Thevarajah (Respondent) v Riordan and others (Appellants)

The Supreme Court of the United Kingdom was presented with an appeal against a decision of the Court of Appeal, which allowed the respondent's appeal from a decision granting the appellants relief against a debarring order. The case involved a dispute between the respondent and the appellants over the purchase of shares in a company. The central issue was whether the Court of Appeal was correct in upholding the debarring order and refusing relief from sanctions under the Civil Procedure Rules.

The court considered whether the Court of Appeal was correct in holding that the appellants were required to establish a material change of circumstances since the previous hearing to justify a second application for relief from sanctions. The Supreme Court held that the Court of Appeal rightly found that the Civil Procedure Rules applied to the second relief application and that the appellants needed to demonstrate a material change of circumstances. The Supreme Court rejected the appellants' argument that their subsequent compliance with the "unless" order constituted a material change of circumstances, holding that such compliance, subsequent to a first unsuccessful application for relief from sanctions, did not entitle them to a second application for relief from sanctions.

The Supreme Court concluded that the Court of Appeal was correct in upholding the debarring order and refusing relief from sanctions. The appeal was dismissed, and the debarring order was restored.

The final orders of the court were to dismiss the appeal and restore the debarring order imposed by Hildyard J. The appellants were debarred from defending the claim, and the respondent was entitled to proceed with the litigation without the appellants' participation.