THE DIFFICULTY IN APPEALING A DENTON TYPE DECISION
The second issue in judgment of HHJ Matthews (sitting as a High Court judge) in Wolf Rock (Cornwall) Ltd v Langhelle [2020] EWHC 2500 (Ch) was whether the appellant was able to appeal the District Judge’s refusal to grant relief…
DENTON PRINCIPLES APPLY WHERE WITNESS EVIDENCE SERVED LATE
The judgment of HHJ Matthews (sitting as a High Court judge) in Wolf Rock (Cornwall) Ltd v Langhelle [2020] EWHC 2500 (Ch) considers the issue of whether the Denton principles apply when a witness statement is served late but there…
SETTING ASIDE A REGULAR JUDGMENT: TWO HURDLES FOR THE APPLICANT TO CLEAR – AND EVEN THEN THERE CAN BE CONDITIONS
The judgment of Master Kaye in Penta Ultimate Holdings Ltd & Anor v Storrier [2020] EWHC 2400 (Ch) is a reminder that a party attempting to set aside a regular judgment has two hurdles to clear: the test set out…
RELIEF FROM SANCTIONS WOULD HAVE BEEN GRANTED (IF IT WAS NECESSARY) WHERE BREACH OF A PEREMPTORY ORDER WAS NOT SERIOUS OR SIGNIFICANT
In Kazakhstan Kagazy Plc & Ors v Zhunus & Ors [2020] EWHC 2431 (Comm) Mr Justice Henshaw held that a defendant had not breached a peremptory order and relief from sanctions was not required. However he indicated that if there…
COURT TAKES UNUSUAL “GRADATED” APPROACH AND DEFERS APPLICATION FOR RELIEF FROM SANCTIONS FOR LATE SERVICE OF WITNESS STATEMENTS – & IT COULD COST THEM $58 MILLION (I SUPPOSE THAT EVERY LITTLE HELPS…)
In Manning & Napier Fund, Inc & Anor v Tesco Plc [2020] EWHC 2106 (Ch) Mr Justice Hildyard took the unusual step of differing the claimants’ application for relief from sanctions in serving witness statements late. “Much or all of…
RELIEF FROM SANCTIONS ALLOWED WHEN JUDGE HAD RESERVATIONS AS TO WHETHER STRIKING OUT ORDER SHOULD EVER HAVE BEEN MADE
In Barakat v Greycourt Ltd [2020] EWHC 643 (Ch) Mr Justice Fancourt granted relief from sanctions to an appellant whose appeal had been struck out without notice. One thing of note in this judgment is the order striking out the…
CLAIM STRUCK OUT, RELIEF FROM SANCTIONS REFUSED, COUNTERCLAIM CONTINUES: CLAIMANT HITS A BRICK WALL
In Edmunds v Newell & Anor [2020] EW Misc 7 (CC) HHJ Jarman QC refused a claimant’s application for relief from sanctions. The claim was struck out but the counterclaim continued. THE CASE The claimant claimed £110,599.99 plus interest…
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….
JUDGMENT SET ASIDE BECAUSE OF LOCKDOWN (2): WHO PAID THE COSTS? SOME IMPORTANT LESSONS HERE
A post earlier today dealt with the case of Stanley v London Borough of Tower Hamlets [2020] EWHC 1622 (QB) where a regular judgment was set aside because proceedings had been served, essentially, on empty offices. What will be of…
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…
THE “BACK TO BASICS” SERIES 80: THE POSTS SO FAR
The “back to basics” series has been going since April 2018. It has covered a surprising amount of topics. From how to draft an application to “litigation wishful thinking”. Two years on this is a good time to recap on…
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…
WHEN A DEFENDANT FILED A COSTS BUDGET LATE: RELIEF FROM SANCTIONS REFUSED: “THE DEFAULTING PARTY HAS ONLY ITSELF OR ITS LEGAL REPRESENTATIVE TO BLAME”
The judgment of HHJ Simon Barker QC in Heathfield International LLC v Axiom Stone (London) Ltd [2020] EWHC 1075 (Ch) is another example of a party coming to grief because of the failure to file a costs budget timeously. That…
COVID REPEATS 20: CIVIL LITIGATION BRIEF 26 YEARS AGO: PROCEDURAL DEVELOPMENT IN 1994
Six years ago I reviewed the annual output of Civil Litigation Brief in 1994 so, in essence, this is a repeat of a repeat. There were no “blogs” back. Twenty six ago CLB was a monthly column in the Solicitors…
CORONAVIRUS CATCH UP 1: DENTON AND RELIEF FROM SANCTIONS
I have, recently, been writing primarily about the impact of coronavirus on lawyers and civil procedure. Some cases in “mainstream” civil litigation have been overlooked. To prevent a “backlog” of cases here is a link to, and brief summary of,…
DEFENCE STRUCK OUT FOLLOWING FAILURE TO GIVE FULL DISCLOSURE: SEVERE SANCTION WAS NOT DISPROPORTIONATE
In MKG Convenience Ltd, Re [2020] EWHC 547 (Ch) HHJ David Cooke refused the defendants’ application for relief from sanctions following a failure to comply with a peremptory order in relation to disclosure. The sanction was severe, however the circumstances…
OUT OF TIME APPEAL ALLOWED BECAUSE OF ITS UNDERLYING MERITS: DENTON CONSIDERED
For the second time in two days I am writing about a relief from sanctions case where the court took into account the merits of the underlying case. Yesterday relief was refused because the court held that the case had…
APPLICATION FOR RELIEF REFUSED BECAUSE THE UNDERLYING CLAIM WAS MISCONCEIVED: A RARE EXAMPLE OF THE MERITS OF THE ACTION BEING CONSIDERED
In Price, R v (on the application of) v The Crown Court at Snaresbrook [2020] EWHC 496 (Admin) Mr Justice Freedman refused the claimant’s application for relief from sanctions because the underlying claim was “hopeless”. This is a rare example…
SETTING ASIDE DEFAULT JUDGMENT: THE NEED FOR PROMPTNESS AND THE RELEVANCE OF THE DENTON CRITERIA
In Core-Export Spa -v- Yang Ming Marine Transportation Corp [2020] EWHC 425 (Comm) HHJ Pelling QC (sitting as a High Court Judge) refused an application to set aside a default judgment. The defendant had an arguable defence, however its history…