COURT GRANTS RELIEF FROM SANCTIONS: “IT IS UNFAIR… TO BE CRITICAL OF A PARTY FOR FAILING TO MEET A DEADLINE THAT WAS ALREADY UNLIKELY TO BE ANYWAY, WHATEVER STEPS HAD BEEN TAKEN TO COMPLY WITH IT”
For the second time today I am reporting on a successful application for relief from sanctions. In Melars Group Ltd v East-West Logistics LLP [2021] EWHC 874 (Ch) Mr Justice Adam Johnson granted an appellant relief from sanctions following a…
THE DANGERS OF LEAVING SERVICE OF EVIDENCE UNTIL THE LAST MINUTE: DEFENDANT MISCALCULATED TIME WITNESS STATEMENTS DUE – REQUIRED RELIEF FROM SANCTIONS
In Soriano v Forensic News LLC & Ors [2021] EWHC 873 (QB) Mr Justice Johnson granted relief from sanctions to a defendant who served witness evidence late. However the defendant’s failures were serious and significant and the defendant had no…
HIGH COURT GRANTS RELIEF FROM SANCTIONS FOLLOWING BREACH OF PEREMPTORY ORDER: IMPACT OF COVID CONSIDERED
In Finvest Holdings Sarl -v- Lovering [2021] 3WLUK 579 HHJ Pelling (sitting as a High Court Judge) granted a claimant relief from sanctions when the claimant failed to comply with a peremptory order. There is a detailed discussion of the…
DEFENDANT REQUIRES RELIEF FROM SANCTIONS WHEN THERE WAS £92 MILLION AT STAKE: DENTON CONSIDERED AND APPLIED
When I wrote earlier about the decision in Various Claimants v G4S Plc [2021] EWHC 524 (Ch) I noted that it required more than one post. Here we look at the judge’s decision in relation to relief from sanctions. Relief was…
UPDATED DENTON RESOURCE: AVAILABLE ONLINE NOW
The Sanctions Case Watch section of this blog does its best to keep up to date with cases relating to relief from sanctions. It does this in chronological order. There is always a link in that section to the useful…
REVIEW OF CIVIL PROCEDURE IN 2020 III : SOME FACTS AND FIGURES: POPULAR BLOG POSTS, VISITOR NUMBERS AND SEARCH TERMS
Needless to say this has been an unusual year for litigators. It is always interesting to review what have been the most popular posts on this blog and look at some facts and figures. Can we tell anything about the…
SERVICE OF DEFENCE BY EMAIL NOT GOOD SERVICE: RELIEF FROM SANCTIONS REQUIRED TO SET ASIDE JUDGMENT (AND GRANTED)
The judgment of Mr Justice Calver in Ipsum Capital Ltd v Lyall & Ors [2020] EWHC 3508 (Comm) shows the dangers of serving documents by email. The judge held that service of a defence by email was not good service…
COSTS LAWYERS BEWARE: COURT REFUSES TO SET ASIDE DEFAULT COSTS CERTIFICATE: “AVOIDABLE DELAY” IS NOT LOOKED AT KINDLY
In Masten v London Britannia Hotel Ltd [2020] EWHC B31 (Costs) Mr Leonard refused to set aside a default costs certificate. This serves as a salutary warning of the importance of time limits. Further the Master observed that if a…
A SERIES OF WEBINARS ON “STAYING SAFE” IN PERSONAL INJURY PRACTICE: BRIGHTEN UP YOUR NEW YEAR
To help 2021 run smoothly for litigators I am presenting a series of webinars in February and March on the theme of “staying safe” in the running of personal injury cases. The webinars look at key areas of practice and…
COURT REFUSES PARTY PERMISSION TO RELY ON WITNESS STATEMENT SERVED LATE
In RGB Plastering Ltd v TAWE Drylining and Plastering Ltd [2020] EWHC 3028 (TCC) HHJ Jarman QC (sitting as a judge of the High Court) refused the defendant permission to rely on a witness statement that was served late. “Ms…
