High Court: Queen's Bench Division judgments, 2019

Standard disclosure is not confined to documents that damage the disclosing party’s case. It includes material capable of adversely affecting either party’s…

A successful party is ordinarily entitled to its costs, but the court must choose between summary and detailed assessment by reference to whether there is a…

In a clinical negligence claim, a claimant must prove on the balance of probabilities both a breach of duty and that the negligent mechanism advanced caused…

A bailee’s failure to return goods after a demand may constitute conversion where the goods are lost, or where the failure to return them within a reasonable…

In determining the natural and ordinary meaning of allegedly defamatory articles, the court must read each publication as a whole and assess the impression…

A person who knows of a court order must comply with it unless and until it is discharged, varied or otherwise set aside. A later argument that the order was…

A contributor to a defamatory publication is liable where it knowingly authorises publication of its own defamatory statement in the relevant context. It is…

On an application for an interim mandatory injunction requiring an employee’s return to normal duties, the court applied the American Cyanamid framework but…

A homeowner who owes a neighbour a non-delegable duty remains liable for breach even where building works are entrusted to a contractor. That does not prevent…

The natural and ordinary meaning of allegedly defamatory words is the single meaning conveyed to the ordinary reasonable reader of the publication as a whole.…

A settlement offer is construed objectively from the documents and correspondence, rather than from the parties’ undisclosed intentions. Where only one…

In a clinical negligence claim, the Bolam test requires the court to determine whether the treatment accorded with a practice accepted as proper by a…

Interim non-disclosure relief engaging freedom of expression requires the enhanced merits threshold in section 12(3) of the Human Rights Act 1998. The…

The court may disapply the primary limitation period where, having regard to all the circumstances, it is equitable for a claim to proceed. The statutory…

An interim injunction affecting freedom of expression requires the claimant to satisfy section 12(3) of the Human Rights Act 1998. A tribunal-appointed…

Where a respondent adduces evidence that compliance with a court order was impossible, the applicant must prove beyond reasonable doubt that compliance was…

Meaning in a defamation claim is determined by the single natural and ordinary meaning conveyed to the hypothetical reasonable reader, assessed from the…

A landlord acting as landlord is not an occupier under the Occupiers’ Liability Act 1957 and owes no statutory duty under section 2 to the tenant or the…

In defamation claims concerning commercial credit reports, the publication must be read as a whole, together with explanatory material forming part of its…

An appeal from an authorised court officer in detailed assessment proceedings is a rehearing of the oral hearing that produced the appealed decision. It is not…

Filming or photographing in court may constitute criminal contempt in addition to a summary-only statutory offence where the conduct is sufficiently serious…

In determining meaning and whether words are fact or opinion in a defamation claim, the court must assess the publication as a whole from the perspective of…

A defence which is merely a bare denial, gives no coherent factual case and fails to identify the allegations admitted, denied or requiring proof may be struck…

The Product Liability Directive establishes maximal harmonisation for defective-product liability within its scope. Article 13 does not permit a parallel…

A truth defence in a defamation claim should proceed to trial where the pleading identifies the material facts relied on and is supported by evidence capable…

A contractual time limit expressed to run from the date of a board meeting runs from that date, rather than from later communication of the board’s decision…

Summary judgment is appropriate where a claim has no realistic prospect of success and no compelling reason requires a trial. The court must avoid a…

Registration of a foreign judgment under section 9 of the Administration of Justice Act 1920 is discretionary. A judgment obtained after a serious breach of…

In determining meaning in a defamation claim, the court must identify the single natural and ordinary meaning that the ordinary reasonable reader would derive…

At common law, creation of a highway requires dedication by the landowner and acceptance by or on behalf of the public. Dedication is principally a question of…

A local authority may seek an injunction under the Anti-social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act 2014 against protest which constitutes anti-social behaviour.…

A claim under section 2(1) of the Misrepresentation Act 1967 succeeds where a contracting party knowingly makes false statements which materially induce entry…

Threatening to disclose potentially lawful or truthful information can amount to blackmail where disclosure is used as unwarranted pressure to obtain a…

After default judgment in a defamation claim, the claimant may seek summary relief instead of conventional damages assessment. The court must assess whether…

