In applications for an extension of time the court has a very wide discretion; appeal allowed though no explanation for delay given.
Times 16-Dec-1997, Gazette 10-Dec-1997, [1997] EWCA Civ 2774, [1998] 1 All ER 595, [1997] 1 WLR 411
Rules of the Supreme Court Order 3 r 5
England and Wales
Updated: 11 November 2022; Ref: scu.143173
Application of the first defendant for a payment made by him to the claimant’s solicitors to be appropriated in a specific way.
[2021] EWHC 644 (Ch)
England and Wales
Updated: 11 November 2022; Ref: scu.659919
A claim to a right of a witness against self incrimination must be made by that person in person on oath though substantiation elsewhere.
Times 28-Nov-1997, [1997] EWCA Civ 2648
England and Wales
Cited – C Plc and W v P and Secretary of State for the Home Office and the Attorney General ChD 26-May-2006
The claimant sought damages from the first defendant for breach of copyright. An ex parte search order had been executed, with the defendant asserting his privilege against self-incrimination. As computer disks were examined, potentially unlawful . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Updated: 11 November 2022; Ref: scu.80111
The claimant sought to enforce a judgment debt against a foreign resident company, and for this purpose to examine or have examined a director who lived abroad. The defendant said that the rules gave no such power and they did, the power was outside the rule-maker’s power.
Held: Even though the rule-making power is wide enough to enable rules to be made relating to the examination of an officer who is outside the jurisdiction, the presumption against extra-territoriality still applies when considering the scope of CPR 71. In the event, CPR 71 does not contemplate an application and order in relation to an officer outside the jurisdiction. CPR 71 does not enable an order for examination to be made against an officer who is outside the jurisdiction, and CPR 6 provides no basis for service out of the jurisdiction of any such order, had it been possible to make one.
Lord Scott of Foscote, Lord Rodger of Earlsferry, Lord Walker of Gestingthorpe, Lord Brown of Eaton-under-Heywood, Lord Mance
[2009] UKHL 43, Times 13-Aug-2009, [2009] 2 BCLC 382, [2009] Bus LR 1269, [2009] 4 All ER 847[2009] 4 All ER 847, [2009] 3 WLR 385, [2009] CP Rep 47, [2009] 2 CLC 366, [2010] BCC 25, [2009] 2 Lloyd’s Rep 473, [2010] 1 AC 90, [2009] BPIR 1029, [2010] 1 All ER (Comm) 220, [2009] 4 All ER 847
Civil Procedure Rules 71, Civil Procedure Act 1997 81
England and Wales
See Also – Masri v Consolidated Contractors International (UK) Ltd CA 24-Oct-2005
The defendants who were resident in Greece appealed a decision that the English court had jurisdiction over them, by virtue of a close connection of the matter with earlier proceedings heard here.
Held: The fact that the defendants were all . .
See Also – Masri v Consolidated Contractors International (UK) Ltd ComC 17-May-2005
. .
See Also – Masri v Consolidated Contractors International UK Ltd and Another ComC 28-Jul-2006
. .
See Also – Masri v Consolidated Contractors International UK Ltd and Another ComC 14-Mar-2007
Judgment on quantum. . .
See Also – Masri v Consolidated Contractors International (UK) Ltd and others ComC 25-May-2007
Application for an order to prevent some defendants pursuing action in other jurisdictions. . .
See Also – Masri v Consolidated Contractors International Company Sal and Another CA 11-Jul-2007
. .
See Also – Masri v Consolidated Contractors International Company Sal and Another CA 4-Apr-2008
The court was asked whether the Commercial Court had international jurisdiction to make an order for the appointment of a receiver by way of equitable execution, and a freezing order, in relation to the judgment debtors’ interest in the concession . .
See Also – Masri v Consolidated Contractors International Company Sal and Another ComC 23-May-2008
Application for interpretation of a receivership order. . .
See Also – Masri v Consolidated Contractors International Company Sal and Another (No 3) CA 6-Jun-2008
The court was asked whether the English court has jurisdiction following judgment to grant an anti-suit injunction against foreign judgment debtors (one of whom has a domicile in a Brussels I Regulation State) restraining them from pursuing . .
See Also – Masri v Consolidated Contractors International Company Sal and others CA 28-Jul-2008
The judgment creditor appealed an order refusing to oblige the defendant company to attend court and provide information about its means. . .
Cited – Societe Eram Shipping Company Limited and others v Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corp Ltd, Compagnie Internationale de Navigation HL 12-Jun-2003
The appeal concerned a final third party debt order (formerly a garnishee order). A judgment in France was registered here for enforcement. That jurisdiction was now challenged.
Held: A third party debt order is a proprietary remedy operating . .
See Also – Masri v Consolidated Contractors International Company Sal and Another ComC 21-Oct-2008
The court heard matters relating to the recovery by the claimant of $63,000,000. . .
Mentioned – Dickson v Neath and Brecon Railway Co 1869
. .
Cited – The ‘Zollverein’ (C H Fanichen, Master) 19-Apr-1856
Collision on high seas between a British and foreign vessel. The former not bound by statute.-A foreigner cannot set up against a British vessel with which she has been in collision the British vessd’s violation of British statute law on the high . .
Cited – Ex parte Blain; In re Sawers CA 1-Aug-1879
Where legislation regulates the conduct of an individual, it may be so construed as to limit it to conduct by United Kingdom citizens anywhere.
James LJ referred to ‘broad, general, universal principle that English legislation, unless the . .
Mentioned – Clark (Inspector of Taxes) v Oceanic Contractors Inc HL 16-Dec-1982
HL Income tax, Schedule E – Non-resident employer – Employees working in U.K. sector of North Sea – Whether employer liable to deduct tax from emoluments – Income Tax (Employments) Regulations 1973 – Income and . .
Cited – Secretary of State for Defence v Al-Skeini and others (The Redress Trust Intervening) HL 13-Jun-2007
Complaints were made as to the deaths of six Iraqi civilians which were the result of actions by a member or members of the British armed forces in Basra. One of them, Mr Baha Mousa, had died as a result of severe maltreatment in a prison occupied . .
See Also – Masri v Consolidated Contractors International Co Sal and others CA 13-Nov-2008
The creditors sought leave to appeal against orders made in the course of proceedings to recover a very substantial debt from a foreign resident company. . .
Cited – British South Africa Company v Companhia de Mocambique HL 8-Sep-1893
Two companies, one Portuguese, the other British and controlled by Cecil Rhodes, were in dispute about a large territory called Manica. The Portuguese company complained that they owned lands and mineral rights in Manica yet the British company had . .
Cited – In re Grosvenor Hotel, London (No 2) CA 1964
Lord Denning MR said that the Rules Committee ‘can make rules for regulating and prescribing the procedure and practice of the Court, but cannot alter the rules of evidence.’ Public policy protects against disclosure any documents which relate to . .
Cited – Holmes v Bangladesh Biman Corporation HL 1989
Mr Holmes was killed when the defendant’s aircraft in which he was a passenger crashed on a domestic flight in Bangladesh. As a domestic flight, it was not international carriage. The proper law of the contract was undoubtedly Bangladeshi law. Under . .
Appeal from – Masri v Consolidated Contractors (Oil and Gas) Company Sal CA 6-Feb-2009
Appeal from order with regard to management of receivership. . .
Cited – General Mediterranean Holdings SA v Patel and Another QBD 19-Jul-1999
The new Civil Procedure Rules were ultra vires and invalid insofar as they purported to remove any right of a solicitor’s client to assert his right of confidence as against his solicitor. The solicitor was therefore unable in this case to defend . .
Cited – Aiden Shipping Co Ltd v Interbulk Ltd (The ‘Vimeira’) HL 1986
Wide Application of Costs Against Third Party
A claim had been made against charterers by the ship owners, and in turn by the charterers against their sub-charterers. Notice of motion were issued after arbitration awards were not accepted. When heard, costs awards were made, which were now . .
Cited – In Re Seagull Manufacturing Co Ltd (In Liquidation); Tucker CA 22-Feb-1993
The court has jurisdiction to order the public examination of a company director in in a compulsory liquidation about the affairs of the company, even though he might not be within the jurisdiction. The court found no reasons of comity which would . .
Cited – Comninos v Prudential Assurance Company Ltd (The Ikarian Reefer no 2) CA 12-Oct-1999
Mr Comninos challenged the jurisdiction of the court to have made an order for costs made against him. . .
Cited – Theophile v Solicitor-General HL 1950
The House was asked as to the legitimacy of making bankrupt, on the basis of debts unpaid in respect of his English trading, a foreigner who had left the jurisdiction.
Held: A business continues until sums due are collected and all debts paid. . .
Cited – Interpool Ltd v Galani CA 1988
The debtor appealed against an order to answer questions and disclose documents relating to any debts owed to him or other property or means belonging to him outside the jurisdiction. The court looked at the examination of a judgment debtor under . .
Cited – Union Bank of Finland Ltd v Lelakis 1997
Proceedings had been served within the jurisdiction under submission to jurisdiction clauses contained in the guarantees upon which suit was brought against the defendant. However service abroad was objected to.
Held: Order 11, rule 9(4) was . .
Cited – In re Aktiebolaget Robertsfors and La Societe Anonymes des Papeteries de l’AA CA 1910
The court was asked to construe O.XI r.8A made in 1909 to extend the power to serve out of the jurisdiction to summonses, orders or notices.
Held: The power was only exercisable in situations where service out of a writ was permissible under . .
Cited – In re Liddell’s Settlement Trusts CA 1936
The Court upheld an injunction issued against Mrs Liddell who was not a party to the proceedings and who had taken her children to the United States. When granting an injunction, the court should operate on the basis that it will be obeyed, and not . .
Cited – Vitol Sa v Capri Marine Ltd ComC 29-Feb-2008
The court examined the scope of CPR 6.30(2) in the context of an application for service on an officer resident in Greece of an order for his examination under CPR 71.
Held: CPR 6.30(2) was concerned with documents requiring to be served on . .
Mentioned – Demirel v TMSF CA 26-Jul-2007
. .
Mentioned – Fonu v Demirel and Another ChD 21-Dec-2006
. .
See Also – Masri v Consolidated Contractors International Company Sal and Another ComC 20-Dec-2007
. .
See Also – Masri v Consolidated Contractors International (UK) Ltd and Another ComC 17-Jun-2008
Application for further order of payment of costs of action on account. . .
See Also – Masri v Consolidated Contractors International Company Sal and Others ComC 6-Oct-2010
The third respondent sought to strike out an application for his committal for failure to comply with orders made in support of proceedings to enforce a substantial judgment. . .
See Also – Masri v Consolidated Contractors International Company Sal ComC 21-Oct-2010
The court held a case management conference with regard to an intended application for committal for contempt of one of the defendants. . .
See Also – Consolidated Contractors International Company Sal and Another v Masri CA 21-Jan-2011
. .
See Also – Consolidated Contractors International Company Sal and Another v Masri CA 3-Feb-2011
. .
See Also – Masri and Another v Consolidated Contractors International Co Sal and Others ComC 3-Mar-2011
On notice hearing with regard to without notice receivership order. . .
