The husband and wife separated and the husband sold the property in which the wife was living. He then brought an action for possession of the property against her and now sought summary judgment.
Held: Megarry J said: ‘the defendant can obtain leave to defend if . . [she] satisfied the court ‘that there is an issue or question in dispute which ought to be tried or that there ought for some other reason to be a trial’. These last words seem to me to be very wide. They also seem to me to have special significance where, as here, most or all of the relevant facts are under the control of the plaintiff and the defendant would have to seek to elicit by discovery, interrogatories and cross-examination those which will aid her. If the defendant cannot point to a specific issue which ought to be tried but nevertheless satisfied the court that there are circumstances that ought to be investigated, then I think that those concluding words are invoked. . Order 14 is for the plain and straightforward, not for the devious and crafty. . ‘ and ‘there is here a case for investigation, and so not for summary decision’. The witness was not ‘devious and crafty’ rather than ‘plain and straightforward’.
Judges:
Megarry J
Citations:
[1968] 3 WLR 1090, [1969] 1 QB 258, [1968] 3 All ER 682
Statutes:
Cited by:
Cited – Bayoumi v Women’s Total Abstinence Union Ltd and Another ChD 21-Jan-2003
The claimant sought specific performance of a contract to purchase land from the defendant charity. The defendant had not complied with its obligations under the Act. The cliamant sought to say at the transaction came within s36(3) (that it was . .
Cited – Walsh v Staines and others ChD 26-Jul-2007
The defendants applied to strike out a claim based on an allegation of a fraudulent deceit and conspiracy in earlier proceedings between the parties. It was said that the defendant solicitors had represented that their client had funds to support an . .
Cited – Standard Bank Plc v Al Jaber ComC 8-Nov-2011
Resisted application for summary judgment under contract of guarantee. . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Litigation Practice
Updated: 30 April 2022; Ref: scu.235555