Raymond Wella (Plaintiff/Applicant) v Trade Indemnity Plc
| Jurisdiction | England & Wales |
| Judge | LORD JUSTICE PETER GIBSON |
| Judgment Date | 27 February 1997 |
| Judgment citation (vLex) | [1997] EWCA Civ J0227-15 |
| Court | Court of Appeal (Civil Division) |
| Docket Number | REG 96/7527 |
| Date | 27 February 1997 |
[1997] EWCA Civ J0227-15
IN THE SUPREME COURT OF JUDICATURE
IN THE COURT OF APPEAL (CIVIL DIVISION)
ON APPEAL FROM THE CENTRAL LONDON COUNTY COURT
(HIS HONOUR JUDGE HILL-SMITH sitting as a Deputy Judge of the High Court)
Royal Courts of Justice
Strand
London WC2
Lord Justice Peter Gibson
REG 96/7527
MR WELLA appeared in person.
MR G HUNGERFORD (Instructed by Messrs Parry's, Kent, CT5 1DA) appeared on behalf of the Respondent.
This is an application by the plaintiff, Mr Wella, for an extension of time for appealing from the order of His Honour Judge Hill-Smith on 10 September 1996 giving judgment for the defendant employer, Trade Indemnity Plc. Mr Wella had four weeks to appeal, but it was not until 31 October 1996 that he sought an extension of time on the ground that he needed a transcript of the judgment. The court, when faced with applications of this sort will take into account a number of matters, but the matter which weighs most with the court is whether the appeal has a realistic prospect of success. If it does not, it is pointless to allow an extension of time.
Mr Wella was employed as Chief Clerk of accounts on 12 October l981 by the Trade Indemnity Plc. He was in that job for ten years. On 18 October 1991 he was dismissed without notice. He applied to an Industrial Tribunal complaining of unfair dismissal as well as a contravention of the Race Relations Act 1976. The Tribunal found that Mr Wella had failed to carry out certain reasonable instructions which were given to him. They also found that there was a racial reason for his dismissal; hence the finding by the Industrial Tribunal that he was unfairly dismissed.
However, in assessing the compensatory award, the Tribunal found that Mr Wella had caused or contributed to his dismissal to some extent; so the amount of the compensatory award was reduced by 50 per cent in accordance with Section 74 (6) of the Employment Protection (Consolidation) Act l978 which was then the Act in force.
The Industrial Tribunal made awards under three heads: the basic award, the compensatory award and the loss of statutory rights. The total that it would have awarded, but for the limit imposed at that time, would have exceeded £10,000, but it had to be reduced to £10,000, that being the maximum then allowed. In respect of the claim under the Race Relations Act, the award of £5,000 was made. There was no appeal against those awards.
Mr Wella commenced proceedings in the County Court on 25 May 1995. He made claims under three heads. The first was that he said that he had the contractual right to be given a period of notice before...
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