See Also – Masri v Consolidated Contractors International Company Sal and Others ComC 5-May-2011
The applicant, and judgment creditor sought orders for committal for contempt by the defendant companies and officers after failing to comply with court orders. . .
Cited – Bilta (UK) Ltd and Others v Nazir and Others ChD 30-Jul-2012
The company was said to have engaged in a fraud based on false European Trading Scheme Allowances, and had been wound up by the Revenue. The liquidators, in the company name, now sought recovery from former directors and associates.
Held: The . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Updated: 11 November 2022; Ref: scu.368928
The claimant had lost his claim against the bank, but resisted the amount of costs claimed.
Held: The trial had been of a simple factual dispute, and the bank had failed adequately to disclose electronically held material in its possession. The bank had also, and despite having inhouse counsel, employed disproportionately expensive lawyers. The bank should receive only 25 per cent of its costs claim. The court suggested that the bank’s difficulty might have been avoided by active costs management.
As to documents held electronically, while there was no general obligation to retain such material, such an obligation did arise once proceedings were commenced.
Judge Simon Brown, QC
Times 20-Oct-2009, [2009] EWHC 2500 (Mercantile), [2009] WLR (D) 309
England and Wales
Cited – Onassis and Calogeropoulos v Vergottis HL 1968
Lord Pearce (dissenting) discussed the assessment of a witness’ oral evidence: ‘Credibility involves wider problems than mere demeanour which is mostly concerned with whether the witness appears to be telling the truth as he now believes it to be. . .
Cited – Grace Shipping v CF Sharp and Co (Malaya) Pte Ltd PC 10-Dec-1986
(Singapore) When a court has to weigh the various and varying recollections of witnesses about what was said at meetings which occurred in the distant past, the surest guides are the contemporaneous documents and the overall probabilities.
Lord . .
Cited – Woods v Martins Bank Ltd 1958
If a bank chooses to give advice to a customer, then the Bank’s obligation is to advise with ordinary skill and care. The liability is primarily on contract: ‘In my judgment, the limits of a banker’s business cannot be laid down as a matter of law. . .
Cited – British Railways Board v Herrington HL 16-Feb-1972
Land-owner’s Possible Duty to Trespassers
The plaintiff, a child had gone through a fence onto the railway line, and been badly injured. The Board knew of the broken fence, but argued that they owed no duty to a trespasser.
Held: Whilst a land-owner owes no general duty of care to a . .
Cited – Indian Oil Corporation v Greenstone Shipping SA QBD 23-Apr-1987
Staughton J discussed the modern meaning of the rule of evidence known in Latin as ‘omnia praesumuntur contra spoliatorem’ (everything is presumed against a destroyer (of evidence) – ‘spoliation’ as it is termed in US and which the rule of . .
Cited – Infabrics Ltd v Jaytex Ltd 1985
Where a party fails to preserve documents after the commencement of proceedings, the defaulting party risks ‘adverse inferences’ being drawn for such ‘spoliation’. Because the defendant had not preserved documents affecting the quantum of damage, . .
Cited – Crantrave Ltd (In Liquidation) v Lloyd’s Bank Plc CA 18-May-2000
The bank received a garnishee order nisi, but acted before it was made absolute to pay the judgment creditor.
Held: The bank had no defence against the customer claiming restitution relying on the equitable doctrine that one person paying the . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Updated: 11 November 2022; Ref: scu.376200
The court ordered relief by way of disclosure against a third party: ‘In Norwich Pharmacal the information required was the identity of the wrongdoer (the applicant knew what wrong had been done but not who had done it) but I see no reason why the principle is limited to disclosure of the identity of an unknown wrongdoer and does not extend to information showing that he has committed the wrong. . The information held by [the respondent] may not conclusively reveal an alternate defendant to [one of the alleged wrongdoers] nor conclusively disclose who received any part of the prepayment moneys, but I am satisfied that there is a sufficient prospect that the information they hold will assist [the applicant] in its search for wrongdoers and the funds paid away . . to justify making the orders sought . . The potential advantages to [the applicant] of seeing this part of the jigsaw and the potential disadvantages of it being denied a sight of that part outweigh, in my view, any detriment to [the respondent].’
The claimant sought disclosure of documents held by the defendant solicitors for a company no struck from the company register.
His Honour Judge McGonigal
[2002] 1 Lloyds Rep 417, [2001] EWHC 1 (Mercantile)
England and Wales
Cited – Norwich Pharmacal Co and others v Customs and Excise Commissioners HL 26-Jun-1973
Innocent third Party May still have duty to assist
The plaintiffs sought discovery from the defendants of documents received by them innocently in the exercise of their statutory functions. They sought to identify people who had been importing drugs unlawfully manufactured in breach of their . .
Cited – Upmann v Elkan CA 5-Jun-1871
The defendant freight forwarding agent was innocently in possession of consignments of counterfeit cigars in transit to Germany through a London dock. The action was not for discovery, but for an order restraining the forwarder from releasing the . .
Cited – Mitsui and Co Ltd v Nexen Petroleum UK Ltd ChD 29-Apr-2005
Mitsui sought disclosure of documents from a third party under the rules in Norwich Pharmacal.
Held: Such relief was available ‘where the claimant requires the disclosure of crucial information in order to be able to bring its claim or where . .
Cited – Mohamed, Regina (on the Application of) v Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs (No 1) Admn 21-Aug-2008
The claimant had been detained by the US in Guantanamo Bay suspected of terrorist involvement. He sought to support his defence documents from the respondent which showed that the evidence to be relied on in the US courts had been obtained by . .
Cited – Various Claimants v News Group Newspapers Ltd and Others ChD 12-Jul-2013
The claimants sought disclosure by the police of information relating to the phone hacking activities said to have been conducted by journalists engaged by the first defendant newspaper. They were wanting to make claims against the respondent, but . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Updated: 11 November 2022; Ref: scu.277366
Directions in group litigation – claims by former postmasters against the PO for dismissals and prosecutions arising from faulty Horizon accounting software.
Fraser J
[2017] EWHC 2844 (QB), [2017] 4 WLR 221
England and Wales
See Also – Bates and Others v Post Office Ltd QBD 17-Oct-2018
Application by the defendant to strike out considerable passages of the evidence contained in the six witness statements lodged by the claimants. . .
See Also – Bates and Others v Post Office Ltd (No 3) QBD 15-Mar-2019
Group litigation claiming damages for post office sub-postmasters for financial losses from malfunctioning accounting software. . .
See Also – Hamilton and Others v Post Office Ltd CACD 23-Apr-2021
Post Office Prosecutions were an abuse
This judgment concerns forty-two men and women who were employed by Post Office Limited as sub-postmasters, sub-postmistresses, managers or counter assistants. They were all prosecuted by their employer and convicted of crimes of dishonesty. Many . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Updated: 10 November 2022; Ref: scu.601098
Rix, Tomlinson LJJ, Morgan J
[2012] EWCA Civ 1741
England and Wales
Updated: 10 November 2022; Ref: scu.467626
(Ontario) The Board considered whether an interest in a mining claim was exigible under a writ of fieri facias against his lands or goods.
[1913] UKPC 46, [1913] AC 828
Canada
Updated: 10 November 2022; Ref: scu.467492
The claimants sought summary judgment in their action against the defendants for misuse of confidential information from their customer database.
Held: Summary judgment was granted agains the personal defendants. The two companies and Satellite Services had each committed the wrongful acts alleged against them. The two companies and Satellite Services were liable for (i) breach of confidence (ii) infringement of Sky’s database rights (iii) infringement of one of the Sky trade marks, and (iv) passing off. It was conceded in the light of the evidence that the two companies and Satellite Services were each liable for breach of confidence. The companies were already involved in windimng up proceedings.
Arnold J
[2011] EWHC 2662 (Ch)
England and Wales
See Also – British Sky Broadcasting Group Plc and Others v Digital Satellite Warranty Cover Ltd and Others ChD 7-Oct-2011
The parties now disputed whether they had reached a binding agreement settling the principal dispute, which was as to the alleged misuse of confidential information from its customer database. The defendants sought a stay. The claimants said that . .
See Also – British Sky Broadcasting Group Plc v Digital Satellite Warranty Cover Ltd and Others ChD 1-Oct-2012
The claimants alleged misuse by the defendant companies of confidential information taken from its customer database.
Held: The claims failed. . .
See Also – British Sky Broadcasting Group Plc and Others v Digital Satellite Warranty Cover Ltd and Others ChD 19-Dec-2012
. .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Updated: 10 November 2022; Ref: scu.447616
The court granted an appeal in care proceedings, but examined the relationship between the court and local authorities. There had been a late change in the proposed care plan and an application by grandparents to be made party. Some in the authority, and the guardian, wanted a stranger adoption, but the authority and the family proposed care with family members. The judge had not made an order he did not feel was in the child’s best interests, but called on the authority to reconsider its proposal.
Held: The authority’s appeal failed. The court could not get around the fact that ‘whatever course of action this court took, the local authority had expressed itself as determined to maintain its changed plans to place all three children within the family. ‘ The matter should be re-heard in the family division by a judge also authorised to sit in the Administrative Court. This would allow the court to make further orders as required. Responsibility for making care orders is on the court, not the local authority which brings the proceedings. A local authority must prepare a care plan and keep that care plan under review and revise it when necessary. Once the court has made a final care order, responsibility passes to the local authority and neither the court nor the children’s guardian has any further role in the children’s lives. However ‘not only does the court have the duty rigorously to scrutinise the care plan and to refuse to make a care order if it does not think the plan in the child’s best interests; the court also has the right to invite the local authority to reconsider the care plan if the court comes to the conclusion that the plan – or any change in the plan – involves a course of action which the court believes is contrary to the interests of the child, and which would be likely to lead the court to refuse to make a care order if the local authority were to adhere to the care plan it has proposed. ‘
Care proceedings are only quasi-adversarial. There is a powerful inquisitorial element. They are proceedings in which the court and the local authority should both strive to achieve an order which is in the best interests of the child. There needs to be mutual respect and understanding for the different role and perspective which each has in the process. The shared objective should be to achieve a result which is in the best interests of the child.
The court was seriously disappointed at the failure of the authority to explain its actions. It had failed to reconsider its position as ordered: ‘the only reason we are interfering with the judge’s perfectly proper order is because of the unprincipled conduct of the local authority. ‘
Whilst care proceedings are pending, any ECHR issue should be dealt with in the care proceedings, not in separate proceedings under the Human Rights Act. This applies also for judicial review. It is misconceived for a guardian or parent to seek judicially to review a care plan in proceedings separate from the pending care proceedings themselves. Any consideration of the care plan and its appropriateness can and should normally be dealt with within the care proceedings.
Thorpe LJ, Wall LJ, Hooper LJ
Times 30-Mar-2007, [2007] EWCA Civ 232
England and Wales
Cited – Re S and D (Child Care Powers of the Court ) CA 1995
The court considered the powers of the court in care proceedings where it did not approve the authority’s proposed care plan. The judge had made supervision orders in relation to both children coupled with an injunction restraining the mother from . .
