There are several pieces of legislation that now have to be considered when a court is considering liability in the context of the defendant being involved in voluntary or similar activity. The Social Action, Responsibility and Heroism Act 2015 has…
This series has taken an unexpected turn. I didn’t expert to be writing about a Court of Appeal decision that considered the precise pleaded meaning of the word “pornography”, but that is precisely what we are doing here. A decision…
Knowing the reasons why a judge may prefer the evidence of one expert over another is an important part of a litigator’s skill. Each case is, of course, fact specific, but there are clear trends that can be discerned. Here…
The “purdah” rule – that a witness cannot discuss the case and their evidence with others, including their legal team, once they have started giving evidence is of utmost significance. Here we are looking at a case where a witness…
It is rare for a wasted costs order to be made against a solicitor for pursuing what is seen as a “hopeless” case. However we have such an order in the case we are considering here. The Master found the…
Many, if not all, of those involved in credit hire legislation will already have read the Court of Appeal decision last week with care. The Court also considered the question of whether the fact that there are close commercial, or…
We are looking at a case where the claimant beat its own Part 36 offer and the court had to consider the consequences. There were some unusual aspects in that the judgment was not given in sterling. However the judge…
Can the court compel a party to file a witness statement explaining, in detail, why mistakes were made in earlier witness statements? That was the issue considered in the case we are looking at today. The judge considered the provisions…
There are two important procedural points considered here relating to to appeals relating to committal proceedings. The first relates to the court to which an appeal has to be made, the second to the scope of an appeal. Here we…
I periodically remind people (and remind myself) that one of the purposes of this series is to look at what is happening “on the ground” in relation to costs, including the summary assessment of costs. Practitioners may only have limited…
We may well be mining the Court of Appeal decision on the liability of car hire companies for costs across a number of further posts. Here, however, we are taking a look at the sections in the judgment that considered…
Here we are looking at a Court of Appeal decision about the drafting and construction of court orders. The order made in this case was totally deficient, consequently it could not be enforced. (Absolute precision is demanded here…) “……
We are returning to the same case as the previous post but looking at a different issue. The judge considered whether to make an order for indemnity costs against the claimants. The case is unusual in that such an award…
For the second time today we are looking at the rules relating to Qualified one way costs shifting (QOCS) and its exceptions. Here the defendant had spent £2 million successfully defending a claim, only part of that action was a…
This is the second post about the Court of Appeal judgment today in relation to the liability of credit hire companies to pay costs. Here we look at the decisions made in relation to each of the two cases under…
This is the first of several points that will look in detail at the Court of Appeal decision today in relation to the liability of credit hire companies to pay costs. This first post outlines the main findings. Later posts…
It is a difficult task to summarise the value of a life in one document. This is what happens when a schedule is drafted in a fatal claim. It is a task that has to be done carefully and with…
There is always room for another case about bundles on this site. It is a subject of endless fascination to most litigators, and endless frustration for many judges. Here we are looking at a case where the trial judge observed…
We are looking at a case where there was clear example of a failure to prove things. The claimants did not have sufficient evidence to satisfy the court it should make the order they were seeking. In fact the judgment…
For the second time this week we are looking at the issue of whether, or not, it was reasonable for a claimant’s solicitor to conclude that a matter should have been commenced outside the Low Value Personal Injury Portal. This…
A Practice Note issued issued earlier this month sets out changes to the practice of the Commercial Court in relation to the value which it will consider transferring claims to other courts. These changes take effect from the 1st July…
We are looking at a judgment from today which considers the “without prejudice” rule in some detail. In particular the steps a party should take if it wishes to argue that it should be able to rely on without prejudice…
We have a case here where a solicitor and KC involved in a case were heavily criticised by the trial judge. The solicitor attempted to appeal those findings and the Court of Appeal considered, among many other things, their Article…
How does one firm act on behalf of both sides in litigation? Entering judgment for a claimant and then applying, on behalf of the defendant, to have that judgment set aside? The easy answer is that it can’t. This…
The question of whether a case should have been started using the Low Value Protocol is often a difficult one. The lawyer for the claimant has to make a decision on this important issue without the benefit of any medical…
