The appellant having failed to comply with an unless order, now appealed against an order striking out the claim.
Held: The activation of a sanction in an unless order striking out a claim was a powerful weapon in a judge’s case management armoury that should only be deployed where its consequences could be fully justified.
Moore-Bick LJ set conditions for making an unless order: ‘before making conditional orders, particularly orders for the striking out of statements of case for the dismissal of claims or counterclaims, the judge should consider carefully whether the sanction being imposed is appropriate to all the circumstances of the case. Of course it is impossible to foresee the nature and effect of every possible breach and the party in default can always apply for relief, but a conditional order striking out a statement of claim or dismissing the claim or counterclaim is one of the most powerful weapons in the court’s case management armoury and should not be deployed unless its consequences can be justified. I find it difficult to imagine circumstances in which such an order could properly be made for what were described in Keen Phillips v Field as good housekeeping purposes’.’
Judges:
Pill LJ, Keene LJ, Moore-Bick LJ
Citations:
[2007] EWCA Civ 463, [2007] 1 WLR 1864, [2007] CP Rep 41, [2007] 3 All ER 365, [2007] 1 CLC 785
Links:
Jurisdiction:
England and Wales
Cited by:
Followed – Kinsley v Commissioner of Police for the Metropolis CA 9-Jun-2010
The claimant had obtained an interim injunction requiring the police not to harass him. He was acting in person and had been ordered to file his claim and particulars by a date. He failed to comply and the injunction was discharged against an . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Costs, Litigation Practice
Updated: 19 November 2022; Ref: scu.252386