Dispute Resolution Flashcards
What are the grounds for an interim payment?
- D has admitted liability
- C has obtained judgment but sum not assessed
- Court satisfied that if proceeded, C would obtain judgment for substantial sum
What should C do before making application for interim payment
Invite other side to make an interim payment
When can application for interim payment be made?
After time for D filing acknowledgment of service passed
When should application for interim payment be served?
Application and evidence must be served at least 14 days before the hearing
What should application for interim payment include?
- Sum sought
- Matters for which sought
- Estimate of expected judgment
- In PI claim, schedule of losses dealing with past and future losses
No need to show financial need
What will court award in interim payment application?
Reasonable proportion of likely amount of judgement. Must take into account contributory negligence.
What does the directions questionnaire cover?
Issues that help court manage case
- whether experts required
- compliance with pre action protocols
- track allocations
- details of applications and directions already made re disclosure and inspection
- witness names and issues
- estimated length of trial
- anticipated costs
When must directions questionnaire be returned?
28 days - cannot extend
What does the applicant need to show to obtain summary judgment?
- that the other party has no real prospect of success and
- there is no other compelling reason why the case should be disposed of at trial
When should the defendants evidence be served following receipt of C’s application for interim payment?
7 days before the hearing
How long does a defendant have to acknowledge service?
14 days from deemed date of service of Particulars of Claim
What does defendant need to show to have default judgment set aside?
That they:
- have a real prospect of success and
- there is good reason why the judgment should be set aside
What should particulars of claim include?
Enough information to identify issues.
Contract claims - parties to agreement, nature of agreement, terms breached, facts showing breach and loss, prayer for relief and statement of truth
RTA Claims & PI Claims - description of incident, date, time, allegations of negligence, details of relevent convictions, details of injuries, loss suffered, schedule of past and future losses, prayer for relief and statement of truth
Employer Liability Tort Claims - facts establishing relationship, circumstances of injury, allegations of breach, details of injury and losses, schedule of past and future losses, prayer for relief and statement of truth
If C is claiming interest, what must POC contain?
- basis of claim
- %
- date claim for interest ends
- total amount claimed
What should defence include?
Response to each allegation either:
- admitting (C doesn’t have to prove)
- denying, reasons why and alternative version of events (C must prove)
- non admission, neither admit or deny as outside knowledge (C must prove)
How should a partnership be described in a claim form?
Full name of partnership and then (a firm) after it to show partnership.
If D nominates solicitors for service, who may C serve?
- on solicitors
- unless D is a company, if a company can post or delivery to registered address or agent
Can you serve proceedings via email?
Yes if express consent given.
How long does D have to respond to a letter of claim in a PI case?
- must respond within 21 days indicating whether liability is admitted
- formal response without admission then gives D 3 months to investigate
Where will claims be heard? (Location)
If D is individual or sole trader - hearing centre local to D’s home address
If D company - C’s preferred centre
When is a case transferred to hearing centre?
After receipt of defence or admission from D
How long does an executor have to bring proceedings in a fatal accident claim?
3 years from date of death or 3 years from date of executors knowledge of tort
How long does C have to serve claim form?
- 4 months if within jurisdiction
- 6 months if outside
Following service of claim form how long does C have to file POC if not included?
14 days from service of claim form
If claim issued and limitation period expired, can C amend the name of D if misspelled/contains an error?
Yes but will have to make an application to court to disapply the limitation period. Within courts discretion but likely to allow it.
Can amend name before expiry of limitation period without permission if correctly identified but mistakenly named.
Who signs the statement of truth on the claim form?
Client
What happens if a party ignores a request for ADR?
Court likely to penalise in respect of legal costs.
What claims are heard in the small claims track?
Value of the claim is under £10,000
Straightforward claims
Claims of over £10,000 might be allocated if the parties agree or if an amount less than £10,000 is actually in dispute
Usual track for
- Personal injury claims of a total financial value of less than £10,000 if the value of any claim for damages for personal injury is no more than £5000 in a claim arising from a road traffic accident
- The limit is £1500 in other claim for personal injury
- A claimed by a residential tenant against a landlord to carry out repairs all works where the works are estimated to cost no more than £1000 and the financial value of any other claims is no more than £1000
What costs are recoverable in a small claims court?
Restricted to fixed costs and reasonable expenses in attending
Expert fees are restricted to a total sum of £750
The court award more of a party is behaved unreasonably
What cases are allocated to the fast track?
Value of between £10,000 and £25,000
Threshold for PI - £5000 for RTAs
Trial will not exceed 1 day
Oral expert evidence limited to 1 expert per party in any field
Expert evidence limited to 2 expert fields
4 complexity of bands.