Cited – C v Solihull Metropolitan Borough Council FD 1993
The court allowed a limited period of ‘planned and purposeful delay’ before making a care order. Ward J: ‘We have heard much, as we have prepared for the implementation of the Children Act 1989, about partnership. One of those partnerships is the . .
Cited – C-H (a Minor) (care or interim order) CA 1998
Thorpe LJ said: ‘The interdisciplinary character of the family justice system emphasises the co-operation that should exist between the court and public authority. It is, from my perception, inconceivable that there should not be reciprocal respect . .
Cited – Re S (Children: Care Plan); In re W and B (Children: Care plan) In re W (Child: Care plan) HL 14-Mar-2002
The Court of Appeal had imposed conditions upon the care plan to be implemented by the local authorities, identifying certain ‘starred’ essential milestones. The local authorities appealed.
Held: This was not a legitimate extension of the . .
Cited – In Re J (Minors) (Care: Care Plan) FD 1994
The judge had found that the threshold criteria in section 31 had been met, but the authority changed the care plan immediately before the final hearing. The guardian now appealed a final order, having proposed an interim order.
Held: Once the . .
Cited – In re V (a Child) (Care proceedings: Human Rights Claims) CA 4-Feb-2004
In a hearing where the threshold standard was at issue, a party challenged the compliance with Human Rights law of the 1989 Act. The court adjourned the case for transfer to the High Court.
Held: The correct court to hear such suggestions was . .
Cited – In re V (a Child) (Care: pre-birth actions) CA 12-Oct-2004
Immediately after a child was born, the social worker began proceedings for it to be taken into care. The judge severely criticised the actions of the social worker before the birth. The local authority now appealed against an order at the . .
Cited – Re M (Care: Challenging Decisions by Local Authority) FD 2001
Local authorities involved in care proceedings will infringe the rights of parents and other individual parties to them under both Article 6 and Article 8 of the Convention unless they conduct themselves with integrity, transparency and . .
Cited – NJ v Essex County Council and Another; In re J (Care: Assessment: Fair Trial); Re J (a child) (care proceedings: fair trial) CA 11-May-2006
The family complained that the local authority had, in assessing the need for a care order, failed to follow the guideliens set down in In Re L, leading to an infringement of their human rights.
Held: Neither in the lower court nor here had . .
Cited – Re X; Barnet London Borough Council v Y and Z FD 2006
The judge refused to endorse a local authority’s care plan, and invited the local authority to reconsider it. He criticised the local authority for taking an important decision in pending care proceedings without any warning to the guardian and . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Updated: 10 November 2022; Ref: scu.250038
It was proper for a court to prevent a second action on a matter where an order for payment for the costs of a first action between the parties had not been discharged by the claimant. In such a case the potential for abuse lies in the unfairness of putting the defendant to the expense of fresh proceedings while his costs of the previous proceedings remain unpaid. It may be appropriate to provide, in addition to a stay, for a striking out of the second claim if the costs of the first claim are not paid by a certain date.
Lord Justice Tuckey Lord Justice Moore-Bick
[2006] EWCA Civ 9, Times 23-Jan-2006, [2006] 4 Costs LR 632, [2006] 1 WLR 985
England and Wales
Cited – Wahab v Khan and Others; In re Abdus Sattar Sheikh deceased ChD 12-Apr-2011
The claimant had asked the court to revoke the probate granted in his brother’s estate. He appealed now against a strike out of his request. He alleged that the will was a forgery. The executor’s and defendants were not relations of the deceased, . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Updated: 10 November 2022; Ref: scu.237728
Application for permission to appeal against assets freezing orders taken to enforce costs awards.
[2001] EWCA Civ 1600
England and Wales
Updated: 10 November 2022; Ref: scu.201425
A failure of personal service on the partners of a solicitors’ firm would not be allowed to invalidate the entire litigation process.
Times 09-Dec-1997, [1997] EWCA Civ 2684
Rules of the Supreme Court Order 81 R 3(3)
England and Wales
Updated: 10 November 2022; Ref: scu.143083
Steps taken by intervention of judges to ensure proper management of appeals and lodging of skeleton arguments.
Times 07-Nov-1997
England and Wales
Cited – Nascimento v Kerrigan CA 23-Jun-1999
The Practice Direction requiring Skeleton Arguments to be prepared on applications for leave to appeal was not ultra vires, and correctly described the test to be applied by the court where an application for leave to appeal was made after leave to . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Updated: 10 November 2022; Ref: scu.84863
New rules on evidence procedures are not retrospective. Notices under the 1968 Act should have been served to be allowed to admit hearsay evidence.
Times 23-Oct-1997, [1998] 1 All ER 343, [1997] EWCA Civ 2290
Civil Evidence Act 1968, Civil Evidence Act 1995
England and Wales
Updated: 10 November 2022; Ref: scu.662134
The defendants sought to have struck out the claimant’s notice of appeal.
Held: The appeal had no prospects of success, and the court exercised its power to strike out the notice.
[1997] EWCA Civ 2629
England and Wales
Applied – Burgess v Stafford Hotel Ltd CA 1990
The court considered an application to strike out a notice of appeal on the basis that it showed no reaonable ground.
Held: The court had such a power. It was ‘exercisable on the same basis as an application to strike out a pleading under RSC . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Updated: 10 November 2022; Ref: scu.143028
Appeal – Article 73(1) of the Rules of Procedure of the General Court – Order of the General Court finding an action manifestly inadmissible for lack of a handwritten signature – Paper version of the application including a printed authenticated electronic signature)
C-309/19, [2020] EUECJ C-309/19P, ECLI:EU:C:2020:401
European
Updated: 10 November 2022; Ref: scu.660167
The degree to which if at all the substantive judgment in these proceedings should be published un-anonymised and unredacted (the claimant’s preferred position) or not published at all or at any rate not published until after publication of the Final award in the pending arbitration between the claimant and the first defendant.
HH Judge Pelling QC
[2021] EWHC 450 (Comm)
England and Wales
Updated: 10 November 2022; Ref: scu.660095
Barling J
[2013] EWHC 4554 (Ch)
England and Wales
Updated: 09 November 2022; Ref: scu.522325
[2013] EWHC 4251 (Ch)
England and Wales
Updated: 09 November 2022; Ref: scu.520879
Application to have judgment set aside.
Burton J
[2012] EWHC B26 (Comm)
Updated: 09 November 2022; Ref: scu.467260
The CPS had obtained evidence through letters of request. Mr and Mrs Gohil had previously divorced and reached a financial settlement. The evidence apparently disclosed further substantial assets which W said had not been disclosed in the settlement negotiations. She now sought to use the new information to use he re-opening of the ancillary relief proceedings.
Held: Information obtained for the purposes of criminal proceedings through letters of request could not be used for additional purposes.
Held: The decision in the BOC case was wrong and that the court was not bound by it. It also concluded that the fact that material obtained under the 2003 Act had been adduced in open court in a criminal trial did not render it admissible in proceedings not identified in the requests.
Lord Dyson MR, Hallett, McFarlane LJJ
[2012] EWCA Civ 1550, [2013] Lloyd’s Rep FC 115, [2013] 2 WLR 1123, [2013] Fam 276, [2013] Fam Law 389, [2013] 1 FCR 371, [2012] WLR(D) 351, [2013] 1 FLR 1095, [2013] 1 FAM 276
Crime (International Co-operation) Act 2003
England and Wales
See Also – Gohil v Gohil FD 25-Sep-2012
The parties had divorced and financial relief settled. W now applied to have the order set aside on the grounds of alleged serious material non-disclosure, fraud and misrepresentation by the husband. W had attended his later trial and obtained much . .
Cited – Tchenguiz v Director of The Serious Fraud Office and Others CA 31-Oct-2014
The appellant challenged an order of the Commercial Court refusing permission for documents disclosed in English litigation to be used in litigation proceedings in Guernsey. The principal issue is whether the judge correctly weighed up the . .
See Also – Gohil v Gohil (No 2) CA 13-Mar-2014
The parties had agreed financial provision on their divorce, but W subsequently discovered what she said was material non-disclosure by H. The court was now asked whether a court of first instance had jurisdiction to set aside a final financial . .
See Also – Gohil v Gohil SC 14-Oct-2015
The Court was asked ‘Do the principles referable to the admissibility of fresh evidence on appeal, as propounded in the decision of the Court of Appeal in Ladd v Marshall [1954] 1 WLR 1489, have any relevance to the determination of a spouse’s . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Updated: 09 November 2022; Ref: scu.466289
Stuart-Smith LJ said that there is no ‘generally accepted standard of scientific proof.’ The court rejected epidemiological evidence presented to it.
Stuart-Smith LJ
[1990] 1 Med LR 117, [1990] 1 MLR 1
England and Wales
See Also – Loveday v Renton (No 2) 1992
A brief fee might include work done during the course of a trial. The appropriateness of the approach and the need for elements to be calculated according to the value at stake and the hourly expense rate are to be calculated realistically. . .
Cited – AB and Others v Ministry of Defence QBD 5-Jun-2009
Former members of the armed forces and others claimed damages for personal injuries, claiming that they had been obliged to expose themselves to the effects of atomic bomb explosions in the 1950s. The defendant argued that the claims were now out of . .
Cited – AB and Others v Ministry of Defence QBD 5-Jun-2009
Former members of the armed forces and others claimed damages for personal injuries, claiming that they had been obliged to expose themselves to the effects of atomic bomb explosions in the 1950s. The defendant argued that the claims were now out of . .
Cited – Sienkiewicz v Greif (UK) Ltd; Knowsley Metropolitan Borough Council v Willmore SC 9-Mar-2011
The Court considered appeals where defendants challenged the factual basis of findings that they had contributed to the causes of the claimant’s Mesothelioma, and in particular to what extent a court can satisfactorily base conclusions of fact on . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Updated: 09 November 2022; Ref: scu.346758
When seeking an order for a third party to disclose documents, the threshold condition cannot be circumvented by an order which puts upon the non-party the task of identifying those documents within a composite class which do, and those which do not, meet the condition.
[1990] 2 Lloyd’s Rep 157
England and Wales
Cited – Flood v Times Newspapers Ltd and others QBD 5-Mar-2009
The claimant police officer complained of an alleged defamation in an article published by the defendant. The defendant wished to obtain information from the IPCC to show that they were investigating the matter as a credible issue. The court . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Updated: 09 November 2022; Ref: scu.322732
An admission on the face of one plea cannot be made use of to prove or disprove another plea.
[1836] EngR 229, (1836) 1 M and W 168, (1836) 150 ER 392
England and Wales
Updated: 09 November 2022; Ref: scu.314561
[2005] EWCA Civ 1560
England and Wales
Updated: 09 November 2022; Ref: scu.236365
Applications for leave to appeal and to be released from undertaking refused.
[2001] EWCA Civ 1693
England and Wales
Updated: 09 November 2022; Ref: scu.201416
It was wrong to prevent a party putting forward an arguable defence for failure to comply with directions in the absence of a peremptory unless order. A failure to comply with an order should not be dealt with by striking out unless the order was expressed as an ‘unless’ order.
