Mr Justice Henry Carr dismissed an appeal against the making of a Bullock order against three of four defendants to a noise nuisance claim finding that the judge was entitled, “and indeed obliged” to look at all the circumstances of the case including “the reasonableness of the initial decision by the Claimant to join the Fourth Defendant as a party to the action, but also the entire conduct of the proceedings.”
SCCO Guide Extract
SCCO Guide Extract
SCCO Guide Extract
We previously reported on the decision of HHJ Robinson on appeal in the County Court at Northampton where he overturned District Judge Batchelor’s refusal to allow a second interim payment in a long running clinical negligence matter where 90% liability had been admitted and it was agreed that determination of quantum would not be possible until 2022, commenting that “Failure to ensure adequate cash flow during the period of inevitable delay may lead to the perverse and undesirable consequence that solicitors are unwilling to take on case [sic] such as this at an early stage.”
The defendant has been refused permission to appeal this decision by the Court of Appeal.
This was a decision of Jacobs J as to the entitlement of the defendant following discontinuance to an award of indemnity costs and a payment on account pursuance to CPR 44.2(8). The Court held that there was nothing “out of the norm” in the claimant’s conduct of the proceedings (in which they sought the enforcement of a Swedish arbitration award) up until a hearing of the defendant’s application to set aside in June 2017 when Robin Knowles J found that the defendant’s three original grounds of challenge were no longer maintainable, but that they had had established a prima facie case that the award was obtained by fraud.
This was an appeal against the decision of Master McCloud not to award the claimant a 10% ‘additional amount’ under CPR 36.17(4) on grounds that it would be disproportionate and unjust to do so where the claimant had beaten its own offer by just £7,000 on a bill assessed at £431,813.05.
Disagreeing with Judge Robert Owen QC in Potter v Sally Montague (Nottingham CC), HHJ Nicol found that a Part 36 Offer made in detailed assessment proceedings and expressed to be exclusive of interest was a valid Part 36 Offer.
This was a decision regarding alleged mis-certification of a costs budget. The case bore similarities to the facts in Tucker v Griffiths and Hampshire University Hospitals NHS Trust, another decision of Master Rowley. Both parties were critical of Master Rowley’s decision in Tucker, the defendant complaining that it was too lenient and the claimant contending that it had been too harsh as a finding of misconduct under CPR 44.11 had not been warranted on the facts.