4 = most complex
What costs are recoverable on the fast track?
The fast track cases up to £25,000 are all subject to fixed recoverable costs
What cases are allocated to the intermediate track?
Cases between £25,000 and £100,000 that are not suitable for the High Court given their relatively low complexity and value
Trial must last three days or less
Maximum of two expert witnesses giving all evidence on each side
Full bands which cases are allocated to the fixed recoverable costs will be calculated in relation to which band the claim falls into
Band one - simplest claims that are just over the fast track limit, but there is only one issue and the trial will likely only take one day
Band two - the normal band for intermediate cases where there is more than one issue in dispute
Band three - more complex than
Band four - the most complex intermediate cases where trial is likely to last three days and there are serious issues on breach causation and quantum
What are fixed recoverable costs?
The amount of legal costs that can be recovered by the winning parties at different stages of litigation from pre-issued to the final court hearing
The new rules applied to claims up to a value of £100,000 where proceedings are issued on or after the 1st of October 2023 safe for personal injury claims
The personal injury claims the extension of fixed recoverable costs applies when the cause of action cruise on or after the 1st of October whilst disease cases only applies to cases where letter of claim has not been sent to the defendant before the 1st of October 2023
Extra recoverable costs apply to all civil cases in the fast track up to a value of £25,000
What is the procedure for cases in the intermediate track?
Subject to an expedited procedure
- Statement of case to be no longer than 10 pages
- Written witness statements to stand as evidence and chief with statements limited to 30 pages
- Oral evidence will be limited to one expert per reason be required and proportionate with each expert report limited to 20 pages excluding photographs
- Oral evidence limited and identified the case management conference
- All applications to be made at the management conference as much as possible
What claims are allocated to the multitrack?
- Trial last more than three days
- Claims of over £100,000 however the court has discretion to allocate complex matters from the intermediate track
- Maybe issued in the county court or the High Court
In many multi track cases cost budgets must be filed before the initial directions hearing which is often a cost and case management conference there may be several of these before trial
What happens once the court has allocated a track?
After the defendant has filed defence, the court will allocate a case to the appropriate track.
They will then send the parties a notice of proposed allocation together with the directions questionnaire which must be completed and returned within 28 days. This time limit cannot be extended.
What are usual directions in the small claims court?
Documents to be exchanged 14 days before the hearing
Documents to be filed originals to court
Provision for final hearing date
Encouragement to try and agree the claim
Expert can only be used with express permission from the court
What are usual directions in the fast track?
Given without a case management conference
Disclosure within four weeks
Witness statement exchange within 10 weeks
Expert report exchange within 14 weeks
Pre-trial checklist at 20 weeks
Pre-trial checklist returned at 22 weeks
Date of trial at 30 weeks
When can an application to various direction given by court be submitted?
Must do so within 14 days of the directions being given
What is the pre-trial checklist?
Purposes to check that the parties have complied with directions and consider what else might be needed to prepare the case for trial
What are usual multitrack directions?
Tend to be no set timetable
Court case management conference requires the parties to file disclosure reports at least 14 days before and cost budgets seven days before the hearing
Filing of case summary is mandatory
Judge will give directions at the case management conference
At the case management conference the court will review the matter, compliance, further directions and orders. Encourage agreement where possible.
Should provide an estimate of expert fees and issues on what they will give evidence
Usual directions include restatement of the track allocation, the name of judge, encouragement to consider ADR, any amendments of the statement of case, time limits for response to requests for info, order to try and consider an issue separately as a preliminary issue for example limitation argument that may render a claim pointless, disclosure requirement either on a standard or specific basis, the number of witnesses the parties may call and provision of exchange for witness statements, whether a single joint expert as appropriate or a direction as the number of experts permitted and what fields, date of dispatch and completion of pre-checklist and fixing of the pre-trial review and cost budgeting
What happens if a party does not comply with directions?
If a party default the other party should make an immediate application for a unless order specify the penalty that will be imposed unless the party complies with the direction
Court may strike out the claim defence or counterclaim but usually will not unless the non-defaulting party has applied for an order and the order has not been complied with
The court may impose a costs order on a party who fails to comply award indemnity costs or increased interest or they may require a defaulting party to pay money into court or depart them from evidence
Minor breach, not a problem as long as the parties can keep the dates of the case management conferences pre-trial reviews and the trial
What is the criteria for relief from sanctions?
If a party has a good reason for non compliance, they can apply for relief from sanctions
The court will consider proportionality and the overriding objective and :
- The seriousness of the breach and
- The reasons for the breach
To provide an explanation and a good one