I am grateful to Tom Jenkinson from Bolt Burdon Kemp for letting me know that the Court of Appeal has granted permission to appeal in the case of XDE v North Middlesex University Hospital Trust [2019] EWHC 1482 (QB) XDE…
Every month I plan to provide links to useful articles and posts on civil procedure. I am happy for anyone to send me links that are relevant to the topics that this blog covers. (Links to posts does not constitute…
“Cashflow is the lifeblood of business”, is a common maxim. This applies in the legal profession as much as anywhere else. Interim payments on account of costs is an important issue for litigators and their clients. This was considered in…
Want to become a famous celebrity chef? Ishan Kolhatkar is editing a 2019 Billable Hour Cookbook. Contributions are being sought from lawyers across the profession (and indeed throughout the world) . If you have any recipes that you want to…
It is Legal Directories Time of year. Here I (re)print an easy guide on how to interpret a directory entry, kindly provided by law lecturer John Bates. Can I also refer you to Wigapedia’s Language of the legal directory decoded:…
The judgment today in AR & ML [2019] EWFC 56 is of considerable importance to all those who seek to “re-argue” a case after judgment rather than appeal. Mostyn J attempts to put an end to what he identified as…
In Kensington Mortgage Company Ltd v Mallon & Ors [2019] EWHC 2512 (Ch) Sir Gerald Barling, sitting as a Judge of the High Court, dismissed an appeal against a judge’s refusal to consider a point that was not pleaded. The…
In Gregory & Anor v Moore & Ors [2019] EWHC 2430 (Ch) Chief Master Marsh commented upon evidence served in response, but very late in the day. In the absence of an explanation in relation to late service the Master…
In Trainer v Cramer Pelmont (a firm) [2019] EWHC 2501 (QB) Mr Justice Walker examines the provisions of s14A of the Limitation Act in considerable detail. This is one of those judgments that is likely to be authoritative for years…
The judgment of HHJ Pearce in Neocleous & Anor v Rees [2019] EWHC 2462 (Ch) is not about procedure. However it is a judgment that many litigators must become familiar with. An automatically generated name at the end of an…
In the third post on the dangers of lawyers giving evidence we are looking at the judgment of Recorder Monty QC in Afia v Mellor & Anor [2013] EW Misc 23 (CC). The only witness called for the defendants was…
Constitutional lawyers will be writing about the Supreme Court decision today for decades to come. However I want to look at the more basic issue of the evidence that was placed before the courts. This was not a case…
The judgment and summary of the Supreme Court judgment today in Cherry -v- Advocate General for Scotland can be found here. … Enjoying this post? Become a Civil Litigation Brief member to read full articles and access all premium…
In the second post about the dangers of lawyers giving evidence we turn to the judgment of Master Marsh in Pineport Limited -v- Grangeglen Ltd [2016] EWHC 1318 (Ch). This was a relief from forfeiture hearing in which the only witness…
An earlier post reported on the dangers of lawyers giving evidence when that “evidence” is in fact a set of legal submissions. It is clear that this issue is not confined to one jurisdiction. This can be seen from the…
This is the first of a series of posts designed (to be frank) to remind people that the next edition of “Damages for Personal Injury and Death” will be published later this year. One interesting aspect of writing a book,…
“WHAT’S THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN A SKELETON ARGUMENT AND A WITNESS STATEMENT?” NOW THERE’S A QUESTION…
That very question “the difference between a skeleton argument and a witness statement” appeared in a search that led someone to this blog today. It may be worrying that someone has to ask. The important distinction is often ignored. Day…
In Canada Goose UK Retail Ltd v Persons Unknown & Anor [2019] EWHC 2459 (QB) Mr Justice Nicklin refused the claimants’ application for an injunction on several grounds. Here we look at the issues relating to service of the claim…
Here we look at the automatic stay imposed by CPR 15.11. This is one of those rules than can be overlooked and could, if ignored, cause major procedural difficulties. THE RULES “Where – (a) at least 6 months have expired…
Yesterday the Supreme Court was hearing two appeals in relation to the the prorogation of Parliament. The line up of legal talent is immense. However every single litigation lawyer watching could identify with the problems that the court was having…
Here we are looking at CPR 32.2 (3) which gives the court express powers to identify or limit the number of witnesses a party may call. That power has now been considered several times by the courts. Firstly by Mr…
The judgment in the case of Clegg v Solicitors Regulation Authority [2019] EWHC 2408. A solicitor was struck off, in circumstances that could easily have been avoided. It required the simple step of informing an expert that a trial had…
Just one plug this time. For the webinar on Court Fees on the 25th September. COURT FEES: AVOIDING THE PITFALLS On the 25th September at 1.pm, I am giving a webinar “Court fees: Avoiding the pitfalls – fees, fee remission, abuse…
There is an interesting passage in the judgment in UTB LLC v Sheffield United Ltd & Ors [2019] EWHC 2322 (Ch) in relation to experts. It is an interesting example of expert evidence of valuation in a, relatively unusual, case…
Examination in chief is rare in civil cases, many (perhaps most) practitioners will never have seen it done in court. There is a rule against asking leading questions when taking a witness through their evidence. There is a good reason…
