Successful appeal based on procedural unfairness in Faraj v Ahmad [2026] EWCA Civ 962.
Deborah Bangay KC secured a victory for the appellant husband in a rare example of the Court of Appeal setting aside a first instance judgment based on procedural unfairness.
At the trial before Sir Jonathan Cohen, the wife’s leading counsel pursued a case in closing submissions that the husband had access to a hidden bank account holding £16m, but he never put that case to the husband in cross-examination. In those circumstances, the Court of Appeal held that it was procedurally unfair for Sir Jonathan Cohen to have found that the bank account existed. The second respondent bank also succeeded in overturning the orders made against it.
The case has been remitted back to the High Court for a re-trial.