Gazette 12-Nov-1997, Times 18-Nov-1997, [1997] EWCA Civ 2614
Rules of the Supreme Court 24 16(1)
England and Wales
Updated: 09 November 2022; Ref: scu.143013
A counterclaim by insurers had to be limited to the original defendants. There is no jurisdiction to join additional third parties who were not within the jurisdiction.
Gazette 12-Nov-1997, Times 14-Nov-1997, Gazette 14-Jan-1998, [1997] EWCA Civ 2567, [1998] 3 All ER 418, [1998] 1 WLR 1049
Brussels Convention 1968 Art 11
England and Wales
Appealed to – Baltic Insurance Group v Jordan Grand Prix Limited and Others and Quay Financial Software Limited and Others (By Counter Claim and One Other Action) HL 20-May-1998
The Brussels Convention requires an insurance company to commence a claim against an insured in the country in which it operates. This applies also to non-convention countries, and a counterclaim may not add a new party from another jurisdiction. . .
Appeal from – Baltic Insurance Group v Jordan Grand Prix Limited and Others and Quay Financial Software Limited and Others (By Counter Claim and One Other Action) HL 20-May-1998
The Brussels Convention requires an insurance company to commence a claim against an insured in the country in which it operates. This applies also to non-convention countries, and a counterclaim may not add a new party from another jurisdiction. . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Updated: 09 November 2022; Ref: scu.142967
Hobhouse, Pill, Mummery LJJ
[1997] EWCA Civ 2571, [1997] FSR 178
England and Wales
See Also – Hodgkinson and Corby Ltd and Another v Wards Mobility Services Ltd ChD 3-Aug-1994
Proof of the deception of some purchasers is an essential pre-requisite of the tort of passing off. . .
Appeal from – Hodgkinson and Corby Ltd and Another v Wards Mobility Services Ltd ChD 6-Nov-1996
The claimants brought a claim in passing-off first obtaining an interim injunction but then failing at trial. The defendants then claimed under the undertaking in damages given. The claimants now sought to say that the injunction could have been . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Updated: 09 November 2022; Ref: scu.142970
A question of dismissal of an action an enquiry into damages for non-prosecution of or delay in prosecution is not dependant upon proof of prejudice; normal standards applied.
Times 03-Nov-1997, [1998] 1 All ER 1, [1997] EWCA Civ 2495, [1998] 1 WLR 1003
England and Wales
Updated: 09 November 2022; Ref: scu.142893
A party choosing to provide discovery of substantial documents on a Compact Disk must ask the court first before charging extra for the service.
Times 13-Oct-1997, [1997] EWCA Civ 2385
England and Wales
See Also – Grupo Torras Sa and Another v Sheikh Fahad Mohammed Al Sabah and Others CA 26-May-1995
A UK court may continue to hear a Spanish company’s claim against it’s own directors if a court was first seized of the matter here. Where a case concerned matters as to the constitution of a company, the courts of the company in which the company . .
See Also – Grupo Torras SA and Torras Hostench London Limited v Sheikh Fahad Mohammed Al Sabah and others (2) CA 21-Mar-1997
The Court of Appeal should interfere with Judge’s case management decisions only with great reluctance. . .
See Also – Grupo Torras SA and Another v Al-Sabah and others Lst CA 6-Feb-1998
. .
See Also – Barbara Alison Al-Sabah and Another v Grupo Torras S A and Others PC 10-Oct-2000
PC (Jersey) The board refused special leave to appeal: ‘Normally all such questions of case management are matters for the courts concerned and are not suitable for any further review before their Lordships’ . .
See Also – Khaled Naser Hamoud Al-Sabah and Juan Jose Folchi Bonafonte v Grupo Torras SA CA 2-Nov-2000
The court discussed the approach to be taken when asked to act upon evidence which it found to be unreliable, though the witness’s credibility had not been destroyed. In a claim for dishonest assistance it is not necessary to show a precise causal . .
See Also – Grupo Torras Sa and Another v Al-Sabah and others CA 30-Jul-2001
The hearing followed others concluding that the claimant had been defrauded of substantial sums by the defendants. The parties sought clarifications. . .
See Also – Al Sabah and Al Sabah v Grupo Torras SA Culmer as trustee of the property of Sheikh Fahad Mohammed Al Sabah, bankrupt PC 11-Jan-2005
PC (Cayman Islands) The claimant complained of an order of the Court of Appeal of the Cayman Islands, requiring him to comply with a letter of request from the Grand Court of the Bahamas.
Held: In earlier . .
See Also – Grupo Torras Sa and Another v Sheikh Fahad Mohammed Al Sabah and Others CA 26-May-1995
A UK court may continue to hear a Spanish company’s claim against it’s own directors if a court was first seized of the matter here. Where a case concerned matters as to the constitution of a company, the courts of the company in which the company . .
See Also – Grupo Torras SA and Torras Hostench London Limited v Sheikh Fahad Mohammed Al Sabah and others (2) CA 21-Mar-1997
The Court of Appeal should interfere with Judge’s case management decisions only with great reluctance. . .
See Also – Grupo Torras SA and Another v Al-Sabah and others Lst CA 6-Feb-1998
. .
See Also – Barbara Alison Al-Sabah and Another v Grupo Torras S A and Others PC 10-Oct-2000
PC (Jersey) The board refused special leave to appeal: ‘Normally all such questions of case management are matters for the courts concerned and are not suitable for any further review before their Lordships’ . .
See Also – Khaled Naser Hamoud Al-Sabah and Juan Jose Folchi Bonafonte v Grupo Torras SA CA 2-Nov-2000
The court discussed the approach to be taken when asked to act upon evidence which it found to be unreliable, though the witness’s credibility had not been destroyed. In a claim for dishonest assistance it is not necessary to show a precise causal . .
See Also – Grupo Torras Sa and Another v Al-Sabah and others CA 30-Jul-2001
The hearing followed others concluding that the claimant had been defrauded of substantial sums by the defendants. The parties sought clarifications. . .
See Also – Al Sabah and Al Sabah v Grupo Torras SA Culmer as trustee of the property of Sheikh Fahad Mohammed Al Sabah, bankrupt PC 11-Jan-2005
PC (Cayman Islands) The claimant complained of an order of the Court of Appeal of the Cayman Islands, requiring him to comply with a letter of request from the Grand Court of the Bahamas.
Held: In earlier . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Updated: 09 November 2022; Ref: scu.142783
The defendants challenged leave to appeal given to the plaintiff against dismissal of his claim following the Prudential Assurance case.
Held: The issue was whether the plaintiff can recover the loss which he has allegedly sustained by reason of the misappropriation of the business and assets of companies in which he was a shareholder. Leave to appeal was set aside, though such applications would normally be discouraged. There may be special circumstances in which a fiduciary duty is owed by a director to a shareholder personally and in which breach of such a duty has caused loss to him directly (e.g. by being induced by a director to part with his shares in the company at an undervalue), as distinct from loss sustained by him by a diminution in the value of his shares (e.g. by reason of the misappropriation by a director of the company’s assets), for which he (as distinct from the company) would not have a cause of action against the director personally.
Millett LJ said: ‘If this action were allowed to proceed and the plaintiff were to recover for the lost value of his shareholding from the first defendant, this would reduce his ability to meet any judgment which might thereafter be obtained by the liquidators, or by any of the old companies which were not in liquidation, to the prejudice of their creditors. The plaintiff would have obtained by a judgment of the court the very same extraction of value from the old companies at the expense of their creditors that the first defendant is alleged to have obtained by fraud and deceit.’
Lord Woolf MR, Millett LJ, Mummery LJ
[1997] EWCA Civ 2474, [1998] 1 All ER 724, [1997] EWCA Civ 4002, [1998] 1 BCLC 573, [1998] BCC 316
England and Wales
Cited – Prudential Assurance Co Ltd v Newman Industries Ltd (No 2) CA 1982
A plaintiff shareholder cannot recover damages merely because the company in which he has an interest has suffered damage. He cannot recover a sum equal to the diminution in the market value of his shares, or equal to the likely diminution in . .
Cited – Heron International v Lord Grade, Associated Communications Corp. Plc. and Others CA 1983
In the course of a contested take-over bid, the directors of the target company who owned a majority of the company’s voting shares were alleged, in breach of their duties both to the company and to its shareholders, to have accepted proposals which . .
Cited – Smith v Cosworth Casting Processes Limited CA 26-Feb-1997
A right of appeal is not dependant upon an assessment of the chances of success on appeal. An appeal against the grant of leave to appeal should not anticipate the full appeal. There is a heavy onus on a respondent who seeks to set aside leave to . .
See Also – Stein v Blake CA 13-May-1993
The plaintiff argued that: ‘Nothing in the wording of section 323 changes the nature of set-off as it operates between solvent parties; it merely widens the categories of claim capable of being, and which must be, set off.’
Held: The decision . .
See Also – Stein v Blake CA 13-May-1993
The plaintiff argued that: ‘Nothing in the wording of section 323 changes the nature of set-off as it operates between solvent parties; it merely widens the categories of claim capable of being, and which must be, set off.’
Held: The decision . .
See Also – Stein v Blake HL 18-May-1995
Where A and B each have claims against each other and A is insolvent, the common amount is set off, and the net difference remains as a debt due.
Hoffmann L said: ‘It is a matter of common occurrence for an individual to become insolvent while . .
See Also – Stein v Blake HL 18-May-1995
Where A and B each have claims against each other and A is insolvent, the common amount is set off, and the net difference remains as a debt due.
Hoffmann L said: ‘It is a matter of common occurrence for an individual to become insolvent while . .
Cited – Bruce Peskin; Kevin Milner v John Anderson and Others CA 14-Dec-2000
The Royal Automobile Club (RAC) had been demutualised. The claimants were former members who sought damages from former directors because they had received no benefit. They had ceased to be members before the re-organisation and claimed they should . .
Cited – Johnson v Gore Wood and Co HL 14-Dec-2000
Shareholder May Sue for Additional Personal Losses
A company brought a claim of negligence against its solicitors, and, after that claim was settled, the company’s owner brought a separate claim in respect of the same subject-matter.
Held: It need not be an abuse of the court for a shareholder . .
See Also – Stein v Blake ChD 31-Oct-2000
When a Legal Aid certificate was withdrawn, leading to an opposing party suffering abortive costs in continuing the action, it was not a duty of the Legal Services Commission to inform the opposing side. They would have no access to arrangements . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Updated: 09 November 2022; Ref: scu.142872
[1997] EWCA Civ 2284
England and Wales
See Also – Sundt Wrigley Co Ltd v Wrigley CA 23-Jun-1993
In an asset freezing order, where the defendant seeks leave to discharge liabilities, the nature of the plaintiff’s interest makes a difference. The court distinguished between cases where the plaintiff has a proprietary claim in the frozen assets . .
See Also – Sundt Wrigley and Co Limited v Wrigley and others CA 19-Feb-1998
. .
See Also – Sundt Wrigley and Co Limited v Wrigley and others CA 19-Feb-1998
. .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Updated: 09 November 2022; Ref: scu.142681
[1997] EWCA Civ 2307
England and Wales
Cited – Hoskins v Wiggins Teape (UK) Limited CA 1994
The plaintiff had delayed the action. It had been transferred from the High Court in July 1991, and was then automatically struck out. The plaintiff sought re-instatement.
