Karbhari v Ahmed [2013] EWHC 4042 (QB)

This matter provides a striking illustration of the decisive effect of disciplined advocacy deployed at the earliest possible juncture especially in a case complex civil fraud as this. Listed for a seven-day trial in the High Court, the proceedings were effectively resolved before they had meaningfully commenced. Riz, having meticulously scrutinised the conduct of the opposing party, demonstrated that the defence amounted to an abuse of process so fundamental that the court was left with no alternative but to strike it out in its entirety.
As a result, his clients secured judgment in the sum of £5.9 million at the very threshold of trial.
The judgment now stands as reinforced authority on the proper approach to applications for relief from sanctions under CPR 3.9(1), aligned with the Court of Appeal’s reasoning in Andrew Mitchell MP v News Group Newspapers Ltd [2013] EWCA Civ 1537. It remains a reminder that procedural discipline is not an optional luxury, but the sinew of justice.