SENSIBLE STEPS TO TAKE WHEN THERE IS NO TRANSCRIPT OF A HEARING AVAILABLE
A very short passage in the judgment of Mr Justice Fancourt in Odhavji v Tighe & Ors [2025] EWHC 372 (Ch) sets out the steps a prudent party should take when a transcript (and sometimes a judgment) cannot be obtained. When a party only has their own notes and a recorded transcript is not available they should be sent to the judge for comments and to the other litigants for potential approval.
THE CASE
The judge was considering an appeal in relation to a sale and leaseback arrangement. There was no transcript of the evidence available at trial. The appellant relied on their solicitor’s notes of the evidence.
THE JUDGMENT ON THIS ISSUE
The judge observed that the solicitor’s notes were obviously incomplete. They were of some help, however the solicitor should have sent the notes to the judge for his comments and to the respondent’s for them to agree.
These would be prudent steps in any case where a party is seeking to rely on their own notes of a judgment or evidence.
- I should add, as a post script to this judgment, that Ms Odhavji’s ability to pursue the appeal was hampered somewhat by the absence of a transcript of the evidence given at the trial. It seems that no adequate recording was made, or could be transcribed. The absence of a suitable recording is obviously unsatisfactory. Mr Mussa’s solicitor had a note of the trial, which had been typed up and put into the appeal bundle, but it was rather sketchy and obviously incomplete. It was, regrettably, not sent by Ms Odhavji’s lawyers to the Judge for his comments, or sent to the Respondents for them to agree. Although I read the note, and it was of some help in understanding the way that the trial was conducted, it was not a reliable record of the evidence that was given.