Held: The court attempted to put into proper context the problems that . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Updated: 09 November 2022; Ref: scu.142705
[1997] EWCA Civ 2308
England and Wales
Cited – Attorney General v Hayward CA 10-Nov-1995
The standard of proof in vexatious litigant proceedings is civil not criminal. Even so, because the fundamental rights of the subject are affected by the making of a civil proceedings order, there should be evidence placed before the court that the . .
Cited – Re Golden Chemicals Limited 1976
In issue was a provision in the 1967 Act which stated that, if it appeared to the Secretary of State that it was expedient in the public interest that a corporate body should be wound up, he could present a petition for its winding-up. That power . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Updated: 09 November 2022; Ref: scu.142706
The plaintiffs appealed an order that they should disclose who if any had funded their case. The case concerned failed business ventures in Portugal.
[1997] EWCA Civ 2179
England and Wales
Appeal from – Abraham and Another v Thompson and Others ChD 12-May-1997
The court may issue a stay of proceedings pending disclosure of the source of funding of an action, without there needing to be any suggestion of champerty or other illegality. The first plaintiff was ordered to disclose to the 5th and 6th . .
Cited – Fitzgerald and Others v Williams and Others O’Regan and Others v Same CA 3-Jan-1996
Security for costs should not to be granted against an EC National in the absence of some particular difficulty. The Treaty required citizens of other states which were signatories of the convention. The importance of accurate evidence is . .
Cited – A J Bekhor and Co Ltd v Bilton CA 6-Feb-1981
The plaintiff had applied for disclosure of assets under the Rules of the Supreme Court in support of a Mareva freezing order. The rules were held not to provide any such power: disclosure of assets could not be obtained as part of discovery as the . .
Explained – Singh v Observer Limited 1989
Once the occasion for the exercise of a power to award costs against a third party has arisen, the court, in order to enable it to be fully and appropriately exercised, will investigate so as to establish the identity of a third party maintainer of . .
Cited – C T Bowring and Co (Insurance) Ltd v Corsi and Partners Ltd CA 28-Jun-1994
The plaintiff had obtained a Mareva injunction, later discharged by agreement. The defendant sought an inquiry as to damages on the cross-undertaking given when the injunction was granted, alleging that it had suffered substantial loss. The hearing . .
Cited – Martell v Consett Iron Co Ltd ChD 1955
In a case of maintenance (as opposed to champerty), a stay should not be ordered. The laws relating to maintenance and champerty must develop to accommodate to changing times. . .
Cited – Hill v Archbold CA 1968
Denning LJ said: ‘Much maintenance is considered justifiable today which would in 1914 have been considered obnoxious. Most of the actions in our courts are supported by some association or other, or by the State itself. Comparatively a few . .
Cited – Trendtex Trading Corporation v Credit Suisse CA 1980
A stay was sought against a bank which had financed a contract and was supporting litigation arising out of it.
Held: Although the liability in crime and tort had been abolished, Section 14(2) of the 1967 Act preserved the law as to the cases . .
Cited – Grovewood Holding Plc v James Capel and Co Ltd ChD 15-Aug-1994
A champertous arrangement is unlawful. The action was time barred. It was not an assignment of the cause of action. Such a claim by a liquidator will not be permitted to proceed. The court granted a stay in an action being funded pursuant to a . .
Cited – Condliffe v Hislop and Another CA 3-Nov-1995
The plaintiff, a bankrupt, pursued libel proceedings. He was being financed by his mother who had limited resources. She undertook to pay any order for costs, but the Master ordered a stay under the inherent jurisdiction of the court to prevent . .
Cited – McFarlane v E E Caledonia Ltd QBD 8-Dec-1994
The court can order a champertous non-party to pay a successful defendant’s costs of defending the claim.
A non-party unlawfully supporting an action was ordered to pay the costs of the defendant.
Held: It may not be necessary to every . .
Cited – Tharros Shipping Co Ltd and Den Norske Bank Plc v Bias Shipping Ltd [No 3] 1995
The existence of a business relationship will not always lead the Court to expect a backer to accept liability for costs, e.g. if the financial backer is a bank lending money to a plaintiff, or as here an insurer but it will be a highly relevant . .
Appealed to – Abraham and Another v Thompson and Others ChD 12-May-1997
The court may issue a stay of proceedings pending disclosure of the source of funding of an action, without there needing to be any suggestion of champerty or other illegality. The first plaintiff was ordered to disclose to the 5th and 6th . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Updated: 09 November 2022; Ref: scu.142576
The claimant appealed an order staying his personal injury claim until he underwent an examination for the defendant using MRI.
[1997] EWCA Civ 2144
England and Wales
Updated: 09 November 2022; Ref: scu.142541
[1997] EWCA Civ 2142
England and Wales
Updated: 09 November 2022; Ref: scu.142539
In supervisory proceedings against lawyers, claims of abuse of process are to be pursued at the substantive hearing and not by way of pre-emptive applications. Delay in bringing an application to enforce a solicitor’s undertaking can be relevant to the exercise of the discretion to enforce it summarily.
Lord Woolf MR, Hutchison LJ, Mummery LJ
Times 06-Aug-1997, [1997] EWCA Civ 2220, [1998] 1 WLR 400
England and Wales
Cited – Myers v Elman HL 1939
The solicitor had successfully appealed against an order for a contribution to the other party’s legal costs, after his clerk had filed statements in court which he knew to be misleading. The solicitor’s appeal had been successful.
Held: The . .
Cited – Angel Solicitors v Jenkins O’Dowd and Barth ChD 19-Jan-2009
Actions were brought to enforce undertakings given by solicitors to redeem mortgages on the sale of properties, and as to redemption figures provided by lenders who then refused to release the properties. The solicitors had replied to standard form . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Updated: 09 November 2022; Ref: scu.89734
Where leading counsel is unavailable for trial through own mismanagement, party is free to ask for adjournment – not to be prejudiced.
Times 24-Oct-1997
England and Wales
Updated: 09 November 2022; Ref: scu.88890
[1997] EWCA Civ 2113
England and Wales
Updated: 09 November 2022; Ref: scu.142510
Some forms used by police in reports to the Crown Prosecution Service attract public interest immunity from disclosure in an action against police. Public Interest Immunity is not subject to distinction between task of investigating a complaint and of reporting an investigation.
Gazette 03-Sep-1997, Times 20-Aug-1997, [1997] EWCA Civ 2160
England and Wales
Updated: 09 November 2022; Ref: scu.82714
The court has no inherent power to order security for costs, outside the established reasons, against a limited company, if no abuse of process was identified.
Gazette 01-Oct-1997
England and Wales
Updated: 09 November 2022; Ref: scu.77616
A claim for under pounds 3,000 in County Court is automatically referred to arbitration without the need for any order to that effect.
Saville, Brooke, Waller LJJ
Times 28-Jul-1997
England and Wales
See Also – Greig Middleton and Company v Denderowicz and Olaleye-Oruene v London Guildhall University (No 1) CA 4-Jul-1997
Direction was given as to the circumstances allowing an appeal out of time after a change in the law affecting a decision after the judgment had been given. Corrections to Bannister v SGB plc made in respect of time calculations in County Court . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Updated: 09 November 2022; Ref: scu.81031
Person accused of misrepresentation is entitled to primary and specific finding by the judge on that allegation.
Times 10-Oct-1997
England and Wales
Updated: 09 November 2022; Ref: scu.83817
This appeal concerns the scope of the jurisdiction of the county court when hearing a statutory appeal from a decision under s. 204 of the Housing Act 1996, and the lawfulness in this case of a contracted-out review decision under s. 202 of that Act.
Lord Justice Peter Jackson
[2020] EWCA Civ 489
England and Wales
Updated: 09 November 2022; Ref: scu.649504
Etherton LJ, Lady Smith
[2012] EWCA Civ 1737
England and Wales
Updated: 06 November 2022; Ref: scu.467631
Reasons for decision allowing re-amendment of claim and requiring production of documents by a non-party.
Richards LJ, Ouseley J
[2012] EWHC 3281 (Admin)
England and Wales
See Also – Regina v Secretary of State for Home Department ex parte Bancoult Admn 3-Mar-1999
Application for leave to appeal granted. . .
See Also – Regina v Secretary of State for the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and Another, ex parte Bancoult Admn 3-Nov-2000
The applicant sought judicial review of an ordinance made by the commissioner for the British Indian Ocean Territory. An issue was raised whether the High Court in London had jurisdiction to entertain the proceedings and grant relief.
Held: . .
See Also – Bancoult, Regina (on the Application of) v Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs (No 2) Admn 11-May-2006
The claimant on behalf of himself and other islanders sought a declaration that the 2004 Order was unlawful. The islands had been emptied of people in 1973 and before in order to allow use of the islands as military bases. He had enjoyed a right to . .
See Also – Secretary of State for the Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs v Bancoult, Regina (on the Application of) CA 23-May-2007
The claimant was a Chagos Islander removed in 1970 to make way for a US airbase. The court had ordered that the islanders be allowed to return, but the appellant had passed an Order in Council effectively reversing the position, and now appealed a . .
See Also – Bancoult, Regina (on the Application of) v Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs (No 2) HL 22-Oct-2008
The claimants challenged the 2004 Order which prevented their return to their homes on the Chagos Islands. The islanders had been taken off the island to leave it for use as a US airbase. In 2004, the island was no longer needed, and payment had . .
Directions – Bancoult, Regina (on The Application of) v Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs Admn 25-Jul-2012
The claimant sought in advance permission to cross examine two civil servants at a forthcoming judicial review. Documents had been leaked and widely published suggesting that the decision now to be challenged had been taken for improper purposes. . .
Directions – Bancoult, Regina (on The Application of) v Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs Admn 11-Jun-2013
The claimant, displaced from the Chagos Archipelago, challenged a decision by the respondent to create a no-take Marine Protected Area arround the island which would make life there impossible if he and others returned. The respondent renewed his . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Updated: 06 November 2022; Ref: scu.465966
The claimant child invited the court to protect his identity in these proceedings by the making of an order under section 39 of the 1933 Act.
Held: The court described the limitations inherent in such order in modern conditions where the Internet was a substantial force: ‘Whereas in 1933, and until recently, the only form in which a report of proceedings was likely to reach the public was by newspaper or broadcasting, today reports of proceedings can be made by any individual posting a report on the internet. And whereas reports in newspapers and broadcasts were ephemeral and difficult to find even a day or two after they had first been published, reports on the internet are easy to find with a search engine, and very difficult to remove.
Accordingly, it is submitted, the limitation of s.39 of the 1933 Act to newspaper reports may not only be insufficient, it is also anomalous, in failing to provide for forms of reports to the public that have become technically possible, and now common, in addition to newspapers and broadcasts.’ An order was made which avoided these limitations.
Tugendhat J
[2012] EWHC 3279 (QB)
Children and Young Person’s Act 1933 39
Cited – MX v Dartford and Gravesham NHS Trust and Others CA 17-Feb-2015
Application was made for approval of a compromise of a claim for damages for personal injury for the child. The court now considered whether an order should be made to protect the identity of the six year old claimant.
