Limb v Union Jack Removals Ltd (McGivern v Brown, Partington v Turners Bakery, Pyne-Edwards v Moore Large & Co Ltd, Smith v Brokers of Charity Services, Tomkins v Griffiths)

For the administrative procedures in County Court Rules 1981, Order 9, an admission in Rules 2, 3 and 6 means the prescribed Form N9 admission. An informal defence admitting liability but disputing quantum is not an admission of the whole claim for Rule 6(1)(b), and does not engage Rule 10(ii).

Rule 10(i) strikes out an entire inactive action, not a claim against an individual defendant. It cannot apply where any defendant has delivered an admission, defence or counterclaim. In an unliquidated damages claim where quantum is wholly disputed, Rule 10 has no application unless liability and the whole money claim are admitted in the prescribed form.

The court heard five appeals and one renewed application for permission arising from personal-injury actions begun by default summons in county courts. In five cases, the defendant filed a defence outside Form N9 which admitted negligence and some loss, but disputed the pleaded extent of injury and damage. The issue was whether the actions had automatically been struck out after 12 months under Order 9 rule 10(ii) of the County Court Rules 1981.

A separate appeal concerned a claim against two defendants. One had delivered a defence, but the judge had held that the action was struck out against both because the other had not responded. The common questions were the meaning of admission in Rule 10, and whether the rule could operate against only one defendant in a multi-defendant action.

1. Disposition. The court allowed the appeals in Limb, Pyne-Edwards and Smith; dismissed the appeals in Partington and Tomkins; and dismissed the renewed application for permission to appeal in McGivern.

2. Rule 10(i). This limb addresses complete inactivity after a default summons. Its purpose is administrative: to clear inactive files where neither side has taken the available steps. It operates on the action as a whole. If one of several defendants has delivered an admission, defence or counterclaim, the action cannot be struck out under Rule 10(i). The court therefore allowed Limb.

3. The prescribed-form requirement. Rules 2, 3 and 6 form a self-contained code for administrative judgments. Within those rules, the special definition in Rule 2(2) prevails: an admission must be the relevant prescribed Form N9. Rule 10(ii), which concerns the Rule 3 and Rule 6 procedures, takes that narrow meaning.

4. Unliquidated damages. A defence admitting negligence and some resulting loss, while disputing the amount of damage, is not an admission of the whole claim under Rule 6(1)(b). Where such an admission is made on Form N9, interlocutory judgment may be sought under Rule 3(7). An informal admission does not activate that procedure. It follows that Rule 10 does not apply where a defendant to an unliquidated claim has not admitted both liability and the whole money claim for damages.

5. The court approved the underlying approach in Watkins v Toms and Perrin v Short, but held that the contrary observations in Parrott v Jackson were obiter, clearly wrong and should not be followed. Accordingly, the relevant actions had not been struck out.

• Court of Appeal. The court allowed the appeals in Limb, Pyne-Edwards and Smith, and declared in the latter two cases that the actions had not been struck out under the County Court Rules 1981. It dismissed the appeals in Partington and Tomkins, and dismissed the renewed application for permission to appeal in McGivern.
• Portsmouth County Court. Judge Wroath held the whole action in Limb struck out. That decision was reversed.
• Manchester County Court. Judge Phipps allowed the claimant's appeal in McGivern; the defendant's renewed application for permission to appeal was dismissed. Judge Charles James dismissed the defendant's appeal in Partington, which was affirmed. In Smith, Judge James upheld a strike-out; that decision was reversed.
• Derby County Court. Judge Styler held that Rule 10(ii) applied in Pyne-Edwards. That decision was reversed.
• Altrincham County Court. Judge Eaglestone dismissed the defendant's appeal in Tomkins on the ground that no Form N9 admission had been served. That result was affirmed, although the Court of Appeal disagreed with her first finding.