Under Part III of the Private International Law (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1995, the law of the country identified by the general rule is not displaced…

CPR Part 71 may be used to obtain information from a judgment debtor where the only outstanding liability is an order for costs whose amount has not yet been…

Contractual success-fee provisions are construed according to the natural meaning of the agreement read as a whole. The court should not recast references to…

On an appeal from a wasted costs decision, the applicant bears the burden of establishing that the impugned conduct caused costs that would otherwise have been…

Criminal legal aid is available as of right to a person facing High Court committal proceedings for alleged breach of an order. No assessment of means or the…

A professional-negligence claim alleging that lawyers mishandled earlier litigation may proceed where it does not require the court to reverse findings on…

A civil restraint order may regulate applications in proceedings that existed before the order was made, provided its wording covers applications in existing…

Relief from sanctions is unavailable where the application is, in substance, a collateral attack on the order imposing the sanction. The starting point is that…

Witnesses and parties are ordinarily entitled to attend a public civil trial. Exclusion is exceptional and requires a particularised good reason showing that…

Where litigation disclosure is expected to continue over time, parties should agree an early, regular and intelligible strategy for providing identified…

An appellate court should afford substantial latitude to case-management decisions, but must intervene where orders are plainly wrong, unjust or procedurally…

On an appeal from an assessment of damages, the appellate court should respect the trial judge’s advantage in hearing the evidence. It may interfere where the…

On an interlocutory application in defamation proceedings, a party may be prevented from advancing a case where repeated opportunities to plead it properly…

In determining the meaning of words published in a defamation action, the court must identify the single natural and ordinary meaning conveyed to the…

A contractual “material breach” is not necessarily a repudiatory breach. Its seriousness must be assessed in the context of the contract, the breach, its…

In determining meaning at a libel preliminary issue, the court must assess objectively the broad impression conveyed by the publication to the ordinary…

Secondary-victim claims in clinical-negligence cases remain subject to the established strict control mechanisms. Clinical negligence does not attract a…

An unless order requiring disclosure takes effect where the ordered affidavit materially fails to answer a clear question. A requirement to identify the source…

On an application for summary judgment, the court must assess whether the claim has a real prospect of success. Where the claimant identifies a material…

In civil contempt proceedings carrying a risk of imprisonment, the respondent must have a fair opportunity to obtain legal representation. Civil contempt is…

A tripartite collateral warranty may arise where a supplier makes a concrete statement about goods or services, intending contractual force, and the recipient…

For an interim injunction affecting freedom of expression, the applicant must satisfy section 12 of the Human Rights Act 1998. The relevant threshold is…

In deciding costs, the court must first identify the successful party as a matter of substance and reality. A claimant who recovers only a very small fraction…

For standard disclosure, relevance is determined by the pleaded issues. A court must apply the disclosure test in CPR 31.6 and cannot order disclosure merely…

An employer may recruit employees of a commercial rival, including several employees at about the same time, provided that the recruitment is not effected…

For an appeal under section 204 of the Housing Act 1996, notification ordinarily occurs when the decision is delivered to the address notified by the…

In determining meaning in a defamation claim, the court must identify the single natural and ordinary meaning conveyed to the ordinary reasonable reader…

Under the Criminal Legal Aid (Remuneration) Regulations 2013, offence classification for graduated legal aid fees begins by construing the indictment and then…

A signed conditional fee agreement ordinarily binds the signatory to its terms. The Interfoto principle does not generally require a particularly onerous or…

An application under CPR 39.3 requires the applicant to establish each of three cumulative conditions: promptness, a good reason for failing to attend trial…

A person may be committed for contempt only where the relevant order is clear and unambiguous, bears a penal notice, has been effectively served, was capable…

Under Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act 2000, the Electoral Commission must return the original referendum return and accompanying documents to…

An interim payment on account of costs requires an existing costs order capable of detailed assessment. Where that order has not yet been made, the proper…

A contractual requirement that expenses are to be agreed by a sponsor acting reasonably ordinarily requires advance agreement. The expenses must be identified…

