Mrs Ahlam Arab v The Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea
| Jurisdiction | England & Wales |
| Judge | Lord Justice Maurice Kay |
| Judgment Date | 22 May 2014 |
| Neutral Citation | [2014] EWCA Civ 832 |
| Docket Number | Case No: B5/2014/0076 |
| Court | Court of Appeal (Civil Division) |
| Date | 22 May 2014 |
[2014] EWCA Civ 832
IN THE COURT OF APPEAL (CIVIL DIVISION)
ON APPEAL FROM CENTRAL LONDON COUNTY COURT
(HIS HONOUR JUDGE HAND QC)
Royal Courts of Justice
Strand, London, WC2A 2LL
Lord Justice Maurice Kay
(Vice President of the Court of Appeal, Civil Division)
Case No: B5/2014/0076
Mr Dominic Preston (instructed by Gillian Radford & Co) appeared on behalf of the Appellant
This is a renewed application for permission to appeal, permission having been refused on the papers by Lewison LJ on 31 January. The context is a homelessness case and the issue of priority need. The proposed appeal would be a second appeal, the County Court having dismissed an appeal from the internal reviewing decision maker.
I do not propose to go into the facts, which are quite complex. Suffice it to say that they required application of the Pereira test on vulnerability.
The proposed grounds of appeal are in part fact-specific and in part seek to raise a point of law. Mr Preston acknowledges that grounds 1, 2 and 3 would be difficult bases for satisfaction of the second appeals test if they stood alone, and very fairly he emphasises grounds 4 and 5 as his potential gateway to the satisfaction of the second appeals test.
The nearest to a purely legal point is ground 4, as to which Lewison LJ said:
"The Pereira test was properly stated and properly applied. The submission that the test was misapplied is precluded by the decision of this court in Johnson v Solihull MBC [2013] HLR 39."
There is still a possibility that Johnson will reemerge in the Supreme Court, but I am told that all that has become bogged down in funding problems.
What Lewison LJ did not know on 31 January is that on 21 December 2013, Arden LJ had granted permission for a second appeal in the case of Ajolore v London Borough of Hackney (Court of Appeal reference B5/2013/2486). Mr Preston also represents the appellant in that case and he has shown me the skeleton argument or the grounds of appeal which resulted in the grant of permission by Arden LJ. He further tells me that that one-day case is listed for a hearing on ...
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