Mr M Hart v And R1 – The Abbeyfield (Maidenhead) Society R2 – David Martin Cager R3 – David George Yates R4 – Shirley Fairley R5 – Donna Bristow Hearing — 2019

This was a preliminary hearing on 7 October 2019 concerned with the position of the individual respondents rather than the merits of the underlying claims. The first respondent, The Abbeyfield (Maidenhead) Society, undertook to the tribunal and the claimant that it would accept liability for the conduct of the second to fifth respondents, who were its employees, and would accept responsibility for any remedy awarded by the tribunal in respect of their conduct. It also undertook to call them as witnesses at the re-listed full merits hearing and not to rely on the defence in section 109(4) Equality Act 2010.

In reliance on that undertaking, the claimant withdrew the claims against the second to fifth respondents in their individual capacities, and those respondents were removed from the proceedings. The judgment records that all claims would continue against the first respondent. No substantive liability findings or monetary award were made in this decision.