Admitted liability under settlement and dishonoured cheques remained enforceable despite cancellation of conditional bail in related criminal proceedings.

An admitted liability recorded in a settlement and reinforced by dishonoured cheques remained enforceable in civil proceedings. The defendant's reliance on later cancellation of conditional bail in connected criminal proceedings did not extinguish the settlement, negate the civil debt, or create a bona fide triable defence. The court treated the civil recovery claim as independent of the criminal process and held that non-compliance with settlement terms and unpaid cheques did not bar summary remedy. Leave to defend was therefore refused, and the suit was to proceed to a money decree with interest and costs.

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Issues: Whether leave to defend should be granted in a summary suit on the basis of the defence raised; and whether the defendant's liability under the settlement and dishonoured cheques could be avoided because the conditional bail granted in the connected criminal proceedings was later cancelled.

Analysis: The defendant had, in the settlement recorded before the criminal court, admitted liability to pay a specified amount and had issued post-dated cheques towards part payment. Some cheques were honoured, while the remaining cheques were returned unpaid for insufficiency of funds. The defendant's subsequent reliance on cancellation of conditional bail did not nullify the settlement or extinguish the admitted civil liability. The cancellation of bail was only a consequence of non-compliance with the settlement terms and did not bar the plaintiffs from pursuing civil recovery. The suit was maintainable independently of the criminal proceedings, and the material placed on record showed no substantial or bona fide defence raising any triable issue.

Conclusion: Leave to defend was rightly refused, and the summary suit was liable to be decreed for the principal amount with interest and costs.

Final Conclusion: The defendant failed to disclose any real defence, the civil claim survived notwithstanding the criminal proceedings, and the plaintiffs were entitled to a money decree in summary proceedings.

Ratio Decidendi: An admitted liability recorded in a settlement and supported by dishonoured cheques remains enforceable in civil proceedings, and cancellation of conditional bail in connected criminal proceedings does not extinguish the civil remedy or by itself constitute a triable defence in a summary suit.

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