We are continuing to look at an unusual case in relation to pleadings. The claimant had pleaded false matters in the Particulars of Claim and admitted their falsity. The defendant applied to strike out the entire action. This judgment looks…
As I’ve said before the hallucinated cases just keep on coming. The issues were considered by the Upper Tribunal (Immigration and Asylum Chamber) here. There are important points about the need to supervise staff who undertake legal research. It is…
It is rare for a judgment about pleadings to be “gripping” reading. We have such a case here. From the opening lines, to the detailed consideration of how the pleadings went wrong, the narrative is compelling. We even have an…
Here we are considering a Court of Appeal decision about what costs order should be made when an action is transferred from a fixed costs regime to one where costs are at large. On the face of it the decision…
In this series I always try to look at posts that remain relevant today. This post, indeed the series it was in from 2019 – 2020, clearly remain topical. The Law Society Gazette last week reported that a record number…
Here we have a case where the court refused to exercise its discretion under Section 33 of the Limitation Act in relation to allegations of sexual abuse that took place in the 1980s. As the judgment notes this is an…
We are looking at a Court of Appeal judgment today which overturned a finding that a defendant had been properly served at an address in England. The defendant was not living in England when proceedings were served and, indeed, there…
The Civil Justice Council has produced an interim report and consultation document on the use of AI for preparing Court documents. This is worthwhile reading. It summarises many of the current issues “Artificial intelligence (“AI”) has enormous potential to be…
One of the things that the judgment in CCC -v- Sheffield has done is to highlight the issues relating to proving loss of earnings claims in relation to children. Indeed this difficulty in establishing such losses was a major issue…
There are always profound dangers in leaving the issue of proceedings to the last minute. This case illustrates that danger. The claimants left it to days before the expiry of the limitation period before applying to issue. They used the…
For the second time this month we are looking at a successful appeal against the construction of an “unless” order. In both cases the judges below had found that the appellants had breached the order. In both cases that finding…
The judgment of the Supreme Court today considered whether “lost years” damages should be awarded to a young child. The Court, by a majority, allowed the claimant’s appeal and held that damages should be awarded in these circumstances. This post…
We are looking at a case where the sole issue the court was considering was the question of whether passages in the witness statements provided by the claimant were admissible. Unusually the Competition Appeal Tribunal allowed parts of the statements…
This is the final part of today’s trilogy considering applications to vary costs budget. We have already seen that the judge determined that many issues in the case were “significant developments” which could, in theory, lead to a variation of…
The previous post looked at the judge’s consideration of the principles relating to variations in a costs budget. Here we look at how this worked out in practice with the judge considering whether various issues amounted to “significant developments”. Some…
We are taking a detailed look at a judgment that deals with proposals to vary costs budgets. This post will look at the judge’s considerations of the rules, principles and guidance that relates to variation of budgets. Later posts will…
We are used to seeing judicial criticism of experts on this site. We have an example here of a claimant’s case coming to grief because the judge did not accept her evidence or the evidence of the two experts called…
A detailed working knowledge of Part 36 in practice is no longer optional for litigators. Recent decisions show the courts applying the rules with increasing rigour, exposing parties to serious and often unexpected costs consequences. This webinar cuts through…
We have got to the middle of February and this is (I think) the first case about failures of service of the claim form this year. This case has a history we have seen a lot on this site. The…
There are several interesting issues raised in this judgment. The fundamental point is whether the costs budgeting exercise is an “award of costs or expenses”. The judge decided that it is not. This, in turn, had an impact upon whether…
Documents are often marked “subject to contract”. This case considers the practical implications of such markings. In particular whether an apparent acceptance of an agreement gave rise to a binding agreement. As we shall see the wording was found to…
I am here summarising the Advice given by lawyers on the social media site formerly known as Twitter. In April 2019 I asked lawyers what their advice would be for their colleagues in the profession when things go wrong. Specifically…
There are several amendments in Practice Directions made in the the most recent update. Here we look at one that is directly related to the rule change we looked at last week. The amendment introduces into the Business and Property…
The previous post looked at the judge’s general observations in this case. Here we look how those principles were applied in practice. It is clear that the arguments that the costs were excessive by way of comparison did not always…
It is always important, and enlightening, to have a close look at judicial observations on the nature of costs budgeting. We have a useful judgment here. The judge considered the applicable principles and guidance before carrying out budgeting in a…
