COURT TAKES UNUSUAL “GRADATED” APPROACH AND DEFERS APPLICATION FOR RELIEF FROM SANCTIONS FOR LATE SERVICE OF WITNESS STATEMENTS – & IT COULD COST THEM $58 MILLION (I SUPPOSE THAT EVERY LITTLE HELPS…)
In Manning & Napier Fund, Inc & Anor v Tesco Plc [2020] EWHC 2106 (Ch) Mr Justice Hildyard took the unusual step of differing the claimants’ application for relief from sanctions in serving witness statements late. “Much or all of…
RELIEF FROM SANCTIONS ALLOWED WHEN JUDGE HAD RESERVATIONS AS TO WHETHER STRIKING OUT ORDER SHOULD EVER HAVE BEEN MADE
In Barakat v Greycourt Ltd [2020] EWHC 643 (Ch) Mr Justice Fancourt granted relief from sanctions to an appellant whose appeal had been struck out without notice. One thing of note in this judgment is the order striking out the…
DENTON PRINCIPLES APPLIED IN THE ADMINISTRATIVE COURT: EXTENSION OF TIME GRANTED FOLLOWING DEFAULT IN AN EXTRADITION CASE
In Zelenko v Prosecutor General’s Office of the Republic of Latvia [2020] EWHC 1800 (Admin) the Administrative Court applied Denton principles to an issue concerning extradition. THE CASE An order had been made extraditing the applicant to Latvia. The…
CLAIM STRUCK OUT, RELIEF FROM SANCTIONS REFUSED, COUNTERCLAIM CONTINUES: CLAIMANT HITS A BRICK WALL
In Edmunds v Newell & Anor [2020] EW Misc 7 (CC) HHJ Jarman QC refused a claimant’s application for relief from sanctions. The claim was struck out but the counterclaim continued. THE CASE The claimant claimed £110,599.99 plus interest…
RELIEF FROM SANCTIONS GRANTED FOLLOWING FAILURES ON DISCLOSURE: THE DEPP TRIAL IS BACK AFLOAT
Last week I wrote on the latest episode of the Depp case. Mr Justice Nicol held that there had been a failure to comply with a peremptory order on disclosure and the Mr Depp’s case stood struck out. Today it…
DEPP, DISCLOSURE, TEXT & TESTS: CASE STRUCK OUT BECAUSE OF FAILURE TO COMPLY WITH PEREMPTORY ORDER : CLAIMANT’S CASE NOW ALL AT SEA
In Depp v News Group Newspapers Ltd & Anor [2020] EWHC 1689 (QB) Mr Justice Nicol held that the claimant’s case stood struck out because of a failure to give disclosure. There are important observations about the scope of disclosure….
JUDGMENT SET ASIDE BECAUSE OF LOCKDOWN (2): WHO PAID THE COSTS? SOME IMPORTANT LESSONS HERE
A post earlier today dealt with the case of Stanley v London Borough of Tower Hamlets [2020] EWHC 1622 (QB) where a regular judgment was set aside because proceedings had been served, essentially, on empty offices. What will be of…
JUDGMENT SET ASIDE WHEN DEFAULT WAS OBTAINED BECAUSE OF “LOCKDOWN”: LITIGATORS MUST BE AWARE THAT THE WORLD SHIFTED ON ITS AXIS ON 23 MARCH 2020
The judgment of Mr Justice Julian Knowles in Stanley v London Borough of Tower Hamlets [2020] EWHC 1622 (QB) is the first reference I have seen to that part of CPR PD51ZA that deals the court’s general discretion when faced…
WHEN THE SKY FALLS IN: WHAT TO DO WHEN THINGS GO WRONG IN LITIGATION: WEBINAR 6th AUGUST 2020
I have been writing on this blog for some time now that lawyers should be taught that mistakes happen. We should aim to avoid them but if errors are made they are often rectifiable if dealt with correctly and quickly. …
MISTAKES IN THE PORTAL: “ROUGH JUSTICE” AND ERRORS IN OFFERS: CLAIMANT’S CLAIM STRUCK OUT AS AN ABUSE OF PROCESS
