Smith v Cosworth Casting Processes Ltd: CA 1 May 1997

A judge correctly decided not to exercise his discretion to extend time for leave to appeal where no factual basis had been given for the late application to set aside a judgment.
Lord Woolf MR said: ‘it should be borne in mind prior to making such an application that this court is likely to be very unsympathetic to it being made if it will in effect involve the parties in exactly the same expense as determining the appeal itself, and will not necessarily save the time of the court but risk the court having to have two hearings when only one would be necessary if there were no application to set aside. It is appreciated that any litigant will feel aggrieved by being faced with delay in waiting to have an appeal heard which has no prospect of success. However, the only consequence of applications such as this having to be heard is to delay the hearings of appeals the determination of which serves some purpose. There are circumstances where an application to set aside leave is fully justified, but the present application does not fall within that category.’

Judges:

Lord Woolf MR

Citations:

Times 15-May-1997, [1997] EWCA Civ 1598

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Cited by:

CitedNathan v Smilovitch and Another CA 13-May-2002
Application to set aside leave to appeal.
Held: It is a rare case in which, once permission to appeal has been granted it is appropriate to set it aside. . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Litigation Practice

Updated: 16 September 2022; Ref: scu.141994