Section 9 of the Defamation Act 2013 creates a statutory jurisdictional bar which cannot be waived by failing to use CPR Part 11. Serious harm under s 1…

On an application for relief from sanction, the court must identify the breach, assess its seriousness and significance, consider why it occurred, and evaluate…

A party is presumed to have capacity unless cogent evidence establishes, on the balance of probabilities, an impairment or disturbance of mind or brain causing…

A following driver must leave sufficient distance and drive at a speed enabling reasonable traffic emergencies to be met. The duty is fact-sensitive. A driver…

A complaint under the Certification of Enforcement Agents Regulations 2014 may proceed even if the enforcement agent surrenders his certificate or it expires…

Medical negligence requires proof of both breach of duty and causation. The clinical judgment standard asks whether the doctor acted in accordance with a…

Evidence obtained improperly or covertly is not automatically excluded. The court must weigh the manner of obtaining it, its relevance and probative value, and…

For a self-employed driver whose vehicle is damaged, the usual measure of loss is the profit lost while the vehicle is reasonably off the road.…

An unincorporated association’s disciplinary rules form a contractual framework. Contractual powers must be exercised in good faith, fairly and rationally…

Interim relief in judicial review proceedings concerning a neighbourhood plan is governed by the American Cyanamid principles, modified for the public-law…

Healthcare professionals must take reasonable steps to secure informed consent immediately before a screening procedure. A clinician cannot rely solely on a…

A planning permission for a large development will generally be construed holistically. Unless its true construction reveals separate and independent acts of…

On an application for default judgment where the defendant is absent, the court should first determine whether the defendant received proper notice of the…

A protected person who lacks capacity to decide whether to know the amount of a personal injury settlement should ordinarily be informed of it. Withholding…

For an interim privacy or confidentiality injunction, the court must balance article 8 rights against article 10 rights and apply section 12 of the Human…

A claim may be struck out as an abuse of process where it seeks to relitigate issues raised, or which could and should have been raised, in earlier…

A general civil restraint order may be made where a party persists in issuing claims or making applications which are totally without merit, and an extended…

Where the applicable limitation law is foreign and the relevant choice-of-law rules disapply the Foreign Limitation Periods Act 1984, substitution of a new…

Applications for anonymity and expedition in privacy proceedings require clear and cogent evidence. A derogation from open justice must be strictly necessary…

Under the Evidence (Proceedings in Other Jurisdictions) Act 1975, the court should give effect to a foreign letter of request as far as possible once the…

A claimant may obtain summary judgment on misuse of private information where the information concerns sexuality, sexual life, health, finances or family life…

In a clinical-negligence claim, causation requires proof, on the balance of probabilities, of each material link in the hypothetical chain between breach and…

For the extended limitation period under Limitation Act 1980, time runs only when the claimant has cumulative knowledge of the material facts about the damage…

Claims against “persons unknown” remain subject to the ordinary requirements of adversarial civil litigation. The claimant must identify the persons against…

An employer’s decision under contractual medical disciplinary procedures to refer allegations to a disciplinary hearing is ordinarily a contractual discretion.…

Summary judgment may be granted where the defendant has no real prospect of successfully defending the claim, including a truth defence in defamation. A…

In a clinical negligence claim following sleeve gastrectomy, discharge was reasonable where the patient’s overall condition had improved sufficiently to permit…

The exercise of a prerogative power is not automatically justiciable. The court must first ask whether the subject matter is amenable to judicial standards.…

An appeal against refusal to amend pleadings and strike out a claim will succeed only if the lower court’s decision was wrong or unjust because of serious…

On an application to vary or discharge a planning injunction under section 187B of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990, the court must reassess necessity…

A management agreement may engage the restraint of trade doctrine even without an express exclusivity clause. The court must assess its practical effect, using…

Immigration detention must remain justified by a realistic prospect of removal within a reasonable time. The assessment requires a fact-sensitive balance…

In a clinical negligence claim, the standard of care is that of a reasonably competent practitioner performing the role in question. An obstetric registrar…

A creditor is not required to serve a default notice under section 87(1) of the Consumer Credit Act 1974 before reporting a default to credit reference…

A claim may be struck out as an abuse of process where it seeks to re-litigate a final decision on the merits between the same parties. Cause of action…

