General Matters & Pre-Action Protocol

Question 1

CPR 1.1?

Answer 1

Overriding Objective

Question 2

What is the overriding objective?

Answer 2

Enabling the court to deal with cases justly and at proportionate costs

Question 3

What is the purpose of the Practice Direction- Pre-Action Conduct and Protocols

Answer 3

Explain the conduct and steps the court would expect the parties to take before commencing the proceedings

NOT MANDATORY
Can issue proceedings without having complied, but will probably face sanctions for doing that

Question 3

What provisions in the CPR can the court utilise to help the parties settle their case, both prior to the commencement of litigation and following commencement?

Answer 3

CPR 25.11 - Pre-Action Order Disclosure

Early Neutral Evaluation

ADR

Summary Judgement – Part 24

Question 3

What is the court’s duty to manage cases?

Answer 3

• Encouraging parties to cooperate
• Identifying issues at an early stage
• Deciding which issues need full investigation & trial
• Not incurring costs unnecessarily
• Deciding other issues that need to be resolved
• Encourage parties to use ADR
• Helping parties to settle the whole or part of the case
• Setting a timetable
• Dealing with as many aspects as you can
• Dealing with the case without the parties needing to attend at court
• Making use of technology
• Giving directions to ensure the trial of a case proceeds quickly

Question 4

Before commencing proceedings, the court will expect the parties to have exchanged sufficient information to—

Answer 4

(a) understand each other’s position;

(b) make decisions about how to proceed;

(c) try to settle the issues without proceedings;

(d) consider a form of Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) to assist with settlement;

(e) support the efficient management of those proceedings; and

(f) reduce the costs of resolving the dispute

Question 4

If the claimant is not ready to send a formal letter of claim but the defendant does not know of the existence of the claim, what should the claimant do?

Answer 4

Send a letter of notification

Should be acknowledged within 14 days

Question 5

What should the claimant’s letter of claim include for a PI case, and where can it be found?

Answer 5

Annex B1

Level of detail

Sufficient level of information

Heads of damage – e.g. loss of wages, etc.

Question 6

What step should the defendant take on receiving the claimant’s letter?

Answer 6

Must respond within 21 calendar days of posting the letter identifying the insurer

42 days outside England & Wales jurisdiction

Question 7

What happens if the defendant fails to respond to the claimant’s letter?

Answer 7

The claimant can issue proceedings

Question 8

If, having received notification of the claim, the defendant denies liability what should he do?

Answer 8

Paragraph 6.5

Defendant must say what they say happened

Apply their version of events

Disclose documents in their possession

Question 9

What is the aim of early disclosure of documents and how much pre-action
disclosure can be expected?

Answer 9

Not to promote ‘fishing expedition’

dont go in expecting to catch any fish, u need to have 1 fish in mind

Question 10

What kind of expert evidence does the PIP provide?

Answer 10

Joint selection – except for cases likely allocated to the multi-track, PIP encourages joint selection of and access to quantum experts and liability experts.

Question 11

How does the expert evidence in PIP work?

Answer 11

Party wishing to instruct an expert should provide a list of experts

Within 14 days of list being provided, other party can choose to object any names

First party has to instruct someone who is acceptable

If other party objects everyone the list, they can choose their own expert

Then court will decide if the objection is reasonable or unreasonable

Question 12

Must an expert report be disclosed to the other party?

Answer 12

No, the report is privileged

But, the costs of the report have to be covered by the party who has the report

Question 13

Who pays the expert in PIP?

Answer 13

If claimant succeeds in claim, claimant can claim

The cost of a report from an agreed expert will usually be paid by the instructing first party: the costs of the expert replying to questions will usually be borne by the party which asks the questions.