Credit hire litigation has given rise to a number of reported cases over the years. It gives rise to particular issues of procedure and evidence. In particular the need for a claimant to establish “impecuniosity” in order to justify the…
Here we look at an issue that can cause confusion, it is important from the point of view of determining the date from which the date of service runs. The relevant date for limitation purposes is the date of receipt…
Here was have a case where the local authority ceased providing funds for a seriously injured person, indeed they demanded money back. The local authority contended that money in a personal injury trust should properly be taken into account. Further…
It is rare for the Court of Appeal to overturn a first instance decision as to costs. We see an example of this happening here. The Upper Tribunal awarded the claimant 75% of his costs of a judicial review application…
Those with long memories will recall the confusion and uncertainty that the Court of Appeal caused in Carver v BAA Plc [2008] EWCA Civ 412 when the concept of a “near miss” was introduced in relation to Part 36. A…
There is an interesting comment at the end of the judgment. The judge made an order for security for costs. However he also expressed concern that the defendant’s estimated costs did not include anything in relation to the costs of…
There are many (if not all) working advocates who have thought, after a hearing is over, “I could have said that”. The same may well be true of experts. Here we have an attempt to introduce new material in a…
There have been several major issues about the way in which the joint meetings of experts are conducted. This includes the problems that occur when the parties cannot even agree on an agenda for the meeting. This post looked at…
A reminder that member subscribers have access to discounts on webinars being presented throughout the year. The details of the webinars, the discounts and how to find the discount codes are below. The first webinar sets out the practical consequences…
We are returning to look at the case where the Master refused to strike out pleadings on the grounds that they were an abuse of process. However it was also made clear that the use of certain words in the…
When it is appropriate for a court to replace a jointly instructed expert? That issue was considered in this case. The judge rejected the allegations made about the jointly instructed expert, however given that expert evidence was central to the…
Here we are looking at an interesting issue relating to discontinuance. In some circumstances a claim brought by a minor or protected party cannot be discontinued without the court’s permission; in other circumstances no permission is required. The distinction is…
Here we look at a judgment where the claimant failed to establish his case. The defendant also failed to prove that the claimant was involved in a “staged crash”. It shows how cumulative inconsistencies in a party’s evidence can lead…
We have seen a few interesting cases about limitation in the past 12 months. Misunderstanding, and missing, limitation periods remains a frequent issue in modern litigation. This webinar deals with common issues and problems that arise with limitation in practice….
We have seen several cases where an “overambitious” costs budget has led to a reduction or disallowance in the costs of budgeting. We have another example here. The claimants were effectively given a second chance to produce budgets having had…
We are continuing with our look at the The Civil Procedure (Amendment) Rules 2026 which come into force on the 6th April 2026. Here we look at a totally new provision which gives the court power to order a party to…
There is much material about witness evidence and witness statements on this site. In recent years we have also been discussing the use (and misuse) of artificial intelligence. We can be fairly sure that there will be much more about…
In this judgment given yesterday a Costs Judge considered the relevance of conduct in a Solicitors Act assessment. In particular whether an offer expressed as a “Part 36 offer” by the claimant client could amount to “special circumstances” to displace…
We are looking at a judgment that goes to the very heart of what a lawyer can properly draft in relation to pleadings. It considers what the line is between putting the case in an “effective and high level way”…
The Civil Procedure (Amendment) Rules 2026 were laid before Parliament on the 5th February 2026 and come into force (generally) on the 6th April 2026. We will look at those rules that have an impact on civil litigators one by…
A defendant that wishes to rely on surveillance evidence must choose its timing with extreme care. If the evidence is disclosed too early then the claimant could be “tipped off”; too late and this could be categorised as an “ambush”. …
Very little (if any) of the legal curriculum is devoted to what to do when things go wrong. Not enough (in my view) is devoted to preventing things go wrong. However here we concentrate on what do when something goes…
There have been a number of cases about unless orders recently. This one looks at the issue of whether the court can make an order and state that, if there is default, the claimant can enter judgment for a specific…
Recent Legal Ombudsman decisions show that solicitors’ firms are being ordered to repay substantial fees and pay significant compensation for failures in costs information — even where the underlying litigation has been competently conducted. This webinar uses Knight and other recent…
The issue of when a claim form can be served on a defendant’s solicitor is one that has been considered many times on this site over the years. There can be two fatal errors for claimants. (1) Serving on a…
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