An interim injunction restraining industrial action is ordinarily determined on the merits. Under section 221 of the Trade Union and Labour Relations…

In assessing costs under Part 36, the financial value of a claim does not necessarily identify the successful party. Vindication and an admission of liability…

Costs remain discretionary even where the damages recovered are substantially less than the amount claimed. A large claim does not, without more, justify…

A private disciplinary body exercising contractual or equivalent disciplinary powers must act fairly and within the scope of the allegations notified to the…

A worldwide freezing order is an exceptional and draconian remedy. The applicant must show a good arguable case, assets outside the jurisdiction, and a real…

Permission to amend a statement of case should be granted where the proposed amendment has some prospect of success and is maintainable in established law…

An inter vivos gift is incomplete until the donor has done everything necessary, according to the nature of the property and the chosen mode of transfer, to…

On summary assessment, proportionality cannot be determined simply by comparing the receiving party’s costs with the paying party’s costs. The court must…

False contractual or statutory misrepresentations do not, without more, establish dishonesty or absence of honest belief. Under the Misrepresentation Act 1967…

Article 3 requires adequate systems for detainee healthcare and reasonable operational steps where a public authority knows, or ought to know, of a real and…

A motorist emerging from a minor road must take extreme care, look properly in both directions and allow for motorcycles that may be approaching faster than…

Permission to withdraw a pre-action admission must be determined by a global balancing of all the circumstances identified in CPR PD 14.7.2. The court should…

Damages for malicious prosecution must be assessed by reference to the harm actually suffered and in a manner that avoids double counting. The charge…

In a libel claim, meaning is determined by the single natural and ordinary meaning conveyed to the hypothetical reasonable reader, assessed in context and by…

The tort of conspiracy to injure by unlawful means requires a combination, unlawful means, an intention to injure and loss caused by the unlawful means.…

Under Defamation Act 2013, s.9, a claimant suing a defendant domiciled outside the specified jurisdictions must prove that England and Wales is clearly the…

Recognition and enforcement of an overseas judgment against a foreign state under section 31 of the Civil Jurisdiction and Judgments Act 1982 requires…

When a party seeks permission to adduce evidence very late, the court must apply the overriding objective by balancing the reason for the delay, the evidence’s…

An appellate court should interfere with factual findings based on oral evidence only in rare cases, such as where there was no supporting evidence, the…

In clinical negligence cases, expert agreement does not determine the standard of care. The court must assess the evidence itself and may accept a professional…

For an appeal to be in time, the relevant date is generally the date on which the lower court’s decision is formally announced, rather than the later date of…

The High Court retains jurisdiction under Human Rights Act 1998 section 6 to extend a former child defendant’s anonymity beyond the age of 18. Section 45A of…

Where Civil Procedure Rules 1998 rule 15.4 and the relevant orders prescribe no sanction for late service of a Defence, the appropriate application is for an…

For the purposes of Defamation Act 2013, s 1, serious harm must be proved as a fact, or shown to be likely as a matter of fact. Limited publication, absence of…

In a clinical negligence claim, a defendant is not negligent where the treatment adopted was supported by a responsible and logically defensible body of…

A serious delay in delivering judgment does not automatically invalidate the decision or require a retrial. The appellate court must scrutinise the findings…

For interim relief, the court applies the American Cyanamid principles: a serious issue to be tried, adequacy of damages, and the balance of convenience. Where…

Costs incurred in connection with an inquest may be recoverable as costs incidental to related civil proceedings. The court must first identify whether the…

The power to order disclosure of litigation funding information is ancillary to the court’s jurisdiction to make costs orders against non-parties. It is…

Under the current balloting provisions in the Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act 1992, employee categories must be identified sufficiently to…

Article 4(1) of the Judgments Regulation is mandatory and generally requires a person domiciled in a Member State to be sued in that state. However, it does…

For a slander claim, the claimant must prove both that the words were spoken and, under Defamation Act 2013, section 1, that publication caused or was likely…

On an application for default judgment, the court ordinarily proceeds on the basis of the claimant’s unchallenged statement of case. It need not investigate…

