White v Plymouth City Council - Pre-emptive strike outs and tests for deposit orders [2012] EAT

Pre-emptive strike outs, made without considering evidence and establishing the facts before deciding that a claim has no reasonable prospects of success, will be very rare.

The Council dismissed Mr White from his job as a family support worker on learning that a District Judge (DJ) hearing a case relating to contact with children had found that, during a contact session, Mr White had assaulted the child's father following an altercation between them. The incident did not take place in the course of Mr White's employment but was a private matter; nonetheless the Council considered this (or perhaps rather a perceived "propensity for violence) as grounds for dismissal.