APPLYING FOR RELIEF FROM SANCTIONS: TWO CLASSIC MISTAKES AND A REMINDER OF 10 KEY POINTS
The judgment in Diriye v Bojaj & Anor [2020] EWCA Civ 1400 shows, at least, two classic mistakes that people make when applying for relief from sanctions: not making the application promptly and not remedying the default properly (in fact…
“THE DOG ATE MY HOMEWORK” EXCUSE DOESN’T WORK WELL IN COURT: THE JUDGE MAY HAVE BEEN WRONG ABOUT THE WAY “SIGNED FOR 1ST CLASS” OPERATED BUT THEY WERE RIGHT TO REFUSE RELIEF FROM SANCTIONS: COURT OF APPEAL DECIION
In Diriye v Bojaj & Anor [2020] EWCA Civ 1400 the Court of Appeal held that the judges who heard a relief from sanctions hearing below were in error about the way that “Signed for 1st class” post operated, however…
TRIAL JUDGE WAS RIGHT TO REFUSE CLAIMANT’S APPLICATION TO ADDUCE LATE WITNESS STATEMENT
In Bromford Housing Association Ltd v Nightingale [2020] EWHC 2648 Mr Justice Cavangh upheld a decision not to allow a claimant in possession proceedings to adduce evidence late. In a “rolled up” hearing he dismissed the claimant’s application for permission…
DENTON PRINCIPLES APPLIED IN THE ADMINISTRATIVE COURT: EXTENSION OF TIME GRANTED FOLLOWING DEFAULT IN AN EXTRADITION CASE
In Zelenko v Prosecutor General’s Office of the Republic of Latvia [2020] EWHC 1800 (Admin) the Administrative Court applied Denton principles to an issue concerning extradition. THE CASE An order had been made extraditing the applicant to Latvia. The…
RELIEF FROM SANCTIONS GRANTED FOLLOWING FAILURES ON DISCLOSURE: THE DEPP TRIAL IS BACK AFLOAT
Last week I wrote on the latest episode of the Depp case. Mr Justice Nicol held that there had been a failure to comply with a peremptory order on disclosure and the Mr Depp’s case stood struck out. Today it…
DEPP, DISCLOSURE, TEXT & TESTS: CASE STRUCK OUT BECAUSE OF FAILURE TO COMPLY WITH PEREMPTORY ORDER : CLAIMANT’S CASE NOW ALL AT SEA
In Depp v News Group Newspapers Ltd & Anor [2020] EWHC 1689 (QB) Mr Justice Nicol held that the claimant’s case stood struck out because of a failure to give disclosure. There are important observations about the scope of disclosure….
THE SEVEN YEAR ITCH: CIVIL LITIGATION BRIEFS’ 7th (OR 29th?) BIRTHDAY: FACTS, FIGURES AND HOW IT ALL BEGAN
This week sees the seventh anniversary of Civil Litigation Brief as a blog. That, it appears, is relatively young as a blog, the housing law blog Nearly Legal recently celebrated its 14th anniversary and is well into its truculent teenage…
WHEN THE SKY FALLS IN: WHAT TO DO WHEN THINGS GO WRONG IN LITIGATION: WEBINAR 6th AUGUST 2020
I have been writing on this blog for some time now that lawyers should be taught that mistakes happen. We should aim to avoid them but if errors are made they are often rectifiable if dealt with correctly and quickly. …
RELIEF FROM SANCTIONS SHOULD NOT HAVE BEEN GRANTED: CPR 3.9 PROPERLY APPLIED IS ARTICLE 6 COMPLIANT
The previous two posts on this blog have been warning against complacency in relation to the Denton principles. This is the third in that series. In Magee v Willmott [2020] EWHC 1378 (QB) Mrs Justice Yip allowed an appeal in…
LATE WITNESS STATEMENT: RELIEF FROM SANCTIONS NOT GRANTED: A WARNING AGAINST COMPLACENCY
Anyone who has had the pleasure of hearing Professor Dominic Regan lecture will know that he gives a constant warning that the Denton principles have not gone away. In relation to the late service of budgets in particular, but in…