In Nicoll v Promontoria (Ram 2) Ltd [2019] EWHC 2410 (Ch) Mr Justice Mann was critical of a decision to redact elements of documents disclosed in an application to set aside a statutory demand. “unnecessary and inappropriate redactions are…
The case of Re M I wrote on earlier in the week is now available on BAILLI [2019] EWCA Civ 1559. The procedure adopted by the judge is subject to sustained criticism by the Court of Appeal. “the consequences of…
This post is caused by a search term that led to this blog “similar fact evidence in civil litigation”. This would be an apposite time to review the principles relating to similar fact evidence and the relevant case law. …
The previous post on the judgment in Baynton-Williams v Baynton-Williams [2019] EWHC 2179 (Ch) gives me a chance to return to a hobby horse – the need to give the source of information and belief when signing a witness statement. Here…
The judgment of Master Clark in Baynton-Williams v Baynton-Williams [2019] EWHC 2179 (Ch) contains a number of important lessons : (i) for anyone preparing a witness statement to be careful not to inadvertently mislead the court; (ii) for experts – on…
The decision in Singh v The Secretary of State for the Home Department [2019] EWCA Civ 1504 related to a case where a decision was made when the judge was not given relevant papers that had arrived at court. “In…
The latest “advice from Twitter” concerns travel and accommodation. What tips to people have about the best, and most economic, means of travel and accommodation for work. These are the early pieces of advice. It may well pay to check…
I am grateful to Simon Fisher, Costs Lawyer at DWF Costs Ltd, for sending me a copy of the decision of District Judge Matthews in Messenger -v- Zenith Insurance (3rd July 2019). A copy of the transcript is available here….
Appeals are always difficult. The appellate court has to be persuaded that the first-instance judge was “wrong”, and this is a fairly rigorous test. It is made far more difficult if the appellate court is given the wrong documents. Particularly…
In Gray v Hurley [2019] EWHC 1636 (QB) the court allowed service of the claim form by Whatsapp message. THE CASE The hearing was a dispute about jurisdiction. The claimant issued proceedings and obtained an order for service on the…
The Justice First Fellowship is supporting a Trainee Solicitor’s post at Hammersmith and Fulham Law Centre. Details of the job, specification and of the Law Centre itself can be found here. The closing date is 16th September 2019, so be…
The judgment of HH Judge Hodge QC (sitting as a HIgh Court Judge) in Praetura Asset Finance Ltd v Hood [2019] EWHC 2231 (Comm) shows how important it is to check what has been served. The one, overwhelming, lesson for…
Many people are starting their pupillages and training contracts tomorrow. When pupil-to-be Chloe Branton asked for some advice as to what to take in her bag to court the legal twiterrati were, as ever, generous in their advice. THE QUESTION…
The judgment in Bajaj Healthcare Ltd v Fine Organics Ltd [2019] EWHC 2316 (Ch) is in what could appear to be a fairly dry dispute about the supply of goods. As the judge observed this was not a simple sale…
Here we look at the rules relating to interim orders on account of costs, a subject of considerable importance in relation to practitioner’s cash flow and client’s pockets. CPR 44.2(8) “(8) Where the court orders a party to pay costs…
In January this year I wrote “I am starting to lose count of the number of times the Court of Appeal has overturned decisions committing people to prison because of very basic and fundamental failures of procedure. It is as…
In Akita & Anor v Governor and Company of the Bank of Ireland [2019] EWHC 1712 (QB) Mr Justice Martin Spencer held that a trial judge, knowing that parties were on the way to court, should have waited longer before…
Just a brief reminder of two webinars this month: one on loss of earnings, the other on court fees and associated issues. CLAIMS FOR LOSS OF EARNINGS This webinar “Claims for loss of earnings: law, procedure and evidence, prove it…
Here we have a short eight point guide on some of the key problem areas in relation to procedure once proceedings have been issued. Rule 1: Have everything ready pre-issue and have a plan. Effectively this means that you have,…
Section 57 of the Criminal Justice and Courts Act 2015 introduced the concept of “fundamental dishonesty” and provides penalties when a claimant is found to be fundamentally dishonest. Section 57 (2) provides an exception if the court finds that the…
In the 10th post in this series we consider the concept of “defensive litigation”, that is what positive steps litigators can take to avoid problems occurring. THE LIST: DEFENSIVE LITIGATION This list is based on a talk I gave in…
Hammersmith and Fulham Law Centre is looking for an Office Administrator. If you want to work for these really nice people look below. Hammersmith & Fulham Law Centre Salary: £23 – £25,000 per annum plus pension Working hours: 35 per…
Following on from the post yesterday where lawyers gave advice on avoiding stress on work when going on and coming back from holiday it is worthwhile looking at the general guidance that is available. “Lawyers have holidays without stress?…
Since we are in the middle of the holiday season I have noticed how some people are reporting that going on, and coming back, from holidays is a stressful experience. I asked the lawyers (and others) on Twitter to give…
ATLEU job vacancy – Head of Legal Practice Hours: 35 per week (flexible and part-time working considered) Salary: circa £36,000 plus 5% employer pension contribution Leave: …
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