ON APPEAL FROM AN EMPLOYMENT APPEAL TRIBUNAL
(His Honour Judge McMullen QC)
Royal Courts of Justice
Strand
London, WC2
B E F O R E:
LORD JUSTICE PETER GIBSON
LORD JUSTICE MANCE
LORD JUSTICE LONGMORE
SUKUL-LENNARD
Claimant/Appellant
-v-
CROYDON PRIMARY CARE TRUST
Defendant/Respondent
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MR SUKUL (instructed by Mr Robert Solomon, London SW17 7TR) appeared on behalf of the Appellant.
The Respondent did not appear and was unrepresented.
Tuesday, 22nd July 2003
C O S T S
J U D G M E N T
1. LORD JUSTICE PETER GIBSON: We are now asked to deal with the question of costs.
2. It was suggested by the respondent in correspondence that the appeal should be dealt with in the way in which this court has now held it should be dealt with. It was resisted on behalf of Mrs Sukul-Lennard and on that issue, which is a discrete issue, Mrs Sukul-Lennard has lost. True it is that the final outcome of the litigation is unknown, but where there is a discrete issue it is the almost invariable practice of this court to award costs to the successful party unless there are very special circumstances. None such has been suggested in this case.
3. Accordingly, we think it appropriate that we order Mrs Sukul-Lennard to pay the respondent's costs thrown away by her not accepting the invitation in the correspondence to deal with the matter as the respondent had suggested. But we will add a further direction that that order for costs should not be enforced until the end of the conclusion of the litigation.
Order: As above.