Held: An order should . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Updated: 06 November 2022; Ref: scu.465902
The claimant had obtained a without notice order restraining the first defendant, its former senior consultant from deleting or otherwise interfering with emails from his time with the company. The defendant said that there had been no emergency warranting the without notice order, and that no proprietary interest existed in such material.
Edwards-Stuart J
[2012] 2 CLC 795, [2012] EWHC 2952 (TCC)
England and Wales
See Also – Fairstar Heavy Transport Nv v Adkins TCC 23-Nov-2012
. .
At TCC – Fairstar Heavy Transport Nv v Adkins and Another CA 19-Jul-2013
The court was asked whether the appellant company was entitled to an order requiring its former Chief Executive Officer, after the termination of his appointment, to give it access to the content of emails relating to its business affairs, and . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Updated: 06 November 2022; Ref: scu.465740
Moore-Bick, Munby, Lewison LJJ
[2012] EWCA Civ 1431
England and Wales
Updated: 06 November 2022; Ref: scu.465707
This case raises questions as to firstly, the extent of the dictates of fairness when First-tier Administrative Appeals Chamber Tribunals are dealing with litigants in person and second, whether any unfairness fulfills the criteria in Cart v Upper Tribunal
Haddon-Cave J
[2012] EWHC 2724 (Admin)
Updated: 06 November 2022; Ref: scu.465717
Eady J considered the principles in construing a compromise agreement: ‘The modern approach is to apply ordinary principles of construction to such agreements in seeking to determine the intention of the parties and, in particular, that of the relevant claimant.’
Eady J
[2012] EWHC 3137 (QB)
Cited – Gladman Commercial Properties v Fisher Hargreaves Proctor and Others CA 14-Nov-2013
The claimant appealed against the striking out of his claims for fraudulent or negligent misrepresentation as to the suitability for deveopment of two former fire service properties. The court had said that a settlement with co-tortfeasors operated . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Updated: 06 November 2022; Ref: scu.465687
Applications for further orders regarding disclosure of documentation and for orders enforcing freezing orders.
Gloster DBE J
[2012] EWHC 3116 (Comm)
Updated: 06 November 2022; Ref: scu.465684
The claim for an asbestosis related death had been successful, but the parties now disputed how, in the context of an agreed apportionment after a Part 36 offer, judgment was now to be entered.
Cranston J
[2012] EWHC 3086 (QB)
England and Wales
Updated: 06 November 2022; Ref: scu.465554
A appealed from three judgments of Mr Justice Teare under which the judge has respectively (i) found him guilty of contempt of court; (ii) sentenced him on each of three proven contempts to 22 months in custody concurrently; and (iii) in consequence has made an ‘unless’ order whereby Mr Ablyazov will be debarred from defending the claims made against him, and his defences will be struck out, unless within a stated period he both surrenders to custody and makes proper disclosure of all his assets and his dealings with them.
Maurice Kay VP, Rix, Toulson LJJ
[2012] EWCA Civ 1411, [2012] WLR(D) 308, [2013] 2 All ER 515, [2013] 1 WLR 1331
England and Wales
See Also – JSC BTA Bank v Ablyazov (Recusal) CA 28-Nov-2012
The question was whether a judge had been right not to recuse himself as the nominated judge of trial, in circumstances where he had had to hear, prior to trial, an application to commit one of the parties for contempt of court and had found a . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Updated: 06 November 2022; Ref: scu.465557
The judge considered an application by a defendant that he recuse himself.
Held: He did not do so.
Teare J
[2012] EWHC 3023 (Comm)
England and Wales
Appeal from – JSC BTA Bank v Ablyazov (Recusal) CA 28-Nov-2012
The question was whether a judge had been right not to recuse himself as the nominated judge of trial, in circumstances where he had had to hear, prior to trial, an application to commit one of the parties for contempt of court and had found a . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Updated: 06 November 2022; Ref: scu.465551
Post judgment application for variation
[2012] EWHC 3008 (Ch)
England and Wales
Updated: 06 November 2022; Ref: scu.465407
A rule nisi had been obtained on a former day in this (Hilary) term, for a mandamus requiring the commissioners to issue their warrant to the Sheriff of Lancashire, his under sheriff, or one of the coroners, to summon a jury, and enquire into and assess compensation to one Newall for certain premises, pursuant to the Act
[1831] EngR 401, (1831) 4 B and Ad 333, (1831) 110 ER 480
England and Wales
Updated: 06 November 2022; Ref: scu.320279
[1836] EngR 230, (1836) 1 M and W 37, (1836) 150 ER 336
England and Wales
Updated: 06 November 2022; Ref: scu.314562
Where the father eluded service of process, service on the son, who said his father was in the house and should receive the writ, Held equivalent to personal service of the father.
[1831] EngR 403, (1831) 7 Bing 329, (1831) 131 ER 127
England and Wales
Updated: 06 November 2022; Ref: scu.320281
The respective parties had been preparing competing bids for the National Lottery. One (Branson) alleged that the other had offerered a bribe. The other responded that the allegation was a lie, and each sued the other for defamation.
Held: The Lucas-Box defence could not be struck out. Litigious advantage resulting to one or other party from discovery and inspection is an aspect of securing fairness in disposal of the matter. The court refused leave to appeal against an order requiring disclosure of Mr Snowden’s statement as part of a mutual disclosure.
Lord Justice Butler-Sloss, Lord Justice Auld, Lord Justice Aldous
[1997] EWCA Civ 2021
England and Wales
Cited – Prager v Times Newspapers Ltd CA 1988
The plaintiff claimed in libel, alleging certain meanings. The defendant sought to plead in justification to support certain defamatory meanings, but not those alleged.
Held: Where the words used were capable of being read by the judge to . .
Cited – De L’Isle v Times Newspapers CA 1988
A defendant who pleading justification may plead any reasonable meaning that a jury, properly directed, might find to be the real meaning. . .
Cited – Lucas-Box v News Group Newspapers Ltd; Polly Peck (Holdings) Plc v Trelford, Viscount De L’Isle v Times Newspapers Ltd CA 1986
Justification To be Clearly Set Out
The former practice which dictated that a defendant who wished to rely on a different meaning in support of a plea of justification or fair comment, did not have to set out in his defence the meaning on which he based his plea, was ill-founded and . .
Cited – Jones v Skelton PC 1963
(New South Wales) Lord Morris of Borth-y-Gest discussed how words subject to a claim in defamation should be read: ‘In deciding whether words are capable of conveying a defamatory meaning the court will reject those meanings which can only emerge as . .
Cited – Slim v Daily Telegraph Ltd CA 1968
Courts to Settle upon a single meaning if disputed
The ‘single meaning’ rule adopted in the law of defamation is in one sense highly artificial, given the range of meanings the impugned words sometimes bear. The law of defamation ‘has passed beyond redemption by the courts’. Where in a libel action . .
Cited – Kirkup v British Rail Engineering Ltd CA 1983
Where interrogatories are administered they should be drafted with considerable rigour because if they are so widely drawn as to be vague they may be regarded as oppressive. . .
Cited – Mercer v Chief Constable of Lancashire CA 1991
When justifying a detention, the Chief Constable must prove it ‘was lawful minute by minute and hour by hour’. . .
Cited – Wallace Smith Trust v Deloitte Haskins and Sells CA 1997
If the party seeking discovery showed that the documents might be necessary for a fair disposal of the action, an order should normally only be refused after the court had examined the documents and considered them in the light of the material . .
Cited – Taylor v Anderton (Police Complaints Authority Intervening) CA 19-Jan-1995
Reports, which had been prepared for the purposes of a police complaint procedure, could be entitled to protection from disclosure under a public interest immunity certificate. The court also considered the relationship between the documentation and . .
See Also – Guy Snowden v Richard Branson CA 6-Jul-1999
. .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Updated: 06 November 2022; Ref: scu.142418
The defendant sought to assert that the agreement under which possession of her house was sought was an extortionate credit bargain. She had to obtain leave to appeal out of time.
Held: The rules required an application to be supported by evidence. In this case the leave had been granted without formal consideration of the need for an application for leave.The matter should be treated as an application to the Court of Appeal. As to the substantive issue, this was a matter which should be heard, and the leave to appeal was given.
Lord Justice Brooke Sir Martin Nourse Lord Justice Longmore
[2003] EWCA Civ 1574
England and Wales
Cited – London Borough of Hackney v Driscoll CA 16-Jul-2003
The defendant sought to set aside judgment entered in his absence.
Held: The right of a defendant to have set aside a judgment where he had not known of the proceedings did not necessarily apply where, as here, he had attended one hearing, but . .
Cited – Fowler De Pledge (A Firm) v Smith CA 20-May-2003
The appellant sought two permissions to appeal. Having at one stage been legally aided in proceedings, a claim for his solicitors costs had been compromised. The court records were imperfect. It was not clear whether a circuit judge sitting as a . .
Cited – Hackney v Driscoll (No 1) CA 2003
It was not clear whether an order made by a circuit judge was made by a judge of the county court at first instance, or by a circuit judge in an appeal court. The route for an appeal was therefore unclear. . .
Cited – Hertsmere Borough Council v Harty and others CA 21-Jun-2001
Concerning challenges to leave to appeal: ‘(if) the Judge was misled by an Appellant, not necessarily deliberately, into giving permission to appeal, that may well be a compelling reason within the Rule. It must . . involve showing (a) that the . .
Cited – Foenander v Bond Lewis and Co CA 23-May-2001
The applicant sought to appeal from an order refusing leave to appeal out of time. There was no second appeal inherent in such a case where the court had not additionally considered and refused the leave to appeal itself. A refusal to extend time . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Updated: 06 November 2022; Ref: scu.187558
The defendant appealed a judgment saying the arrangement under which the plaintiff had conducted the litigation was champertous.
Held: The appeal failed. ‘[A]lthough some of what Mr De Crittenden did could be described as ‘solicitors work’, none of it was work that was peculiar to a solicitor, nor work that a client himself might not very well undertake with, no doubt, the advice and instructions of a solicitor in preparing his own case.’ and ‘The question in champerty is . . . what was the nature of the interest, if any, of the claimant in the litigation? The structure whereby he is remunerated does not affect that question unless it demonstrates (and in this case as I have already indicated it does not) that there is no legitimate interest in the subject matter. ‘
[2002] EWCA Civ 50
England and Wales
Leave given – De Crittenden v Bayliss CA 21-May-2001
The defendant sought leave to appeal saying the agreement under which the plaintiff had sued was champertous. Leave given. . .
Cited – Giles v Thompson, Devlin v Baslington (Conjoined Appeals) HL 1-Jun-1993
Car hire companies who pursued actions in motorists’ names to recover the costs of hiring a replacement vehicle after an accident, from negligent drivers, were not acting in a champertous and unlawful manner. Lord Mustill said: ‘there exists in . .
Cited – Awwad v Geraghty and Company CA 8-Sep-1997
The court considered an application for leave to appeal as to whether a litigation agreement was champertous and void. . .
