike out is a draconian sanction and that the grounds for doing so are limited to those in rule 37 of the Rules of Procedure. It held that the respondent's response could not be said to have no reasonable prospects of success and that the merits of the parties' positions would need to be decided at the final hearing after evidence had been heard.

The tribunal also considered whether the application might be based on the respondent's conduct of the proceedings. It found that the claimant had not shown scandalous, vexatious or unreasonable conduct. Although there had been some delay in providing patient documents, the tribunal accepted the respondent's explanation and held that the matter could be managed through case management orders before the final hearing.