Oral application to dismiss suffices after withdrawal of claim at hearing (News, 25 February 2013)

Article summary

Where a claimant withdraws some or all of his claim, a relevant respondent may apply to the tribunal to have the proceedings against him dismissed. ET Rule 25(4) provides that such an application must be made ‘in writing... within 28 days of the notice of the withdrawal being sent to the respondent’. However, where the claimant withdraws the claim orally at a hearing, the respondent may then apply orally at that same hearing for the proceedings to be dismissed, and the tribunal may rule upon the issue straight away, without the respondent making a written application, because the overriding objective requires that the rule should be interpreted in a way that does not prevent a tribunal from dealing with the question of dismissal then and there. EAT: Drysdale v Department of Transport (The Maritime and Coastguard Agency).