When deciding whether to extend a general civil restraint order, the court must balance the risk of vexatious litigation against the restrained party’s ability…

Priority between competing writs of control is determined by the time when each writ is received by the person under a duty to endorse it. From that time, the…

Where a defence has been filed before the court enters default judgment, the conditions for a regular judgment in default are not satisfied, even if the…

A decision to replace legal aid with a conditional fee agreement is reasonable where the claimant proves, in the particular circumstances, that the change was…

In a civil claim arising from historic sexual abuse, criminal convictions established the convicted assaults but did not determine whether additional alleged…

A person who makes fraudulent representations remains personally liable for deceit even when acting for a company. A company may also be liable where its…

Permission to amend a statement of case may be refused where the proposed claim has no real prospect of success, is incurably defective, or would constitute an…

A person reporting legal proceedings commits contempt by breaching a reporting restriction order where the person deliberately publishes a prohibited report…

A person who lacks capacity to conduct civil proceedings must have a litigation friend. Appointment requires evidence satisfying the court that the proposed…

Contemporaneous clinical records do not enjoy an inherent preference over oral evidence. The court must evaluate the documentary and testamentary evidence as a…

For professional defamation, an imputation need not allege habitual or general incompetence. A specific instance of professional negligence, or reasonable…

Where a defendant is domiciled in a Member State, jurisdiction under Article 4(1) of the Recast Regulation is mandatory, subject only to exceptions contained…

Applications for reporting restrictions affecting freedom of expression require proper and timely notice. Where the respondent is absent, the court has no…

The principles governing unreasonable or improper conduct under CPR 44.11 apply equally to costs budgets and bills of costs. A signed Precedent H budget is an…

A court may make continuation of a claim conditional on the provision of security for costs where the claims are sufficiently connected and the order does not…

A final injunction may properly restrain publication of defined categories of private information rather than being limited to passages already identified in…

A misuse of private information claim requires two distinct inquiries. First, the court asks objectively whether the claimant had a reasonable expectation of…

The Article 2 operational duty may potentially extend to new categories of vulnerable persons, including prisoners exposed to risks arising from drugs obtained…

A hospital may breach its duty by failing to consider a trauma call where information suggests a high-speed collision, even though the applicable protocol does…

An application to try limitation as a preliminary issue is a fact-sensitive case-management decision governed by the overriding objective. The court must…

For jurisdiction under the Judgments Regulation, a person may be domiciled in England where he is resident here and the nature and circumstances of his…

An appellate court should rarely disturb a trial judge’s primary findings of fact where credibility was in issue. A resulting trust may arise where one person…

An applicant for an injunction is ordinarily required to give an undertaking in damages. The applicant bears the burden of showing why that protection should…

Under the Civil Procedure Rules 1998, the court may assess separately whether injustice justifies withholding each consequence under rule 36.17(4), although…

A post-termination restraint is enforceable only so far as reasonably necessary to protect legitimate business interests. An employer cannot use a…

A hotel proprietor may owe guests a duty to take reasonable care to protect them against injury caused by criminal acts of third parties. The duty arises from…

In an LLP, members’ rights on leaving depend on the LLP agreement where that agreement contains provisions governing cessation of membership. A fixed minimum…

Relief from sanctions is discretionary. The court must assess not only the length and significance of the delay, but also whether the applicant acted promptly…

For Highways Act 1980 section 36(2)(a) to apply, a way need not have been intended or dedicated as a highway when constructed. It is sufficient that a highway…

An application for an interim injunction without notice is exceptional. The applicant must give a clear, evidence-based explanation for secrecy, address the…

In personal injury claims, life expectancy is ordinarily addressed through the Ogden Tables. Bespoke evidence is justified where the injury itself affects life…

A freezing injunction requires a good arguable case for a monetary claim, a real risk of dissipation, and a restraint no wider than necessary. An applicant…

An interim confidentiality injunction may be continued where the claimant shows a sufficient risk of wrongful use or disclosure and is likely to establish at…

Where a claimant changes from legal aid to a conditional fee agreement with after-the-event insurance, the receiving party must justify the choice and explain…

Where a defamatory meaning does not itself support an inference of serious reputational harm, a claimant relying on actual or likely serious harm must plead…

