We have been asked this question several times and we felt that maybe this will be a good blog post to write.
The most simple answer is yes you can win a case without any evidence. It all depend on the nature of your case. Say for example, if your case hinges solely on point of law, then the case can be heard by the Judge without any evidence being submitted.
An example of such type case would be whether a cause of action arises in law against the party or parties that have been sued? This issue usually arises where the wrong party has been sued or where the statute or legislation gives immunity to the party that is being sued.
In such cases, the Judge will hear the case summarily and decide whether a cause of action arises against the party or parties that have been sued. If the court rule that there is no cause of action, then the case will be dismissed summarily, without going for trial, hence, no evidence need to tendered to prove any fact.
One may ask how would this happen, since the lawyers representing the claimant should be aware of the law and the right party to sue?
It is not uncommon where the lawyer that was engaged by the claimant is a general litigation lawyer and area of law in question for the case requires highly specialised knowledge, the lawyer may not have enough technical knowledge to be aware of who is the right party to sue.
Examples of laws would be in the areas of insolvency, receivers & managers, and winding up of companies. In such cases, where the receivers & managers or trustees or administrators are being sued and legislations or laws protect them against law suit, then there is no cause of action against them.
Another reason could be that the lawyer had advised the client of the possibility of his case being dismissed by the court and yet the client wants to proceed. This could be a legal or business strategy that the client adopts.
Another area where the Court may dismiss a case summarily without any evidence is where a default judgment is obtained against the defendant or where the claimant failed to proceed with the case for long period of time.
In other cases which we have seen where a case has been won without any documentary evidence is where the claimant did not rely on or do not have any documentary evidence and hence, relied solely on witnesses’ testimonies in court. Witnesses’ testimonies are considered evidence.
In conclusion, yes, it is possible to win a case without any evidence but it will be limited to certain areas of law or factual circumstances.
If you want to predict whether your case result could have a high chance of success with the amount of evidence you possess you can use our free Court Case Prediction Tool.