The chair of the Legal Services Panel has given his strong views about the regulatory failures that the Mazur judgment shows. With descriptions of “a study of regulatory incoherence”; “legal fiction”; “false assurance” and ” the fragmented, incoherent framework that…
The conduct of experts, and those who instruct them, has featured widely on this blog this year. This webinar looks at two specific issues in relation to expert evidence (i) questions to experts; (ii) the drafting of agendas for expert…
This case reveals a potential trap that would be appellants can fall into when attempting to appeal a decision of a Circuit Judge when that judge heard an appeal from a District Judge. Both the venue for the appeal and…
This is a judgment which anyone with responsibility for running a legal department, or in a position where “the buck stops here” should read. The Court of Appeal judgment is clear, and damning, in relation to the conduct involved, albeit…
There are some interesting applications where defendants attempt to challenge the jurisdiction of the Court using CPR 11. This case is one of the most intriguing I have seen. The defendant’s argument here relied on the submission that notification of…
This case has plenty of pleading issues, in particular in relation to a failure to plead causation and damages. This is one of many cases we have seen this year where claimants have failed to plead a case on causation….
This webinar explores the complex area of contributory negligence in employer’s liability cases. It examines how courts approach allegations that an employee’s actions contributed to their own injury, drawing on key case law to illustrate judicial reasoning. Delegates will gain…
This is the second time this month that we are looking at the slightly ironic situation of a case alleging negligence in the drafting of a pleading itself being dismissed because it was inadequately pleaded. This judgment highlights the fact…
There may well be a practice of one party agreeing their opponent’s budget “tactically”. That is by agreeing that budget it is hoped that their own budget will look appropriate in comparison. That is one of the issues being considered…
One of the the issues that has arisen several times this year relates to whether there is an obligation on a defendant, who wishes to dispute the issue of service, to make an application under CPR Part 11. This is…
This is an interesting Part 36 issue in a case where the claimant had beaten its own Part 36 offer. The court made an order for additional interest from the date of expiry of the offer. Does the defendant have…
The cases continue to come. Some lawyers are continuing to rely upon artificial intelligence to produce false authorities. Here was a firm of solicitors (defending themselves) who relied on the AI contents of a Google search. Such searches are never…
In this case the judge decided that the claimant’s pleaded case was so defective that the entire Particulars of Claim needed to be struck out. It is a working example of how pleadings need to be compliant and cannot be…
We have yet another case of “hallucinated” cases caused by artificial “intelligence” being cited in court. These have the capacity to, and indeed do, land lawyers in very hot water. Here false cases were put before the court in an…
We could, perhaps, run some kind of charity betting game on whether, and how many, cases there will be on service of the claim form between now and Christmas. The reason for not doing so it because it runs the…
There are not many cases where issues relating to expert evidence are considered in an Election Court. We have such a case here. The Court allowed expert evidence to be admitted. However it was unable to give any weight to…
The impact that a litigant has to mediation, and in particular a failure to properly respond to or participate in ADR, can have an impact on costs. However this is not automatic. Further there are cases (such as this) where…
What is a judge to do if there is a dispute as to the facts but neither party calls evidence and there is no cross-examination? That is the question considered here. (How can a judge determine which witness is correct…
This blog has looked at cases of fundamental dishonesty many times. It has to be remembered that, more often than not, bringing dishonest claims is also contempt of court. This case deals with the appropriate sentence that should be passed…
Issues relating to contributory negligence often play a large part in road traffic cases. This webinar looks at the case law and guidance in relation to the key issues that often arise. Booking details are available here. (A failure to wear…
An announcement on the CILEX website today states that it is applying for permission to appeal the decision in Mazur. The argument will be that, the Law Society, The SRA and the High Court construed the Solicitors Act incorrectly. Watch…
Here we look at a particular point in relation to the service of an application. The application had been sent by first class “signed for” service at an address given for service by the respondents. The respondents did not receive…
We are looking at an application relating to security for costs in the context of a solicitor and own client assessment. However, as the heading indicates, there are more general lesson here for all litigators. In particular the need to…
In this case the claimants claimed £292,806,729,326,976,872,097,543,994.24,(or alternatively £377,594,620,661.41.). However the court held that their pleaded case did not comply with the rules, and it was not possible for the defendants to know the case they had to meet. The…
We are looking at the same case again here, but from a slightly different angle. This relates to written agreements to vary court orders. Firstly the agreements have to be in writing; secondly they have to be totally clear as…
If you think that the account of enquiry agents carrying out a sting operation on the other side’s solicitor is remarkable then sit down for a while. That judgment also reveals that (in wholly unrelated proceedings) the agency in question…
We are returning again to the case where the claimants arranged the taping of meetings with the defendants’ solicitors. The judge was sceptical of the claimants’ assertions that they were not fully aware of the methods being used. (This case…
You may be reading this for the second time – but it may be partly your own fault.… This webinar looks at the law relating to contributory negligence, the legislation and the key cases. Booking details are available here. …
The sheer number of cases on mis-service of the claim form this year indicate that, in all litigator’s offices, there should be large signs that state “serve the claim form properly and on time”. Today we are looking at another…
CPR 52.6(1)(b) states that a court can give permission to appeal where ” there is some other compelling reason for the appeal to be heard”. That rule is rarely considered. However we a direct consideration of that that rule in…
A party to an action hires an enquiry agent to deceive their opponent’s solicitor into giving them information. That scenario may seem far fetched but it is what actually happened in this this case. It is worthwhile looking closely at…
We are looking at another claim form case. This time the issue related to whether the defendant had made the correct application and, if it had not, whether it was prevented from arguing the court did not have jurisdiction. What…
Here we have an extraordinary case. The claimants’ employed a private enquiry agent to meet, on a pretence, with the defendants’ solicitor. That meeting was used by the enquiry agent to obtain information about the defendants’ case. It was videoed…
The SRA have a specific page which, in turn, provides links to SRA guidance and the Legal Services Act, itself. These are useful links. They include a link to the SRA submissions in the Mazur case itself. “The Legal…
Contributory negligence is one of the “Cinderella” subjects of legal practice. It is often alleged and often conceded. However the underlying principles that the courts apply are rarely looked at, let alone systematically. This is an important area because –…
The usual “cut off” point for costs budgeting is £10 million. Here we are looking at a case where the court considering budgeting in a case with a value of £340 million. The judgment contains interesting, and important, observations on…
Does the absence of a penal notice on a court order mean that a party in default cannot be subject to committal proceedings? This was the question addressed by the Court of Appeal in this case. The possibility that litigants…
We are continuing with the examination of the recent Court of Appeal decision on contempt of court. In particular who is the entity in “contempt”? This may have far reaching consequences, as well as being specific to the actions of…
The Law Society has earlier issued two new documents which are guides to Mazur. One is outside a paywall, the other is not. “Mazur – answering your questions” deals with many key issues. (Links are important on this topic -…
This has been quite a year for experts in the courts. All kinds of mistakes and errors have been reported upon. These are expensive issues for litigants and sometimes for the experts involved. This webinar looks at cases relating to…
I am breaking down this important Court of Appeal decision into a number of parts. We have already looked at the judgment as to the numerous “misleading” witness statements that were filed. The Court of Appeal also makes important observations…
This week we are looking at a remarkable case. Shortly before a matter was due to be heard in the Court of Appeal the respondent (the Chief Constable of a police force) filed documents which showed that numerous witness statements…
Surveillance evidence can be a wholly legitimate strategy in litigation. However it can tip over into oppressive conduct, particularly if it serves no real purpose. We have such an example here where the judge was critical of the claimant’s conduct…
All those involved in the appeal process, indeed litigation generally, are best advised to read this judgment. It is about the standard the court’s expect when an appeal is being brought. It is also about procedural failures and failures to…
This year has see more than its fair share of cases relating to default, sanctions and wasted costs. Knowing what those cases are, the problems that arose, how they were caused and the results are essential skills for litigators. More…
It is unusual for an application for further disclosure, particularly extensive disclosure, to be made part way through a trial. The judge considered such an application in this case. This led to the obvious question – why wasn’t this application…
Some of the most useful guidance on compliance and Mazur has come from insurers (perhaps unsurprisingly). It is significant that one of the major insurers has already updated and revised its guidance. This guidance is essential reading for anyone involved…
Costs Judge Brown makes the point here that costs budgeting is here to stay. There are a few basic issues, the “nuts and bolts” of budgeting which help ensure that the whole process runs smoothly. (You can never underestimate the…
It is often worthwhile looking at short judgments or comments at the end of a case, particularly in the Court of Appeal. They sometimes contain little gems of very useful information. We see that here in the short judgment of…
We are continuing our examination of the Court of Appeal judgment today in relation to service of the claim form. The claimant’s solicitors received the claim form after the date it had expired. Nevertheless the Court of Appeal upheld the…
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