Section 329 of the Criminal Justice Act 2003 may provide a defence to civil proceedings for assault brought by a convicted offender, including proceedings…

Vicarious liability is fact sensitive and is rarely suitable for strike out or summary judgment. The court must assess the pleaded circumstances cumulatively…

When a legally aided litigant switches to a conditional fee arrangement, the recoverability of resulting additional liabilities depends on the objective…

A claimant must prove the alleged accident mechanism and causative injury on the balance of probabilities. Where the evidence shows that a proposed equipment…

On an interim application to restrain threatened disclosure of confidential information, the claimant must show a likely prospect of establishing at trial that…

Under the pre-April 2013 costs regime, proportionality was assessed globally before the item-by-item assessment. The costs judge was then required to apply…

In a claim involving an indivisible medical injury, the claimant must establish on the balance of probabilities that the defendant’s breach made a material…

In a clinical negligence claim concerning tocolysis, the court must assess breach by reference to the standards reasonably applicable at the time of treatment.…

Defamatory meaning must be determined by reference to the publication as a whole, including its headline and body. A headline may be defamatory in isolation…

An appellate court should be slow to interfere with a trial judge’s primary findings of fact. It must identify an appealable error in the process of reasoning…

In group litigation, the court may determine and order payment of costs for a discrete group of common issues before the litigation as a whole concludes.…

In defamation claims concerning religious disciplinary communications, an imputation of fraud may be actionable per se where it conveys criminal fraud for…

At a preliminary equal-value stage, the court’s function is to determine the facts describing the work performed, so that an independent expert can assess…

In a defamation claim concerning a regulator’s press statement about an unsuccessful appeal, the court held that the statement had to be read in the context of…

Summary judgment is appropriate where the defendant has no real prospect of successfully defending the claim and there is no other compelling reason for trial.…

Registration of an EU judgment for enforcement is a deliberately limited, largely mechanical process. At the ex parte stage the court principally verifies the…

In committal proceedings, the applicant bears the burden of proving each alleged breach beyond reasonable doubt. An order must be construed strictly, with…

On an appeal from a costs-budgeting decision, the appellate court should interfere only where the budgeting judge made an error of law or reached a figure that…

In determining defamatory meaning, the court must assess the words as a whole and the inferences a reasonable reader would draw from their context. Chase…

When deciding an application for relief from sanctions, the court need not recite the Denton stages in a fixed formula. The question is whether the substance…

In detailed assessment proceedings, a receiving party may make a valid Part 36 offer expressed to exclude interest. Judgment debt interest is ordinarily…

A proposed amendment must plead a coherent case with a reasonable basis and a real prospect of success. A defendant is not liable for another person’s…

In assessing an interim payment, the court must make a conservative estimate of the likely capital judgment and award no more than a reasonable proportion of…

In a professional negligence claim concerning a property transaction, a solicitor must take reasonable steps to ensure that the documents implement the…

In assessing damages for prolonged sexual abuse causing severe psychiatric injury, the court must consider both the psychiatric consequences and the immediate…

The availability of a Public Spaces Protection Order does not create a general rule requiring a local authority to use that remedy instead of seeking a civil…

A public-sector landlord considering possession proceedings affecting a disabled person is subject to the public sector equality duty. The duty requires due…

Where judicial documents must be served abroad under the Hague Convention, alternative service should generally be ordered only in exceptional circumstances…

A driver must exercise the care reasonably expected in the circumstances, assessed without hindsight or a counsel of perfection. A pedestrian visible on a…

In determining the natural and ordinary meaning of allegedly defamatory words, the court must assess the publication as a whole through the eyes of the…

Police use of force must be justified at three levels: the decision to use force, the type of force selected, and its extent. Reasonableness is assessed in all…

In a claim for damages for the lost years, the court must identify the claimant’s real pecuniary loss. Earnings or income which continue after death are not…

Under section 57 of the Criminal Justice and Courts Act 2015, a fundamental-dishonesty application may be determined after entitlement to damages is…

A claimant must litigate the case disclosed by the pleadings and cannot expand it at trial by recasting the alleged defect. