Ms C Cook v Dean Close Foundation — 2024

On 24 October 2024 Employment Judge P Cadney considered the claimant's application to revoke or vary the tribunal's earlier preliminary judgment of 6 August 2024 on whether she was a disabled person within s6 Equality Act 2010. The respondent had not yet commented, but the judge dealt with the application urgently because the final hearing was listed for November 2024.

The claimant argued that the reasoning in paragraphs 21 and 22 of the earlier decision was inconsistent because the tribunal had said her evidence appeared to be "entirely honest and frank" but then rejected it by comparing it with the medical records. The judge rejected that submission, saying the tribunal was entitled and required to look at the totality of the evidence, and that apparently credible evidence could still be undermined by documentary material.

The claimant also relied on paragraph 9 and later evidence about a possible link between haemochromatosis and osteoporosis. The judge held that the absence of medical evidence showing a causal link remained material, that the point was not central to the original decision, and that the additional research note did not satisfy the Ladd v Marshall criteria for fresh evidence because there was no basis to show it could not have been obtained with reasonable diligence or that it would probably have had an important influence on the hearing.

In relation to paragraph 12, the judge noted that the passage relied on by the claimant recorded the respondent's submissions rather than findings of the tribunal. He accepted that, because venesection began after the relevant period, the tribunal was concerned with the claimant's symptoms during that period rather than with any later treatment effect. The application was dismissed because nothing in it showed a reasonable prospect that the original decision would be varied or revoked under rule 72(1) of the Employment Tribunals Rules of Procedure 2013.