England and Wales Court of Appeal (Civil Division) Decisions

IN THE SUPREME COURT OF JUDICATURE
IN THE COURT OF APPEAL (CIVIL DIVISION)
ON APPEAL FROM THE EMPLOYMENT APPEAL TRIBUNAL

		Royal Courts of Justice Strand London WC2 Tuesday, 18 December 2001

1. LORD JUSTICE MUMMERY: This is an application to reinstate an application for permission to appeal. The background to this case is set out in detail in a judgment given by me on 14 December 2000 when I heard an application by Miss Orlene Wallace for permission to appeal against the decision of the Employment Appeal Tribunal, dismissing her appeal from the decision of the Employment Tribunal on her claims for race discrimination and breach of contract. The Employment Tribunal had dismissed the race discrimination claim and, although it held there had been a breach of contract, it found that no damage had been suffered. At the hearing of the Appeal Tribunal on 25 February 2000, Miss Wallace did not attend. The appeal was dismissed on the ground that there was no error of law in the decision of the Employment Tribunal.
2. Miss Wallace then attempted to appeal to this court. Her application for permission was refused on paper on 10 November 2000. As is her right, she requested an oral hearing of her renewed application. When that came on before me on 14 December 2000 she did not attend. I dealt with the application on the papers and gave reasons why the appeal which she proposed to bring had no real prospect of success.
3. On 2 October 2001, Miss Wallace issued the present application to reinstate her application for permission to appeal. In it she states as follows:

"I was unable to attend the hearing on the 14 December 2000 due to the fact I was in custody and also on the 27 November 2000 when the letter was dated, which informed me of the hearing. I wish the appeal to be reinstated."

4. That is the extent of the submissions which Miss Wallace has made. I have read the file of papers again in preparation for an application by Miss Wallace in person today. Yesterday the Civil Appeals Office received a fax from Miss Wallace to this effect:

"I will not be in attendance at the hearing on 18 December 2001 because I have prior commitments."

5. No details are given as to what the commitments are or when the commitments were incurred. In the circumstances I do propose to adjourn this hearing. Having read the papers again and having not been given any satisfactory details justifying Miss Wallace's non-attendance today, I think the appropriate course is to dismiss this application. It is impossible to run a court to serve the public if parties take out applications and then cannot be bothered to attend court to make them or, if they are unable to attend, fail to supply to the court adequate reasons for non-attendance. The statement in the fax which I have quoted is insufficient to justify me putting this matter off yet again.
6. For those reasons, the application to reinstate is dismissed.
Order: Application for permission to reinstate dismissed.