REMISSION TO THE COUNTY COURT: WHAT DOES IT MEAN?
In Sherman & Anor v Reader Offers Ltd (Rev1) [2024] EWCA Civ 412 the Court of Appeal set out the limits that exist when a case is remitted to the county court for an assessment of damages following a successful…
ANOTHER PART 8 CASE THAT HAS TO GO TO PART 7: THE RISK THAT THE COURT WILL MAKE “ILL-INFORMED DECISIONS THAT WILL NOT FINALLY DISPOSE OF THE DISPUTES BETWEEN THE PARTIES”
In TClarke Contracting Ltd v Bell Build Ltd [2024] EWHC 992 (TCC) Mr Justice Pepperall decided that an action, commenced under Part 8, must proceed under Part 7. “In my judgment, the proposed use of the Part 8 procedure in…
MANCHESTER IS NOT THE APPROPRIATE VENUE FOR SOMETHING THAT HAPPENED IN NORFOLK: THE CASE GOES SOUTH…
In Bartosik, R (On the Application Of) v Office of the Police & Crime Commissioner for Norfolk [2024] EWHC 932 (Admin) Mr Justice Fordham held that the Administrative Court in Manchester is not the appropriate venue for a dispute over…
THE DANGERS OF RUNNING UP TO DEADLINES AND LEAVING MATTERS LATE FOR COMPLIANCE: DEFENDANT HAD FAILED TO FILE WITH COURT ORDERS: REFUSAL TO GRANT RELIEF FROM SANCTIONS UPHELD ON APPEAL
The judgment of Mr Justice Ritchie in Jaiyesimi v Kukoyi [2024] EWHC 164 (KB) has many important lessons for litigators. Firstly the need for the fee to be paid in order that an application is properly made. Secondly the dangers…
DEFENCE AND COUNTERCLAIM STRUCK OUT BECAUSE THE DEFENDANT RELIED ON WITHOUT PREJUDICE COMMUNICATIONS
In West v Churchill & Anor [2024] EWHC 940 (Ch) HHJ Keyser KC (sitting as a High Court Judge) struck out a defence and counterclaim that referred to without prejudice negotiations and correspondence. There had been no agreement reached between…
LAWYERS MUST LIKE LIVING DANGEROUSLY: APPLICATION MADE THREE MINUTES BEFORE DEADLINE: THE CLAIMANT SCRAPES HOME…
In Lloyds Developments Ltd v Accor HotelServices UK Ltd [2024] EWHC 941 (TCC) Mrs Justice Jefford considered a claimant’s application for an extension of time to comply with a peremptory order which was made 3 minutes prior to the time…
WHAT TO DO WHEN THINGS GO WRONG IN LITIGATION: WEBINAR 30th APRIL 2024
This blog often looks at cases where litigation has gone wrong, be it limitation, service or someone falling foul of the rules or court orders. One of the saddest aspects of many of these cases is that if prompt and…
ATTEMPTS TO RE-OPEN ISSUES WHEN A DRAFT JUDGMENT IS SENT OUT: COURT OF APPEAL SAYS NOT AN INVITATION TO RE-ARGUE THE ISSUES
In Supponor Ltd & Anor v AIM Sport Development AG [2024] EWCA Civ 396 the Court of Appeal resisted attempts (by both parties) to re-open key issues after a draft judgment had been sent out. “The primary purpose of this…
TRYING TO SQUEEZE A PART 7 CASE INTO A PART 8 APPLICATION: DISPUTES OF FACT MAKE PART 8 UNSUITABLE
In ISG Retail Ltd v FK Construction Ltd [2024] EWHC 878 (TCC) Neil Moody KC, sitting as a Deputy High Court Judge, considered the question of whether a case was suitable for Part 8 determination. He decided that there were…
PROCEDURE, DAMAGES, LIABILITY, COSTS AND LIMITATION: A SERIES OF WEBINARS THIS YEAR AIMING TO HELP AVOID OR DEAL WITH PROBLEMS IN LITIGATION
The issues arising from many of the cases looked at on this blog are being considered in a series of webinars starting later this month. The webinars cover many of the problem areas of litigation: what to do when things…
WHEN CAN A CLAIM FORM INCLUDE MULTIPLE PARTIES? COURT OF APPEAL REACH BACK TO THE OLD RULES TO HELP
Yesterday I wrote about a case where a judge made strict case management orders in an attempt to deal with an action brought by multiple claimants. The issue of multiple parties was considered today by the Court of Appeal in…
TOO MANY PARTIES CAN INCUR THE COURT’S WRATH: THE DIFFICULTIES IN PLEADING A CASE WHERE THERE ARE MULTIPLE CLAIMANTS
In Niprose Investments Ltd & Ors v Vincents Solicitors Ltd (Professional negligence) [2024] EWHC 801 (Ch) HHJ Hodge KC (sitting as a High Court Judge) considered some of the issues where 35 claimants attempted to plead their claim on one…
THE GUIDELINE HOURLY RATES: SEE THEM HERE: UPDATED FOR 2026 RATES
The Guideline Hourly Rates changed on 1st January 2026. These are set out below. The 2025 and 2024 rates can be found underneath. Guideline hourly rates 2026 (with previous year’s rates in brackets) Grade Fee Earner London 1 London 2…
