It was only after an email exchange today that I realised some people do not realise that there are often links on this site to the cases that are being discussed. LINKS AND HOW TO FIND THEM When a…
In Shaw -v- Medtronic [2017] EWHC 1397 (QB) Mr Justice Lavender considered issues relating to the setting aside of notices of discontinuance and disapplying QOCS. He declined to set aside a notice of discontinuance or give permission to enforce costs…
In Gladwin -v- Bogescu [2017] EWHC 1287 (QB) Mr Justice Turner overturned an order giving the claimant relief from sanctions following late service of the witness statement. In a series looking at the case more closely we look at what…
One thing that the the Denton decision did, without doubt*, was to put an end to the “mandatory” requirement for a “good reason” to explain a breach when applying for relief from sanctions. However it is always incumbent upon…
In ICAP Management Services Limited -v- Berry [2017] EWHC 1321 (QB) Mr Justice Garnham added his voice to those judges who have protested about the length of skeleton arguments and written submissions and the burden of unnecessary documents. “It is…
In Gladwin -v- Bogescu [2017] EWHC 1287 (QB) Mr Justice Turner uses the English language to its full effect when ruling that a claimant who served a witness statement late should not have been granted relief from sanctions. The case…
I have no intention of taking this blog into areas of taxation and customs and excise. However the judgment of the First-tier Tribunal (Tax) in E -v- The Commissioners for Her Majesty’s Revenue & Customs [2017] UKFTT 348 (TCC) contains…
In Lexlaw Ltd -v- Zuberi [2017] EWHC 1350 (Ch) Master Clark considered challenges to the validity of a damages based agreement between solicitor and client. It was decided that the question of the enforceability of the agreement should be tried…
The judgment in Redbourn Group Ltd -v- Fairgate Development Limited [2017] EWHC 1223 (TCC) highlights the fact that there is a new age for a party seeking to set judgment aside. Not only does the party have to satisfy the requirements of…
In The Queen on the application of Bhandal -v- HM Revenue and Customs [2016] EWHC 3387 (Admin) Mr Justice Holroyde dismissed an application deferment of an order to pay costs and an application for relief from sanctions in making the…
In Croke -v-Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government [2017] EWCA Civ 423 Lord Justice Hickinbottom found that it is arguable that that a litigant in person had complied with the strict six week time limit for appeals because…
In Blake -v- Croasdale [2017] EWHC 1336 (QB) His Honour Judge Purle QC (sitting as a Judge of the High Court) decided that an admission made by insurers was a binding admission. However he granted permission to resile from that…
There are three volumes in Kerry Underwood’s guide to “Kerry on Personal Injury Small Claims Portals and Fixed costs”. Each has Kerry’s photo on the front. Should that put you off? As ever I have a “quick” review and a…
The transcript of the judgment in the Wiseman -v- Marston case is now available. I have included it as an attachment to the previous posts on the case. The links are also available here. THE JUDGMENT AND COURT OF APPEAL…
When should a party agree an extension of time? In Emmanuel -v- The Commissioners for Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs [2017] EWHC 1253 (Ch) Her Honour Judge Karen Walden Smith made some telling observations . “… in my judgment the…
Litigation is not always about lies or liars. Often it is about misunderstandings, mistaken recollection and people convincing themselves that they are correct. However in litigation, as in life, people do tell lies. Litigators need to know about lies, and…
The Law Society put forward a budget of £637,000* to defend the action in Socrates Training Limited -v- The Law Society of England and Wales [2017] CAT 10. The Law Society, however suffered from a basic failure to prove one…
I attended the session on court fees. One part of this related to the increasing importance of court fee remissions. Claimants have to know the rules and, before they pay any fee, be certain that their client is eligible. Sometimes…
I wrote about the judgment in Stewart & Chergui -v- The Commissioner of Police for the Metropolis [2017] EWHC 921 (QB), yesterday. There is no harm in repeating one element of that post in this series. I am repeating it because…
In December last year I reported on the decision in Wiseman -v- Marston’s PLC (Sheffield County Court 21st December 2016). His Honour Judge Robinson allowed the claimant’s appeal in a case relating to payment of court fees. The defendant applied for…
It is uncertain how much a three week jury trial in the High Court will cost. It is certain that it costs a great deal more than the awards of £5,400 and £5,700 Mrs Justice McGowan awarded to the claimants…
In Redbourn Group Ltd -v- Fairgate Development Limited [2017] EWHC 1223 (TCC) Mr Justice Coulson refused to set aside a default judgment. The case contains some important discussion on how the Denton principles apply to applications to set aside judgment. “……
In Capita PLC -v- Darch [2017] EWHC 1248 (Ch) Richard Spearman QC highlighted some of the procedural issues that can arise when applications are served late and with insufficient time estimates. A failure to serve promptly did not, ultimately,…
In the course of a very detailed judgment today in a clinical negligence case Mr Justice Langstaff made some important observations about expert evidence. He observed that late evidence may lead to costs consequences. Given that the whole rationale of…
In Sir Cliff Richard OBE -v- The British Broadcasting Corporation [2017] EWHC 1291 (Ch) Mr Justice Mann considered an issue of whether the BBC should answer Part 18 questions. It is unusual for one Part 18 question to be the…
I was lecturing yesterday alongside an oncologist. He has a difficult job. On a regular (sometimes daily) basis he has to tell patients whether they can be treated, how long they “have left” and whether treatment is worthwhile. This left…
This blog has followed the cases that arose out of decisions to switch from public funding to legal aid. In Hyde -v- Milton Keynes NHS Foundation Trust [2017] EWCA Civ 399 the Court of Appeal has given a judgment that…
I reviewed David Boyle’s book on expert evidence earlier in the year. He has presumably decided to forego all forms of social interaction and has now written a general introduction to Personal Injury. The book places some emphasis on the…
The judgment in Accident Exchange Limited -v- Broom [2017] EWHC 1096 (Admin) shows a deliberate, and concerted, effort to undermine the civil justice process. It also shows the importance of obtaining computer records, and internal documentation when preparing a trial….
