Court of Appeal rejects appeal to remove critical findings

10 June, 2025

The Court of Appeal has handed down judgment ([2025] EWCA Civ 715) following a two-day rolled-up oral application for permission to appeal on behalf of Mr Seamus Andrew, a solicitor. Mr Andrew sought the removal of critical findings made of his conduct and evidence contained in the judgment of Mr Justice Knowles in Federal Republic of Nigeria v. Process & Industrial Developments Ltd [2023] EWHC 2638 (Comm). That judgment led to the setting aside of the US $11 billion arbitration awards that had been obtained against the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

In seeking to appeal and remove the findings against him, Mr Andrew sought to invoke the exceptional jurisdiction identified in Re W (A Child) [2017] 1 WLR 2415, where critical findings against two witnesses came “out of the blue” at the judgment stage and the process amounted to a breach of the European Convention on Human Rights (“ECHR”) Article 8.

The Court of Appeal dismissed Mr Andrew’s application for the application for permission to appeal on a number of different grounds, holding:

  1. That Mr Andrew’s application for permission to appeal was out of time, and no extension should be granted.
  2. That, having not obtained permission to appeal from the first instance judge, Mr Andrew’s appeal was prohibited by s68(4) of the Arbitration Act 1996.
  3. That, as matter of substance, the allegations of procedural unfairness advanced by Mr Andrew were unarguable, with Mr Andrew well aware of the allegations against him from the detailed pleadings and the lengthy cross-examination, so that he had ample opportunity to put forward his version of events, and there being no force in his criticisms of the Judge’s findings against him.
  4. That the Court of Appeal would also have refused permission to appeal in the exercise of its discretion, with such sort of challenge by a witness against adverse findings made against such witness to be firmly discouraged.

A copy of the full judgment can be found here.

James Willan KC and Tom Ford of Essex Court Chambers, together with Malcolm Birdling of Brick Court Chambers, acted for the Federal Republic of Nigeria, instructed by Shaistah Akhtar, Andrew Short, Lydia Allaby and Holly Edmond of Mishcon de Reya LLP.