GUIDANCE IN CIVIL CASES FROM THE DCJ FOR NORTHUMBRIA AND DURHAM
HHJ Jeremy Freedman, DCJ for Northumbria and Durham, has given the following guidance for courts within that area. Note: (1) The extension of time for the parties to agree variation of the timetable to 90 days; (2) Electronic signatures will…
SPECIFIC GUIDANCE FOR FAMILY COURTS IN DORSET
HHJ Dancey, the Designated Family Judge for Dorset, has sent out a Local Practice Guidance on COVID-19. I am grateful to barrister Amanda Bancroft for sending it to me. It provides a template for working and supplements the President’s national…
CIVIL COURT USERS IN MANCHESTER: GUIDANCE FROM THE DESIGNATED CIVIL JUDGE
HHJ Bird has issued specific guidance for civil court users in Manchester. “Dear Court User, I am writing to let you know what steps we are taking to keep the civil courts running in these difficult times. Specific arrangements apply…
WORKING REMOTELY: USEFUL GUIDANCE
I have, ironically, been planning to write on remote working for some time. The post was going to be in the “well being” series and, among other things, deal with issues like social isolation when working from home. Now, of…
RECOGNISING THAT 99.8% OF LITIGATORS ARE STARK RAVING BONKERS: (A REPOST)
This is post that was originally written in May 2014. It followeda talk I gave in Leeds “How to get sued, Make a Loss and be Miserable”. It led to the sharing of ideas between the 40 litigators who attended. …
CHALLENGING COST BUDGET PHASES ON ASSESSMENT: DECISION TODAY: PARTY CHALLENGING BUDGETED PHASE HAS AN UPHILL TASK
My colleague Paul Hughes has provided a link to a judgment today of District Judge Lumb in the case of Chapman -v- Norfolk & Norwich University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, available here. The judgment considers the issue of when a…
E BUNDLES: GUIDANCE FROM THE FINANCIAL REMEDIES COURT
The Courts and Tribunals Judiciary site has an “e-bundles protocol”. Since this is a sign of things to come it would benefit all practitioners to read it. THE GUIDANCE 4. Where an e-bundle is to be used the following technical…
EXPERT’S CONDUCT DID NOT LEAD TO EVIDENCE BEING DISALLOWED: CLAIMANT’S CASE REMAINS ON TRACK
In Blackpool Borough Council v Volkerfitzpatrick Ltd and Range Roofing and Cladding Ltd & Ors [2020] EWHC 387 (TCC) HHJ Davies (sitting as a High Court judge) carried out a detailed consideration of the conduct of an expert when considering,…
EARLY NEUTRAL EVALUATION BY THE COURTS: PRACTICAL GUIDANCE AS TO PROCEDURE AND IMPLEMENTATION
There is a short judgment of Master McCloud today in Telecom Centre (UK) Ltd v Thomas Sanderson Ltd (Early Neutral Evaluation) [2020] EWHC 368 (QB) which contains some important observations on the practical implementation of Early Neutral Evaluation by the…
STRIKING OUT POINTS OF DISPUTE BECAUSE OF LACK OF PARTICULARISATION: PARTIES HAVE TO KNOW WHAT IS IN DISPUTE AND WHY
In Ainsworth v Stewarts Law LLP [2020] EWCA Civ 178 the Court of Appeal upheld a decision striking out part of points of dispute. “Common sense dictates that the points of dispute must be drafted in a way which enables…
ACCURATE TIME ESTIMATES: A ROUND UP OF THE CASES AND SOME GUIDANCE (IF YOU HAVE THE TIME TO READ IT…)
In Kazakhstan Kagazy Plc & Ors v Zhunus & Ors [2020] EWHC 128 (Comm) Mr Justice Andrew Baker made some observations about inadequate time estimates. This criticism was specifically about applications in the Commercial Court. However time estimates are an…
THE DANGERS OF MAKING ORDERS FOR SPLIT TRIALS: DECISION AT TRIAL SET ASIDE DUE TO A SERIOUS PROCEDURAL IRREGULARITY
The judgment of Mr Justice Murray today in Sharn Panesar Ltd v Pistachios In The Park Ltd & Anor [2020] EWHC 194 (QB) illustrates some of the dangers of holding a trial on a preliminary issue. In this case a…
CIVIL PROCEDURE AND COSTS: BLOG AND ARTICLES ROUND UP – JANUARY 2020
Links and articles to blog posts and articles available online in January 2020 Costs Costs Barrister Conditional fee agreements and contentious business agreements Association for Costs Lawyers Oversight regulator praises CLSB’s “considerable progress” Association for Costs Lawyers Offer acceptance applied only to accident…
JOINDER OF NEW PARTIES IN EXISTING PROCEEDINGS 2: THE PRINCIPLES (AND THE COSTS!)
We are looking again at the decision of HHJ Kimbell QC (sitting as a High Court judge) in Molavi v Hibbert & Ors [2020] EWHC, this time relating to the principles to be considered in relation to joinder of additional parties….
JOINDER OF NEW PARTIES INTO EXISTING PROCEEDINGS 1: NOTIFY THE EXISTING PARTIES: THE RULES DON’T SAY SO BUT COMMON SENSE DOES
There are a few interesting procedural matters that flow from the decision of HHJ Kimbell QC (sitting as a High Court judge) in Molavi v Hibbert & Ors [2020] EWHC 121 (Ch). Here we look at the judge’s comments on…
CIVIL PROCEDURE BACK TO BASICS 77: THE COURT MUST KNOW HOW MUCH AN EXPERT WILL COST: CPR 35.4(2)
CPR 35.4(2) is often overlooked. This rule imposes a duty on a party applying for permission to rely on expert evidence to inform the court how much the expert is likely to cost. This is often clear at the costs…
11th HOUR APPLICATION TO INTRODUCE NEW WITNESS EVIDENCE (AND A NEW CASE) REFUSED
In Crumpler & Anor (Liquidators Of Peak Hotels And Resorts Ltd v Candey Limited [2019] EWHC 3558 (Ch) HHJ Davis-White QC (sitting as a High Court judge) refused a party relief from sanctions where witness statements were served late. The…
CIVIL PROCEDURE AND COSTS: BLOG AND ARTICLES ROUND UP – DECEMBER 2019
Links and articles to blog posts and articles available online from December 2019. Costs Costs Barrister Cash flow and catastrophic personal injury litigation Costs Barrister Fixed costs and translation fees Association for Costs Lawyers Court can order costs in foreign…
2019 AND CIVIL PROCEDURE – A ROUND UP OF THE ROUND UPS: WHAT TO FRET ABOUT AND WHAT NOT TO FRET ABOUT…
There have been a series of annual reviews on key topics throughout December. To round off the year it seemed a good idea to provide a reminder of them all and put the links in one place 2019 AND CIVIL…
2019 AND CIVIL PROCEDURE THE YEAR IN REVIEW: FACTS, FIGURES AND SEARCH TERMS: “CAN A DEAD PERSON BE TAKEN TO COURT?”
The statistics at the end of the year are always interesting (to me at least). The search terms that lead to this blog can be quite illuminating (and sometimes quite alarming…). MOST READ POSTS OF 2019 After seven years…