[2025] EWHC 1972 (Comm)

There is, in my judgment, no real prospect of Mrs Bandak successfully defending VCT’s claim for the following reasons.

As Potter LJ made plain in ED&F Man, where there is no real substance in factual assertions made – particularly if contradicted by contemporary documents – issues which are dependent upon those factual assertions may be susceptible of disposal at an early stage so as to save the cost and delay of trying an issue the outcome of which is inevitable.

Bearing that important guidance in mind, and after carefully considering all the papers, I do not consider Mrs Bandak has any realistic prospect of establishing a presumed relationship of undue influence of Mr Emmett over her. They were divorced in 2020, and had reached a financial settlement by the Financial Remedy Order on 24 March 2020, as Mrs Bandak makes plain in her witness statement dated 18 July 2024.