In the judgment today Gore -v- Naheed [2017] EWCA 369 the Court of Appeal considered the issue of damages being awarded (when they had not been claimed) and where costs should lie when a party – reasonably – declined to…
In Williers -v Joyce [2017] EWHC 1225 (Ch) Chief Master Marsh issued a number of warnings in relation to procedural issues. Amendment, conduct, pleadings, disclosure and witness statements are considered. (The judgment also contains a full copy of the re-amended…
The RBS Rights Issue Litigation is clearly a major and unusual case. However costs have to be reasonable and proportionate even (and perhaps especially) in this type of litigation. This is made clear in the judgment of Mr Justice Hildyard…
NB THIS DECISION WAS OVERTURNED BY THE SUPREME COURT IN Cameron v Liverpool Victoria Insurance Co Ltd [2019] UKSC 6 t In Cameron -v- Hussain [2017] EWCA Civ 366 the Court of Appeal (by a majority) considered the question whether a claimant…
The judgment of Mr Justice Jay in Enniful -v- Motor Insurers Bureau [2017] EWHC 1086 (QB) is a procedural hotchpotch. It relates to service, delay, dates of compliance, venue for appeals and relief from sanctions. All of this occurred before…
This may have been a strange venue to be talking about intellectual property rights and civil procedure. However it arose because Mr Justice Birss was on the panel and he has a background in intellectual property law. HOW CHANGES TO…
I attended the APIL conference because I was asked to talk about “proving things”, that is the basic task of establishing a case by evidence. The fact that this blog has a long-running series on this issue may have played…
Whilst at the conference I attended a session on court fees. The defendant in the case of Wiseman -v- Martins PLC has sought permission to appeal and there remains a degree of uncertainty in relation to these issues. However there…
I am doing a series of posts on matters arising from the APIL annual conference. I am not aiming to cover all the issues and matters raised. People can (and should) read the Presidents speech . Given the nature of…
In Grimes -v- The Trustees of the Essex Farmers and Union Hunt [2017] EWCA Civ 361 is another one of the batch of recent cases on service. The Court of Appeal considered the question of whether a document could be…
There has been a recent spate of cases relating to service of documents. One of these is Ndole Assets Limited -v- Designer M&E Services UK Limited [2017] EWHC 1148 (TCC). The court considered the issues that arose when the…
Some defences are inadequate. Some are (rightly) struck out. Some do not recognise the essential difference between a non-admission and a denial. A series of denials is, the case law makes clear, an inappropriate and archaic way of proceeding. “Churchill’s…
In Kaplan -v- Super PCS LLP [2017] EWHC 1165 (Ch) Mrs Justice Rose struck out the particulars of claim because it was impossible for the defendants to respond to it. It is an object lesson that, even in a complex…
What is the position of a defendant whose action has been struck out? This was the question considered by Mr Justice Soole in Michael -v- Phillips [2017] EWHC 1984 (QB). The short answer is the defendant cannot dispute any aspect…
Is it appropriate to talk about “strategy” in relation to costs budgeting? It probably says a lot that I am at the APIL annual conference and this is one of the things being talked about in the reception at the…
In JC and A Solicitors Limited -v- Iqbal [2017] EWCA Civ 355 the Court of Appeal held that there is no obligation to repay costs paid at stage 1 on the Protocol when claimants failed to pursue the matter further….
What does a litigant do if a written judgment varies from the oral judgment given in court? This issue was considered by HHJ Matthews (sitting as a High Court judge) in Bath -v- Escott [2017] EWHC 1101 (Ch). The judgment…
Costs budgeting is not a place for the playing of procedural games. Mr Justice Coulson made this clear in his judgment published today in Findcharm Ltd -v- Churchill Group Ltd [2017] EWHC 1109 (TCC). It is a clear warning of…
There was a post on this blog earlier this week about the issues caused by similar witness statements. Another intriguing problems is what happens when the witness simply says “I agree with…” the other witness. This type of “evidence” is…
Cases where bundles are mentioned may well be like busses – they come along together. A short passage in the judgment of HHJ Matthews in Taylor -v- Taylor [2017] EWHC 1080 (Ch). Earlier in the week we looked at there…
I am grateful to barrister Matthew White for drawing my attention to an impressive table that he has prepared with his colleague Marcus Coates-Walker. They have set out, in tabular form, the post-Denton cases on relief from sanctions, analysing each…
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