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Litigant restrained from his ‘meritless’ equality cases

A litigant who bombarded Britain’s Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) and law firms with discrimination claims has had his legal activity curbed by the High Court.

Judge Emma Kelly said that law graduate Zakir Khan was a prolific litigant who had brought at least 42 claims in eight years – 12 of these against the SRA and several against law firms, the England and Wales Gazette reports.

He also attempted to sue various government departments and the CPS and HM Courts & Tribunals Services.

The claims were similar – Khan applied for jobs and then alleged a failure to make reasonable adjustments during recruitment to accommodate disabilities.

Discriminatory

His disabilities are attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, depression, anxiety, and obsessive compulsive personality disorder.

In some instances, Khan did not even make an application for the job but alleged the application process was discriminatory.

In Solicitors Regulation Authority Ltd & Ors v Zakir Khan the judge said that Khan’s success rate in the employment tribunal was poor and there was no evidence that any of the 42 claims had succeeded before an employment judge.

Only two of the claims have yielded any return: two law firms settled claims for what were described as ‘nuisance value payments’ of £700 and £1,000 respectively.

The court heard that, in several of the claims, Khan repeatedly made applications to adjourn hearings, usually on medical grounds, which invariably failed.

Five employment claims were dismissed by judges as being totally without merit.

Khan did not accept these decisions and blamed his defeats on evidence not being included in hearing bundles or the fact that he was not present at hearings.

The SRA and five separate government departments, appearing as claimants in an application for a civil restraint order, told the court there was a high risk that Khan would continue to make these claims if he was not stopped.

They cited a letter of complaint from Khan to the employment tribunal in 2023 in which he said: “Please don’t underestimate my passion and fervency in my question for restitution and goal. I may have, metaphorically, half the brain to stand a chance given my situation health-wise, but I will continue till I have nothing left.”

The judge said that she was not persuaded by Khan’s recent more conciliatory position and granted the civil restraint order application, saying the proportionate term was for three years.