Problems occur when a claimant fails to take appropriate steps to ensure that the defendant is in fact living at the address where a claim form has served. This was the issue considered by the Court of Appeal today. The…
This series has now covered hundreds of examples where litigants have failed to prove their case. We are looking at another example here where a counterclaiming defendant adduced no substantive evidence of a claim said to be worth nearly £500,000. …
A number of people have been in touch asking whether the site can accommodate larger groups than those set out in the original plan (someone has asked whether there can be “limitless” numbers on a subscription). As a result of…
This is the third in this series looking at cases where misconduct has been alleged, or found, in the costs assessment process. We have here a bill of costs that was reduced substantially, which failed to beat a Part 36…
A common feature of litigation is the leaving of matters until the last minute. Be it service of the claim form, costs budgets or compliance with a court order. Here we have a case of a party delaying in complying…
This is the first day of this site as a subscription site and people have been very supportive. There have been very few teething problems. It will help if I address two issues: (i) how to add colleagues if you…
Artificial Intelligence and legal “research” has been very much in the news of late. I am grateful to my colleague Steven Turner for sending me an example where, upon being questioned, Chat GPT readily conceded that a case it had…
A new Court of Appeal (Civil Division) Guide has been published. It provides an essential guide to Court of Appeal cases. THE PURPOSE OF THE GUIDE “The main purpose of this Guide is to set out as clearly as…
Many, if not all, litigators will be familiar with the scenario whereby an estimate of costs is given and events develop so that the estimate is overtaken. This scenario was considered in the case we are considering today. An estimate…
Here we are looking at a case where a party, dissatisfied with the approach of a jointly instructed expert, applied to the court for permission to instruct their own expert. The judgment contains a useful summary of the relevant principles….
We are looking at a case where the court struck out the claimant’s case against three defendants because of the inadequate way in which the case was pleaded. General assertions that someone here must be to blame were not sufficient. The…
On the 10th June 2025* this site is becoming a membership site. All the past posts, and the vast majority of future posts will only be available to members who have joined. This post explains what readers need to do…
I was saddened to learn yesterday of the death of District Judge George Branchflower. This is a sad loss to his family, his friends and the legal profession. GEORGE’S ROUTE TO THE BAR George had an unusual route to…
The use of AI which cites “false” cases is extremely worrying. It is clear that this is a widespread issue. In an appendix to the judgment the Divisional Court reviewed the cases, including many from foreign jurisdictions, where AI had…
Part of a series on fatal accident litigation this webinar takes you through the essential elements you have to consider before you can advise whether a claim for fatal accident damages can be brought. Booking details available here WHAT THE…
We are returning to (and not for the last time) to the Divisional Court judgment in relation to the citation of false authorities due to the use of Artificial Intelligence. The Court reviews the dangers, the guidance and the sanctions…
We are continuing with the examination of the Court’s judgment in relation to cases where false authorities have been cited as a result of a reliance on false authorities, generated by artificial intelligence. Here we have a case where the…
This blog has already considered the case of Frederick Ayinde, R (on the application of) v The London Borough of Haringey [2025] EWHC 1040 (Admin) on several occasions. False (presumably AI generated) authorities were put before the court. That case,…
Here we look at a case where the claimant suggested that a preliminary issue trial be adjourned. The court was firm in its rejection of that suggestion. The judge stated that the trial “is not a rehearsal” and that if…
This series may well be misnamed. A more apt description may well be “not proving things”. That is what we are considering in looking at the case today. There was a lengthy trial with a substantial claim for damages. The…
This series is giving rise to more cases than I initially thought. Here we look at an example of a claimant wishing to pursue a specific line of argument but having to accept that it was not pleaded and that…
The webinar on Part 36 that I broadcast earlier this week is now available on YouTube and can be found here. Links to previous webinars on Part 36 can be found below. MATTERS COVERED IN THE 2025 WEBINAR This…
There have been a large number of cases where the courts have been critical of attempt to “re-open” judgments at the stage where the draft judgment is circulated. We see another example here. The judge reviewed the cases on this…
If we had a pound for every word in witness statements served in just one single month that was irrelevant or inadmissible we could probably go a long way to paying off the national debt. The costs, however, are probably…
Fatal accidents claims are often some of the most challenging areas for the litigator. Claims have to be investigated (and defended) with great care and sensitivity. To add to the difficulties the law relating to damages is almost wholly based…
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