McCalla (Appellant) v Secretary of State for Defence (Respondent)

Case summary

Case ID

UKSC/2025/0008

Parties

Appellant(s)

Christopher Mccalla

Respondent(s)

Ministry of defense

Issue

Was the Upper Tribunal wrong in law to decide that no procedural irregularity had taken place when it had refused the Appellant’s application for permission to appeal a decision of the First-tier Tribunal

Facts

The Appellant, Mr McCalla, served in the army from 25 July 2003 to 8 November 2004. He suffered from non-freezing cold injuries during that period, as a result of which he was medically discharged from the army and awarded compensation at a 50% level of disability. In 2019, following ultrasound scans, a consultant surgeon diagnosed bilateral popliteal artery entrapment syndrome (“BPAES”) in the right leg and said that it was also possibly present in the left leg. On 8 June 2022 the Appellant made a claim under the War Pensions Scheme in respect of two conditions, non-alcoholic fatty liver disease and BPAES. On 2 March 2023 the Respondent, the Secretary of State for Defence, rejected the claim because there was no evidence that either condition had been caused or made worse by service in the army. The Respondent decided to maintain the existing 50% level of payments for the non-freezing cold injuries which had been accepted. On 6 September 2023 the First-tier Tribunal dismissed the Appellant’s appeal against the Respondent’s decision. The Appellant appealed the tribunal’s finding in relation to his BPAES condition. On 14 November 2023 the Upper Tribunal refused permission to appeal. The Appellant then contended that the Upper Tribunal should set aside that decision because he had obtained an expert medical report from Mr Flora dated 25 November 2023 relevant to the question of causation. On 4 December 2023 the Upper Tribunal held that no procedural irregularity had taken place in relation to the application for permission to appeal and therefore refused to set aside that decision. The Court of Appeal dismissed the Appellant’s appeal. The Appellant now appeals to the Supreme Court.

Date of issue

17 January 2025

Case origin

PTA

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