Cited – Giles v Thompson CA 1992
The interest that the rule of champerty exists to protect (the individual interest) is that of the opposite party. Steyn LJ described contingency fee agreements as ‘nowadays perhaps the most important species of champerty’ and were ‘still unlawful’. . .
Full Appeal – De Crittenden v Bayliss CA 21-May-2001
The defendant sought leave to appeal saying the agreement under which the plaintiff had sued was champertous. Leave given. . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Updated: 06 November 2022; Ref: scu.188934
Appeal against refusal to allow evidence to be admitted.
[1997] EWCA Civ 1673
England and Wales
Updated: 06 November 2022; Ref: scu.142069
The court asked itself whether it had power to require a cross-undertaking in favour of third parties as a condition of appointing a receiver.
Held: Phillips LJ: ‘The Mareva injunction is a comparatively recent addition to the armoury of the court. Having discovered the existence of, or some would say invented, this weapon, the court went on to invent the ancillary weapon of the cross-undertaking in damages for the benefit of third parties (see Z Ltd v A [1982] QB 558). In that case the cross-undertaking approved by the court was one designed to protect third parties from the consequences of compliance with the injunction but the scope of the protection of the undertaking has since been expanded to embrace third parties adversely affected by the injunction.
For myself, I cannot accept that the jurisdiction of the court to require such an undertaking only exists where a Mareva injunction is ordered. Once the cross-undertaking for the benefit of third parties became a recognised feature of the court’s jurisdiction in that context, it necessarily followed that the court could make use of it when granting other discretionary relief, at least where that relief was empowered under the same statutory provision.’
Phillips LJ
[1997] EWCA Civ 1635, [1997] 3 All ER 309, [1998] BCC 440
England and Wales
Cited – Smithkline Beecham Plc and others v Apotex Europe Ltd and others PatC 26-Jul-2005
Application was made to join in further parties to support a cross undertaking on being made subject to interim injunctions.
Held: On orders other than asset freezing orders it was not open to the court to impose cross-undertakings against . .
Cited – Smithkline Beecham Plc Glaxosmithkline UK Ltd and Another v Apotex Europe Ltd and others (No 2) CA 23-May-2006
The parties to the action had given cross undertakings to support the grant of an interim injunction. A third party subsequently applied to be joined, and now sought to take advantage of the cross undertakings to claim the losses incurred through . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Updated: 06 November 2022; Ref: scu.142031
Where there was still a possibility of a claim for restitution, a decision to strike out the action on the basis that there was no extant cause of action, was wrong.
Times 15-May-1997
England and Wales
Cited – Pontin v Wood CA 1962
The writ had been issued just before the expiration of the relevant limitation period in a defective form in that it was endorsed merely with the words ‘the plaintiffs’ claim is for damages for personal injuries’. The judge in chambers held that the . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Updated: 06 November 2022; Ref: scu.142024
The applicants sought leave to appeal against a possession order made for arrears under their mortgage. A possession order had been suspended on an arrangement as to payment. The way the society calculated its payments meant that the arrears continued to climb. After complaint the applicant stopped payments, and complained to the Ombudsman, whose decision led to the respondent writing off all but some arrears which it then sought to be paid in full by return.
Held: The order allowing payment by instalments continued in effect, and the society remained bound by it. Ward LJ said: ‘I do not know whether to characterise this application as a storm in a tea cup, a sledgehammer taken to crack a nut or a comedy of errors. ‘
Ward LJ
[1997] EWCA Civ 1296
England and Wales
See Also – Ropaigealach v Barclays Bank plc CA 6-Jan-1999
The applicant’s property was charged to the defendant. At the time it was not occupied. The mortgage fell into arrears, and after serving notice at the property, the bank took posssession and sold the property at auction. The claimants said the bank . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Updated: 06 November 2022; Ref: scu.141692
The Court of Appeal should interfere with Judge’s case management decisions only with great reluctance.
Times 17-Apr-1997, [1997] EWCA Civ 1301
England and Wales
See Also – Grupo Torras Sa and Another v Sheikh Fahad Mohammed Al Sabah and Others CA 26-May-1995
A UK court may continue to hear a Spanish company’s claim against it’s own directors if a court was first seized of the matter here. Where a case concerned matters as to the constitution of a company, the courts of the company in which the company . .
See Also – Grupo Torras SA and Torras Hostench London Limited v Sheikh Fahad Mohammed Al-Sabah Et Al CA 2-Oct-1997
A party choosing to provide discovery of substantial documents on a Compact Disk must ask the court first before charging extra for the service. . .
See Also – Grupo Torras SA and Another v Al-Sabah and others Lst CA 6-Feb-1998
. .
See Also – Barbara Alison Al-Sabah and Another v Grupo Torras S A and Others PC 10-Oct-2000
PC (Jersey) The board refused special leave to appeal: ‘Normally all such questions of case management are matters for the courts concerned and are not suitable for any further review before their Lordships’ . .
See Also – Khaled Naser Hamoud Al-Sabah and Juan Jose Folchi Bonafonte v Grupo Torras SA CA 2-Nov-2000
The court discussed the approach to be taken when asked to act upon evidence which it found to be unreliable, though the witness’s credibility had not been destroyed. In a claim for dishonest assistance it is not necessary to show a precise causal . .
See Also – Grupo Torras Sa and Another v Al-Sabah and others CA 30-Jul-2001
The hearing followed others concluding that the claimant had been defrauded of substantial sums by the defendants. The parties sought clarifications. . .
See Also – Al Sabah and Al Sabah v Grupo Torras SA Culmer as trustee of the property of Sheikh Fahad Mohammed Al Sabah, bankrupt PC 11-Jan-2005
PC (Cayman Islands) The claimant complained of an order of the Court of Appeal of the Cayman Islands, requiring him to comply with a letter of request from the Grand Court of the Bahamas.
Held: In earlier . .
See Also – Grupo Torras Sa and Another v Sheikh Fahad Mohammed Al Sabah and Others CA 26-May-1995
A UK court may continue to hear a Spanish company’s claim against it’s own directors if a court was first seized of the matter here. Where a case concerned matters as to the constitution of a company, the courts of the company in which the company . .
See Also – Grupo Torras SA and Torras Hostench London Limited v Sheikh Fahad Mohammed Al-Sabah Et Al CA 2-Oct-1997
A party choosing to provide discovery of substantial documents on a Compact Disk must ask the court first before charging extra for the service. . .
See Also – Grupo Torras SA and Another v Al-Sabah and others Lst CA 6-Feb-1998
. .
See Also – Barbara Alison Al-Sabah and Another v Grupo Torras S A and Others PC 10-Oct-2000
PC (Jersey) The board refused special leave to appeal: ‘Normally all such questions of case management are matters for the courts concerned and are not suitable for any further review before their Lordships’ . .
See Also – Khaled Naser Hamoud Al-Sabah and Juan Jose Folchi Bonafonte v Grupo Torras SA CA 2-Nov-2000
The court discussed the approach to be taken when asked to act upon evidence which it found to be unreliable, though the witness’s credibility had not been destroyed. In a claim for dishonest assistance it is not necessary to show a precise causal . .
See Also – Grupo Torras Sa and Another v Al-Sabah and others CA 30-Jul-2001
The hearing followed others concluding that the claimant had been defrauded of substantial sums by the defendants. The parties sought clarifications. . .
See Also – Al Sabah and Al Sabah v Grupo Torras SA Culmer as trustee of the property of Sheikh Fahad Mohammed Al Sabah, bankrupt PC 11-Jan-2005
PC (Cayman Islands) The claimant complained of an order of the Court of Appeal of the Cayman Islands, requiring him to comply with a letter of request from the Grand Court of the Bahamas.
Held: In earlier . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Updated: 06 November 2022; Ref: scu.141697
Sets out how bundles of documents to be prepared for Court of Appeal; distinction between core and reference bundles.
Times 14-May-1997
England and Wales
Updated: 06 November 2022; Ref: scu.84862
Detailed guidance was given as to several different problems of interpretation of Order 17 r 11, dealing with automatic directions. Definitive guidelines were given for the interpretation of automatic directions and strike out provisions in the County Court.
Once the pleadings are deemed to be closed in an action to which Order 17 Rule 11 applies, automatic directions will apply unless they are ousted. An appeal court will only interfere in the exercise of a judge’s discretion whether or not to reinstate the action if persuaded the judge was so plainly wrong that he must have failed properly to apply the relevant guidelines. The plaintiff must satisfy the court that in all the circumstances his failure to apply for a date is excusable, that is to say, it should be forgiven. The word ‘excusable’ ‘has given rise to much debate, but looking at the cases as a whole it means simply whether in all the circumstances what is ex hypothesi an unjustifiable failure is of such a kind that it should not of itself preclude reinstatement; in other words that it should be forgiven. Thus a failure by solicitors to have any or any adequate system for monitoring compliance with the automatic directions, with the result that the guillotine date arrives and passes without any action, is very unlikely indeed to be regarded as excusable.’
Saville LJ, Brooke LJ, Waller LJ
Gazette 13-Aug-1997, Times 02-May-1997, [1997] EWCA Civ 1524, [1998] 1 WLR 1123, [1997] 4 All ER 129
England and Wales
Allowed for – Hoskins v Wiggins Teape (UK) Limited CA 1994
The plaintiff had delayed the action. It had been transferred from the High Court in July 1991, and was then automatically struck out. The plaintiff sought re-instatement.
Held: The court attempted to put into proper context the problems that . .
Cited – Hawkins v Keppe Shaw, Solicitors (a Firm) CA 20-Jul-2001
The solicitors represented the applicant in a claim for personal injuries. The action was struck out, and he sued the solicitors for negligence. Composite directions had been given, and the question was whether the making of those directions ousted . .
Cited – Cockeril v Tambrands Limited CA 21-May-1998
Even if a case is quite unsuitable for automatic directions, the plaintiff has an obligation to apply instead for specific manual directions to stand in their stead. It would be wrong to allow a plaintiff to escape from the discipline of the . .
Cited – Greig Middleton and Company v Denderowicz and Olaleye-Oruene v London Guildhall University (No 1) CA 4-Jul-1997
Direction was given as to the circumstances allowing an appeal out of time after a change in the law affecting a decision after the judgment had been given. Corrections to Bannister v SGB plc made in respect of time calculations in County Court . .
Cited – Khela v Pone and Norwest Holst Limited CA 21-May-1997
The claimant sught to re-instate his personal injury action. It had been struck out under the automatic directions.
Held: The claimant had not satsified the requirement to provide a sufficient reason to make his delay excusable. . .
Cited – Cockerill v Tambrands Ltd; Prolaw Ltd v Adams; Jackson v Pinchbeck CA 21-May-1998
The court considered consolidated appeals relating to the use of Order 17 Rule 11. . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Updated: 06 November 2022; Ref: scu.135926
A County Court judge looking at cumulative delay may look to particular instances of delay.
Times 24-Apr-1997
England and Wales
Updated: 06 November 2022; Ref: scu.89457
A County Court judge may hear an appeal from High Court district judge if transferred to the County Court.
Times 24-Apr-1997
England and Wales
Updated: 06 November 2022; Ref: scu.82790
Judgment in default can be set aside by a plaintiff in order to renew proceedings.
