The widow appealed against strike out of her claim under the 1975 Act. It had been filed with several mistakes and only just in time.
Held: Her appeal succeeded. Though the defects were real and to be deplored, the paperwork contained all the necessary information: ‘The ‘quirky’ petition was filed at the Stafford County Court and sealed by that court on 10th June 1999 and it contained all the information the defendants needed in order to be able to understand what was being claimed. They were told that Part 8 of the Civil Procedure Rules applied to the claim, and they were also told that the claimant relied on the evidence contained in her witness statement filed with the claim. In other words, all the complaints being made by the defendants’ solicitor were claims about form, not about substance.’
The judge had erred.
Judges:
Peter Gibson, Brooke, Robert Walker LJJ
Citations:
[2000] EWCA Civ 159
Links:
Statutes:
Inheritance (Provision for Family and Dependants) Act 1975, Civil Procedure Rules 4.9(1)
Jurisdiction:
England and Wales
Citing:
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 . .
Cited – Harkness v Bell’s Asbestos and Engineering Limited CA 1966
The plaintiff’s solicitors had applied to a district registrar for leave of the court for the purposes of the Limitation Act 1963 when they ought to have made the application to a judge in chambers. The district registrar ordered that Section 2(1) . .
Cited – In re Pritchard CA 1963
An originating summons seeking relief was accepted and sealed in a local district registry. It ought to have been sealed in the Central Office of the Royal Courts of Justice. Wilberforce J had held that the originating summons was a nullity and that . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Family, Wills and Probate
Updated: 31 May 2022; Ref: scu.147192
