The Court refused to vacate a two-week final hearing commencing in one working day, notwithstanding that the plaintiff had filed a summons seeking leave to appeal an earlier interlocutory ruling permitting the use of a witness's affidavit evidence without cross-examination. The Court held that the prejudice from the earlier ruling had not yet crystallised because no evidentiary rulings on admissibility had been made, and that any error in the interlocutory orders could be corrected on appeal from the final judgment under Gerlach v Clifton Bricks. The Court also held that the plaintiff's failure to approach the Court of Appeal directly for urgent relief, combined with the imminence of the hearing, the loss of a two-week hearing slot, and the proceedings having been on foot since 2021, weighed decisively against adjournment.
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