Mr P Leigh v Ministry of Defence — 2024

The claimant did not attend the preliminary hearing. The respondent applied to strike out the claim, contending that the claims were significantly out of time and that the claimant had previously brought proceedings arising out of the same facts. The tribunal considered recent correspondence from the claimant and was not satisfied that he had clearly withdrawn the claim, instead treating the correspondence as including a request for a stay.

The tribunal declined to stay the proceedings because it found no utility in doing so unless there was some prospect of the claimant presenting an arguable case. It concluded that the claimant could not successfully defeat the respondent's contention that the claim had no reasonable prospect of success.

The tribunal found that the constructive unfair dismissal claim related to employment that ended more than 11 years before the proceedings were issued in March 2023, and that the proceedings could have been brought earlier because they had been brought on at least two previous occasions. It also found that the matters arose from the same facts and subject matter as earlier proceedings, which had been settled or struck out. The complaints were struck out and dismissed as having no reasonable prospect of success.