Times 21-Mar-1997
County Court Rules 1981 Order 37 r 4
England and Wales
Updated: 06 November 2022; Ref: scu.84461
Court has the power to strike out an action for want of prosecution even though automatic time limits do not yet apply to the action.
Times 06-Jun-1997
England and Wales
Updated: 06 November 2022; Ref: scu.82596
The dismissal of an application to set aside a default judgment did not create a res judicata so as to prevent a new action.
Gazette 30-Apr-1997, Times 30-Apr-1997, [1997] EWCA Civ 1495
England and Wales
Updated: 06 November 2022; Ref: scu.84118
The claimant bought an Audi car from new. He sought to reject it, but now appealed a finding that there was nothing wrong with it. He had said that it pulled to the left. The defendant’s tests showed no such tendency. His own independent test supported his assertion, saying it was uncharacteristic and unacceptable. The defendant said it drifted only with the camber.
Held: The appeal failed. The judge made conflicting assertions about the car’s behaviour, but he had been entitled to find, as he did, that the appellant had not shown that the rear wheel alignment was probably out of specification at the time of rejection. The court deprecated the practice of parties writing to the judge requesting him to amend significant points in a draft judgment. The court also noted also that the parties had spent some pounds 100,000 disputing a claim worth about pounds 6,000, and ‘regarded them, one or other, if not both, of them, as ‘completely cuckoo’ to have engaged in such expensive litigation with so little at stake.’
Where the judge sent out a draft of his proposed judgment it was inappropriate for the parties to seek to re-argue their case in answer.
Ward LJ, Arden LJ, Smith LJ
[2007] EWCA Civ 1002, [2008] 1 All ER 1156, [2008] 1 WLR 1589, [2008] 1 FLR 1294, (2007) 151 SJLB 1364
England and Wales
Cited – Sanderson v Hull CA 5-Nov-2008
Insufficient proof of cause of infection
The claimant worked as a turkey plucker. She caught an infection (campylobacter enteritis) at work, and the employer now appealed against a finding of liability. The employer said that the only necessary protection was regular washing of hands. The . .
Cited – Sheikh and Another v Dogan and Others ChD 17-Nov-2009
The judge had reserved his judgment, but had since received further voluminous representations from a party.
Held: None of the matters raised suggested a proper reason for exercising the jurisdiction given by In re Barrell. The claimant was . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Updated: 06 November 2022; Ref: scu.259915
A judge may choose whether a witness summons against child is appropriate according to the child’s interests.
Times 18-Apr-1997, [1997] EWCA Civ 1306
England and Wales
Updated: 05 November 2022; Ref: scu.82083
The bank had made an allegation of fraudulent misrepresentation against a firm of solicitors. It appealed a strike out of its claim.
Held: An appeal court may exceptionally overturn a finding that the Defendant was not guilty of fraud in a case where that conclusion is inevitable from the facts.
Times 26-Jun-1997, Gazette 09-Jul-1997, [1997] EWCA Civ 1942
England and Wales
Updated: 05 November 2022; Ref: scu.81322
A Judge must first quash the decision of a Tribunal before remitting a case for reconsideration by them.
Times 19-May-1997, [1997] EWCA Civ 1623
Rules of the Supreme Court Order 55 r7
England and Wales
Updated: 05 November 2022; Ref: scu.79326
No application can be made for striking out during the 21 days allowed by court rules for consideration and acceptance of payment in.
Times 09-Jun-1997
England and Wales
Updated: 05 November 2022; Ref: scu.81231
A father sought ex parte, permission to appeal against orders in the county court. The first had refused to allow him to have a McKenzie friend in an application for contact to his daughter. The Recorder had taken the view that because the proceedings were in chambers it was inappropriate to have anyone other than the parties and the lawyers present.
Held: Leave was given. It was proper for the court to allow a McKenzie friend for a litigant in person to help in chambers as in open court.
Ward LJ said: ‘The father seeks leave to appeal against that part of the recorder’s order which excluded his McKenzie Friend. I would easily come to the conclusion, not only that that was arguable, but that it was probably plainly wrong. The recorder ought not to have taken the view that a McKenzie friend should be removed, even if the matter proceeds in chambers as a matter affecting a child. Provided the McKenzie friend does not more than a McKenzie friend is entitled to do, that is to sit and advise and quietly to offer help, I for my part can see no objection to that whatever. I note with approval that when the matter next came to the court before his Honour Judge Paul Clarke the judge correctly and promptly , without question, permitted the presence of the friend who was then there to assist the father.’
Ward LJ, Millett LJ
Times 06-May-1997, [1997] EWCA Civ 1436, [1997] 2 FLR 423
England and Wales
Cited – O and others (Children); In re O (Children), In re W-R (a Child), In re W (Children) CA 22-Jun-2005
In each case litigants in person had sought to be allowed to have the assistance and services of a Mackenzie friend in children cases. In one case, the court had not allowed confidential documents to be disclosed to the friend.
Held: The . .
Cited – Re M (Contact: Family Assistance: McKenzie Friend) CA 1999
A father appealed a refual of consent for him to be allowed assistance from a McKenzie Friend.
Held: He should have been allowed assistance on the contact and other applications. It was ‘a matter of regret’ that the father had been denied the . .
Cited – Regina v Bow County Court, Ex Parte Pelling CA 17-Dec-1999
Access to the court given to a McKenzie Friend should normally be given in matters in open court, but when it came to matters being heard in chambers, the judge had discretion as to who he would hear. The right is in any event that of the litigant, . .
Not binding – Regina v Bow County Court Ex parte Pelling QBD 8-Mar-1999
Mr Pelling sought to act as a McKenzie friend. On being refused he sought judicial review of he decision to exclude him.
Held: Review was refused. A McKenzie friend has himself no locus to challenge a decision by a county court judge not to . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Updated: 05 November 2022; Ref: scu.81919
The rule that a witness statement should stand as evidence in chief is not inflexible; the court may order the witness to give evidence orally.
Times 02-May-1997
England and Wales
Updated: 05 November 2022; Ref: scu.79270
An abandonment of privilege within discovery proceedings did not imply general waiver of same privilege; limited to instant proceedings.
Times 03-Jul-1997, [1997] EWCA Civ 1897, [1998] 1 WLR 114
England and Wales
See also – Gotha City v Sotheby’s and Another; Federal Republic of Germany v Same QBD 9-Sep-1998
Limitation does not run in favour of a thief. A painting stolen during the war and dealt with by those knowing its true origin remained in the ownership of the original owner however long it had been held by someone who was not a purchaser in good . .
See also – Gotha City v Sotheby’s and Another; Federal Republic of Germany v Same QBD 9-Sep-1998
Limitation does not run in favour of a thief. A painting stolen during the war and dealt with by those knowing its true origin remained in the ownership of the original owner however long it had been held by someone who was not a purchaser in good . .
Cited – USP Strategies Plc and Another v London General Holdings Ltd and others ChD 1-Mar-2004
In the course of litigation, in the course of which summaries of advice given to the defendants by their lawyers was produced in evidence. They sought that it be struck out as protecetd by legal privilege.
Held: Though summarised, the . .
Cited – Iran v The Barakat Galleries Ltd QBD 29-Mar-2007
The claimant government sought the return to it of historical artefacts in the possession of the defendants. The defendant said the claimant could not establish title and that if it could the title under which the claim was made was punitive and not . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Updated: 05 November 2022; Ref: scu.80940
Action for annulment – Application lodged via e-Curia – Article 56a(4) of the Rules of Procedure – Failure to fulfil procedural requirements – Manifest inadmissibility
ECLI:EU:T:2020:658, T-642/20, [2020] EUECJ T-642/20_CO
European
Updated: 05 November 2022; Ref: scu.660697
[2020] EWHC 306 (QB)
England and Wales
Updated: 05 November 2022; Ref: scu.648922
Application by the claimant for specific disclosure of personal bank statements of the two defendants in litigation
[2019] EWHC 3613 (Ch)
England and Wales
Updated: 05 November 2022; Ref: scu.649081
[2020] EWHC 391 (QB)
England and Wales
See also – Payroller Ltd and Others v Little Panda Consultants Ltd and Others (Costs) QBD 21-Feb-2020
. .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Updated: 05 November 2022; Ref: scu.648909
[2012] EWHC 2698 (Comm)
Updated: 05 November 2022; Ref: scu.465053
ECJ Opinion – Judicial cooperation in civil or commercial matters – Taking of evidence – Regulation (EC) No 1206/2001 – Article 1 – Substantive scope – Article 17 – Direct taking of evidence by the requesting court – Designation of an expert and the assignment to him, by a court of one Member State, of a task to be carried out partly in the territory of another Member State – Whether or not application of the judicial cooperation procedure laid down in Article 17 of the regulation is mandatory
Jaaskinen AG
[2012] EUECJ C-332/11, C-332/11
Opinion – Prorail NV v Xpedys NV etc ECJ 21-Feb-2013
ECJ Regulation (EC) No 1206/2001 – Cooperation in the taking of evidence in civil and commercial matters – Direct taking of evidence – Designation of an expert – Task carried out partly in the Member State of the . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Updated: 05 November 2022; Ref: scu.464436
ECJ Regulation (EC) No 1206/2001 – Cooperation in the taking of evidence in civil and commercial matters – Matters covered – Hearing by the court of a Member State of a witness who is a party in the main proceedings residing in another Member State – Possibility to summon a party as a witness before the competent court in accordance with the law of its Member State
Tizzano P
C-170/11, [2012] EUECJ C-170/11
Updated: 05 November 2022; Ref: scu.464448
ECJ Service of judicial and extrajudicial documents – Regulation (EC) No 1393/2007 – Scope – Determination of cases in which a document must be sent from one Member State to another – National provision providing for deemed service by placing the document on the case file where the party domiciled in the territory of another Member State fails to appoint a representative domiciled in national territory authorised to accept service
Bot AG
C-325/11, [2012] EUECJ C-325/11
Updated: 05 November 2022; Ref: scu.464418
[2010] EWHC 2077 (Ch)
England and Wales
Updated: 05 November 2022; Ref: scu.423805
The affidavit of the existence of the debt, on which to ground a motion for a scire facias to revive the judgment, ought either to be made by the plaintiff himself, or by some person who was attorney at the time of the judgment.
[1836] EngR 237, (1836) 1 M and W 204, (1836) 150 ER 407 (A)
England and Wales
Updated: 05 November 2022; Ref: scu.314569
[1848] EngR 24, (1850) 11 QB 921, (1848) 116 ER 718
England and Wales
Updated: 05 November 2022; Ref: scu.299574
[1790] EngR 1162, (1732, 1756, 1790) Bar N 384, (1790) 94 ER 966 (D)
England and Wales
Updated: 05 November 2022; Ref: scu.364215
[2007] EWCA Civ 654, [2008] BLGR 507, [2007] IRLR 715, [2007] ICR 1581
England and Wales
Updated: 05 November 2022; Ref: scu.254365
Application to admit fresh evidence on an appeal and for order for disclosure.
Gage, Toulson LJJ
[2007] EWCA Civ 582
England and Wales
Updated: 05 November 2022; Ref: scu.254567