COURT WOULD NOT SET ASIDE FINAL ORDER FOR DIVORCE CAUSED BY A SOLICITORS ERROR: IT IS MORE THAN A SIMPLE CLICK OF A MOUSE
In Williams v Williams [2024] EWHC 733 (Fam) Sir Andrew McFarlane refused to set aside a final divorce order when the order had been made due to a mistake by the applicant’s solicitors. It is a clear example of the…
TRIALS BY JURY IN CIVIL CASES: THE RULES AND CASES CONSIDERED
In Taylor v Savik & Anor [2024] EW Misc 15 (CC) HHJ Paul Matthews considered the question of whether a jury trial should be ordered in a civil trial. The judgment contains a detailed consideration of the legislation and case…
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE IN THE COURTS: SELECTED HIGHLIGHTS FROM THE JUDICIAL GUIDANCE
We have looked before at problems caused by Artificial Intelligence being used in court. It is worthwhile looking at the Courts and Tribunals Judiciary publication “Artificial Intelligence (AI) Guidance for Judicial Office Holders. It shows some of the dangers in…
THE PROFOUND LACK OF WISDOM IN SIGNING STATEMENTS OF TRUTH ON BEHALF OF YOUR CLIENT: A REPEAT
The post earlier this morning about witness evidence in a case where the Particulars of Claim had been signed by a solicitor has raised some interesting observations. Not least commentators have observed that it is, to say the least, profoundly…
PRACTICE DIRECTION AMENDMENTS COMING INTO FORCE 6th APRIL 2024 (2) VAT AND COUNSEL’S FEES
The 165th update to the Practice Direction comes into force on the 6th April 2024, alongside the 163rd amendment looked at in the previous post. The amendments can be found here. This Practice Direction deals with adding VAT to fixed…
THE 163rd UPDATE TO THE PRACTICE DIRECTIONS: COMING INTO FORCE ON THE 6th APRIL 2024 (1)
There are a number of amendments to Practice Directions coming into force on the 6th April 2024. Details of the 163rd update can be found here. OVERVIEW By way of overview the amendments relate to Civil restrain orders. (New…
THE VEXED QUESTION OF WITNESS STATEMENTS WHEN THE MAKER CANNOT SPEAK ENGLISH: LEADS TO MAJOR PROBLEMS AND A WASTED COSTS ORDER
We are going to be looking twice at the decision of Mr Justice Martin Spencer in Rainer Hughes Solicitors v Liverpool Victoria Insurance Company Ltd & Ors (Rev1) [2024] EWHC 585 (KB). The next post will look at procedure in…
SERVICE OF THE CLAIM FORM: GOOD NEWS FOR THE CLAIMANT (FOR A CHANGE)
NB – THIS DECISION WAS OVERTURNED ON APPEAL – SEE Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities v Rogers [2024] EWCA Civ 1554 In Rogers v Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities & Anor [2023]…
PARTIES SHOULD BE AWARE OF CONGESTION FACING LITIGANTS IN THE COURTS
The judgment of HHJ Pelling KC in ABT Auto Investments Ltd v Aapico Investment Pte Ltd & Ors [2022] EWHC 1791 (Comm) has recently become available on BAILII. The judge refused an application to amend that was heard one month…
NEW FORMS FOR ANONYMITY ORDERS: GET THE LINK – SEE THE ORDER
Form PF 10 for anonymity orders has been amended. The latest form can be found here. PF10 Anonymity for children and protected parties – prohibition of publication order [HEADING] [TBC] (a child / protected party…
THE DANGERS OF SERVING A NOTICE OF NON-ADMISSION: LEADS TO INDEMNITY COSTS BEING AWARDED
Another aspect of the judgment in Duke of Sussex & Ors v MGN Ltd (Re Costs) [2024] EWHC 274 (Ch) was the defendant’s conduct in serving a notice of non-admission. Service of the notice led to considerable extra costs being incurred. …
CLAIMANT’S APPEAL ALLOWED BECAUSE THE JUDGE FOUND FOR THE DEFENDANT ON A BASIS THAT WAS NOT PLEADED
I am grateful to barrister Tom Morris for giving me details of the judgment of Mr Justice Fancourt in Jacobs v Chalcot Crescent (Management) Company Ltd [2024] EWHC 259 (Ch). It is an important case about statements of case. The…
CHANGES TO THE FIXED COSTS RULES 2: 20 PAGES IN AN EXPERT’S REPORT DOES NOT MEAN 20 PAGES
Another change being introduced on the 6th April 2024 is a change (or possibly clarification) in relation to to the number of pages in an expert report in the Intermediate Track. The substantive report is still limited to 20 pages….
