Fendall returned to Calcutta in 1817 and took his seat on the Bench of Sudder Diwani and Nizamat Adalat, the predecessor of the High Court. It seems that while at Java, Fendall had disallowed some allowance which a certain Col. Yule had claimed. As a result, the fiery soldier followed him to Calcutta and demanded that he should alter his decision. After Fendall refused, Yule pushed the papers in his face and brushed them across it and told him to take it as a personal insult. This Fendall was quite ready to do and sent for a friend, named Assey, to take a challenge to the Colonel. Assey refused to have anything to do with a challenge, in spite of John’s protests, and took the matter to various members of Council. The Council agreed that Fendall could not be called on to defend an official act in such a way and that Col. Yule’s conduct was highly insubordinate. As the Governor-General agreed with them, Fendall was forbidden to fight and his opponent apologized, to escape being tried by court martial.