M J Mellor Joinery & Buildings Services (a firm) v Needham & Anor

In an application for permission to appeal, non-attendance caused by serious medical problems does not require immediate dismissal for want of prosecution. The court may preserve the application and impose a procedural condition that it be determined on paper rather than at a further oral hearing.

This was an application for permission to appeal from a decision of Nottingham County Court. The application had been adjourned several times. The applicants informed the court that serious medical problems prevented their attendance. The central procedural issue was whether the application should be dismissed for want of prosecution or dealt with by an alternative procedure.

1. Procedural order. Lord Justice Buxton declined to dismiss the application for want of prosecution on the scheduled date, despite the applicants’ absence.
2. Having regard to the applicants’ written explanation of serious medical problems, the court directed that the application be decided by the judge on paper.
3. The paper determination was imposed as a condition of the application not being dismissed on that occasion. The judgment records no final decision on permission to appeal or on the underlying county court decision.

1. Court of Appeal (Civil Division). In [2001] EWCA Civ 46, Lord Justice Buxton directed that the permission application be decided on paper.
2. Nottingham County Court. The application arose from a decision of that court; no citation for the decision is provided.