I am grateful to barrister Matthew Turner for bringing my attention to his report of the case of Mahoney v Royal Mail (DDJ Doman, Truro CC, 26/05/20) it is another example of mistakes being made in offers. In this case…
CIVIL PROCEDURE: BLOG AND ARTICLES ROUND UP – MAY 2020
As we adjust to the problems of the pandemic some of the more conventional issues of litigation have been dealt with extensively this month. Costs ACL Trio of High Court judges issue costs penalties to defendants that refused ADR ACL Claimant not…
RELIEF FROM SANCTIONS SHOULD NOT HAVE BEEN GRANTED: CPR 3.9 PROPERLY APPLIED IS ARTICLE 6 COMPLIANT
The previous two posts on this blog have been warning against complacency in relation to the Denton principles. This is the third in that series. In Magee v Willmott [2020] EWHC 1378 (QB) Mrs Justice Yip allowed an appeal in…
WHY YOU NEED TO KNOW THE RULES AND GUIDANCE IN RELATION TO SURVEILLANCE EVIDENCE: A WEBINAR
In the judgment discussed earlier today in Tully v Exterion Media (UK) Ltd & Anor [2020] EWHC 1119 (QB), Master McCloud, made some important observations in relation to how the courts deal with surveillance evidence. As a result of that…
LATE WITNESS STATEMENT: RELIEF FROM SANCTIONS NOT GRANTED: A WARNING AGAINST COMPLACENCY
Anyone who has had the pleasure of hearing Professor Dominic Regan lecture will know that he gives a constant warning that the Denton principles have not gone away. In relation to the late service of budgets in particular, but in…
NON-COMPLIANCE WITH ORDER FOR EXPERT EVIDENCE AND THE CLAIMANT’S APPLICATION GOES UP IN SMOKE…
Possibly the most difficult position you could put yourself in in litigation is for the court to make an order, do something the court did not allow, not get permission in advance, and then seek relief from sanctions thereafter. …
RELIEF FROM SANCTIONS GRANTED FOLLOWING LATE SERVICE OF WITNESS STATEMENTS: SUCCESSFUL APPEAL TO THE HIGH COURT
High Court decisions in relation to relief of sanctions seem to be coming in pairs. Yesterday we looked at Depp II v News Group Newspapers Ltd & Anor [2020] EWHC 1237 (QB) today we are looking at the claimant’s successful appeal…
JOHNNY DEPP: LATE WITNESS STATEMENTS & THE COURTS: JUDGE CURTAILS THE EVIDENCE THAT CAN BE CALLED
The judgment of Mr Justice Nicol in Depp II v News Group Newspapers Ltd & Anor [2020] EWHC 1237 (QB) is interesting because the judge grants relief from sanctions because of a delay in service of witness statements. More significantly,…
WHEN A DEFENDANT FILED A COSTS BUDGET LATE: RELIEF FROM SANCTIONS REFUSED: “THE DEFAULTING PARTY HAS ONLY ITSELF OR ITS LEGAL REPRESENTATIVE TO BLAME”
The judgment of HHJ Simon Barker QC in Heathfield International LLC v Axiom Stone (London) Ltd [2020] EWHC 1075 (Ch) is another example of a party coming to grief because of the failure to file a costs budget timeously. That…
COVID REPEATS 20: CIVIL LITIGATION BRIEF 26 YEARS AGO: PROCEDURAL DEVELOPMENT IN 1994
Six years ago I reviewed the annual output of Civil Litigation Brief in 1994 so, in essence, this is a repeat of a repeat. There were no “blogs” back. Twenty six ago CLB was a monthly column in the Solicitors…
CORONAVIRUS CATCH UP 1: DENTON AND RELIEF FROM SANCTIONS
I have, recently, been writing primarily about the impact of coronavirus on lawyers and civil procedure. Some cases in “mainstream” civil litigation have been overlooked. To prevent a “backlog” of cases here is a link to, and brief summary of,…