PENAL NOTICES ON ORDERS – CHANGES COMING INTO FORCE ON THE 6th APRIL 2024: A SIGNIFICANT CHANGE BY THE USE OF THE WORD “BY”
Yesterday we looked at a case where the judge held it was inappropriate for the court to add a penal notice to an existing order. The rules relating to penal notices are changing on the 6th April as a result…
THIS WAS NOT AN APPROPRIATE CASE TO ADD A PENAL NOTICE TO AN ORDER: COURT WILL DETERMINE THE SUBSTANTIVE DISPUTE INSTEAD
In Wintermute Trading Ltd v Terraform Labs Pte Ltd [2024] EWHC 141 (KB) Mr Justice Lavender considered whether it was appropriate, on the facts of this case, to add a penal notice to an order for disclosure. He held that…
CHANGES TO THE FIXED COSTS RULE 1: WHEN CLINICAL NEGLIGENCE CLAIMS MUST BE ALLOCATED TO THE MULTI TRACK
There are a number of significant changes taking place to the fixed costs rules, coming into force on the 6th April 2024. These are introduced by The Civil Procedure (Amendment) Rules 2024. Here we look at the change to the…
WHAT HAPPENS WHEN THE JUDGMENT WAS NOT RECORDED? APPEAL PROCEEDS BY WAY OF A REHEARING
There are interesting issues considered in the judgment of Mr Recorder Adrian Jack in AS v AB [2024] EWFC 24. A party was appealing. The recording (and backup recording) failed to record the judge’s judgment and there was no agreed…
ATTEMPTING TO GIVE NEW EVIDENCE WHEN THE ADVOCATE IS MAKING SUBMISSIONS: ANOTHER ISSUE IN THE POST OFFICE CASE
The recent post about the decision in Karimi, R (On the Application Of) v Sheffield City Council [2024] EWHC 93 (Admin), caused me to review another earlier blog post about the Post Office case. It concerned an attempt to introduce new…
A DEFENDANT CANNOT SIMPLY SEEK TO SET ASIDE THE CONSEQUENCES OF A DEBARRING ORDER: AN APPLICATION SOUNDLY REFUSED
In Al Saud v Gibbs [2024] EWHC 123 (Comm) Mr Justice Calver refused a defendant’s application to set aside a debarring order so that they could be involved in the trial of the action. The judgment contains important observations on…
SEEKING PERMISSION TO RELY ON AN EXPERT DOES NOT GIVE RISE TO AN APPLICATION FOR RELIEF FROM SANCTIONS: IMPORTANT JUDGMENT BY THE COURT OF APPEAL
In Yesss (A) Electrical Ltd -v- Warren [2024] EWCA Civ 14 the Court of Appeal considered the law relating to when an application for relief from sanctions comes into play. The judgment gives clear guidance about the question of when…
THIRD CLAIM FORM CASE OF THE YEAR: FAILURE TO SERVE A SEALED CLAIM FORM, SERVING BY EMAIL WITHOUT THE DEFENDANTS’ CONSENT: IT ENDS UP BADLY FOR THE CLAIMANT
I am grateful to barrister Alicia Tew for sending me a copy of the judgment of HHJ Karen Walden-Smith in Harper -v- Bamber & Lewis (Cambridge County Court – copy of which is available here judgment in Bamber v Harper ). …
MR BATES AND THE POST OFFICE 5: ATTEMPTS TO PUT THE COURT “IN TERROREM” WERE NOT WELCOME
In March 2019 I wrote about the judgment in Bates & Ors v Post Office Ltd (No 3) [2019] EWHC 606 (QB), the post noted that “parts of the judgment set out arguments and conduct of litigation that is, to say the…
MR BATES AND THE POST OFFICE 2: THE JUDGE’S VIEW ON WITNESS CREDIBILITY
I am repeating a post first written in 2019. Matters that are in the public consciousness now were very much in the consciousness of the legal profession then. This post dealt with the trial judge’s view of the credibility of…
FIRST CLAIM FORM CASE OF 2024: CLAIMANT COMES TO GRIEF WHEN THE DEFENDANT WAS SERVED BY THE WRONG METHOD: NO RELIEF AVAILABLE
It took until the 4th January for the first case in relation to service of the claim form to come to light. In Chehaib v King’s College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust & Ors [2024] EWHC 2 (KB) Master Stevens dismissed…
WHAT TO DO WHEN THINGS GO WRONG IN LITIGATION: TEN KEY POINTS WORTH REPEATING
In January 2017 I wrote about a case where a newly qualified solicitor had been struck off . The solicitor “had ‘messed up’ on a handful of the 170 cases he was handling and did not seek help from colleagues”. …
MR BATES AND THE POST OFFICE: LOOKING BACK TO THE CASE OF THE YEAR 2019
