Ms J Wilson v The Chief Constable of the Police Service of Scotland — 2023

At an open preliminary hearing in Glasgow on 19 October 2023, Employment Judge D O’Dempsey heard the respondent’s application to strike out Ms J Wilson’s claims under rule 37. The respondent argued that the claims were an abuse of process because they were compromised by a COT3 relating to earlier proceedings, case 4107737/2019. No list of issues had been provided, so the judge identified the relevant matters from the pleadings and the settlement documents.

The tribunal held that detriments and complaints arising before the COT3 were plainly covered by the compromise and could not be relitigated. It then considered the post-COT3 matters summarised in the judgment, including the later letters from Superintendent Duncan, the complaint that witnesses had not been interviewed, the length of the investigation, and the claimant’s asserted emotional suffering. The judge found that those matters were foreseeable and were within the actual or deemed contemplation of the parties when they settled.

Applying the authorities on compromise agreements, including Bathgate, BCCI v Ali, Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital Trust v Howard, and Arvunescu, the tribunal construed the COT3 as wide enough to cover the present claims. It held that the wording was sufficient in context and that all of the claimant’s claims were compromised. The claims were therefore struck out as having no reasonable prospect of success and as an abuse of the tribunal’s procedures.