Following a hard-fought three-day multi-track trial at Cambridge County Court in November 2025, in which Akash was successful in, the Claimant applied to the High Court for permission to appeal, raising challenges to the factual findings, the weight given to non Part 35 expert evidence as hearsay and opinion evidence, and the measure of damages.
Mr Justice Ritchie refused permission to appeal on the papers, endorsing Akash’s written submissions that the appeal was an attempt to re-argue the facts, applying the principles summarised by Lord Justice Lewison in Volpi v Volpi [2022] EWCA Civ. 464, [2022] 4 WLR 48. The Recorder’s findings were rationally supportable and not plainly wrong. Notably, Ritchie J also confirmed that an engineer’s report, whilst not admissible as Part 35 expert evidence, was properly admitted as a timely factual report containing opinions and as hearsay, with weight placed on it accordingly. Further, the measure of damages correctly applied mitigation principles. The stay application was also refused.