Yesterday I noticed that a post I had written in 2019 was suddenly gaining a lot of readers. I suspect that this was due to the power of television. Not that the blog was being advertised, but that the series…
CIVIL LITIGATION 2023: A BRIEF REVIEW
I am not sure whether the facts and figures from this site can show any major trends in civil litigation. Here is a quick look back at some numbers from 2023. MOST VIEWED POSTS: THE TOP 10 (to date)…
OPENING LINES OF JUDGMENTS 2023: DRAGONS, VENUS, BOMBS, WAR AND THE BEAUTY OF NIDDERDALE (TO NAME JUST A FEW)
It is now too close to Christmas to write the traditional material of this blog. However it is a good time to review some of the best opening lines of judgments for 2023. If you feel I have missed some…
ISSUING ON BEHALF OF AN ESTATE WHEN THERE IS NO GRANT OF PROBATE: THE PROCEEDINGS WERE A NULLITY
The judgment of Master Brightwell in The Ali Abdullah Alesayi Will Establishment v Alesayi [2023] EWHC 3150 (Ch) provides a reminder of some important reminder of some important principles when issuing on behalf of the estate of a deceased person. …
USING AI TO SEARCH FOR CASE LAW AND MAKE SUBMISSIONS: IT MAKES CASES UP – IT REALLY DOES
If ever there was a judgment where the clue is in the name it is Harber v Commissioners for His Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (INCOME TAX – penalties for failure to notify liability to CGT – appellant relied on case…
COST BITES 125:JOCKEYING FOR POSITION: ALLEGATIONS OF CONDUCT INCREASING COSTS – BUT THERE WAS NO DEDUCTION FROM SUCCESSFUL PARTY’S COSTS:
In Lifestyle Equities CV & Anor v Royal County of Berkshire Polo Club Limited & Ors [2023] EWHC 2923 (Ch) Mr Justice Mellor considered whether certain issues relating to the action meant that there should be a reduction of the…
SERVICE OF THE CLAIM FORM CASES: THE PAST 14 MONTHS: ANOTHER SEASON OF THE DREARY & UNLOVELY CROP OF PROCEDURAL SERVICE ISSUES: WEBINAR 5th FEBRUARY 2024
This year has seen a bumper number of reported cases on what Master McCloud has referred to as a “dry and unlovely crop of procedural service issues”. This webinar on the 5th February looks at the cases relating to the…
HELP WITH COURT FEES: NEW FORMS AND NEW ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA: WHERE TO FIND THE NEW GUIDANCE AND FORMS
A reminder that the financial eligibility criteria for help with court fees was changed from the 27th November 2023. There are also new court forms designed to make the process (which can be somewhat tortuous) simpler. Close-up of British bank…
RELIEF FROM SANCTIONS REFUSED WHEN THE COSTS BUDGET WAS SERVED LATE: BUDGETING AT TRIAL IS A FAIRLY HOPELESS TASK
There is much to learn from the decision of Mr Justice Ritchie in Tan v Idlbi & Anor [2023] EWHC 2840 (KB). The claimant was unsuccessful in an application for relief from sanctions following late service of the costs budget….
COSTS OF £50,000 ORDERED TO BE PAID BY LITIGATION FRIEND: “HE WILLINGLY TOOK ON THE ROLE OF LITIGATION FRIEND AND HIS PERFORMANCE HAS BEEN WHOLLY INADEQUATE”
In Y v Z [2023] EWFC 205 HHJ Edward Hess ordered that the litigation friend for the respondent pay, personally, the applicant’s costs caused by the need to adjourn a hearing. The respondent had not prepared at all for the…
COURT REFUSES TO GRANT AN ORDER FOR A GROUP LITIGATION ORDER: INCORRECT PROCEDURE; COSTS AND “WHACK -A-MOLE” CONSIDERED
Several kind people have sent me a copy of the decision in Abbott & Ors v Ministry of Defence [2023] EWHC 2839 (KB). This is an unusual case because, despite the claimant and defendant being in agreement, the court did…
A SECOND ACTION ON A DIFFERENT ISSUE TO THE FIRST SHOULD NOT HAVE BEEN STRUCK OUT: COURT OF APPEAL NOT TOO KEEN ON “SHADOW BOXING” IN CIVIL LITIGATION
In Orji & Anor v Nagra & Anor [2023] EWCA Civ 1289 the Court of Appeal overturned a decision that an action should be struck out as an abuse of process. The Court rejected the defendant’s contention that the action…
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