Failure to attend

Teinaz v Wandsworth LBC (CA TLR 21 August)

A litigant whose presence is needed for a fair trial but who cannot attend for medical reasons has a right to a fair trial under Article 6 of the European Convention on Human Rights. But a tribunal is entitled to be satisfied that the inability to attend is legitimate and the onus is on the absent party to show that. If there was medical evidence that the litigant had been advised not to attend and the tribunal had doubts, it had a discretion whether or not to accept it. It could, for example, direct that further evidence be provided, or it could ask that the litigant authorise the other party’s legal representatives to have access to the doctor who had provided that advice to assist the tribunal or court to a just result.