Catriona Ball Faces 2029 Unfair Dismissal Hearing After Five-Year Wait

Catriona Ball is waiting for an industrial tribunal hearing in 2029 over her unfair dismissal case, five years after her husband Lewis Ball died in November 2024. She says the delay has frozen his estate and forced her to sell the family home to pay for the legal fight.

The hearing date leaves her in limbo for years after Lewis, 43, died weeks after resigning from a highly stressful managerial role. Ball alleges severe, systemic workplace failures by a major medical technology company contributed to his death.

Catriona Ball and the 2029 hearing

Ball’s case sits inside an industrial tribunal system the source describes as drowning under an unprecedented backlog of unresolved cases. Her hearing is scheduled for 2029, a five-year wait from Lewis Ball’s death in November 2024.

That timeline is not just a matter of court delay. The case has not been heard, so the estate remains frozen while she tries to keep the claim alive.

Lewis Ball’s November 2024 death

Lewis Ball died in November 2024, weeks after he resigned from a highly stressful managerial role. Catriona Ball says the company’s workplace failures led to his death, and the case is now headed to tribunal rather than being resolved quickly.

The source says prolonged delays can push claimants to abandon cases or accept out-of-court settlements. For Ball, the immediate pressure is financial: she is being forced to sell the family home to fund the legal battle while the estate stays tied up.

UK tribunal backlog

The wider system problem is the backlog itself. The source says long delays make witnesses’ memories fade and documentary evidence harder to secure, which can weaken cases before they are even heard.

For Ball, that means the practical battle is already underway: keeping the claim alive, paying the costs, and waiting years for a hearing that will not arrive until 2029.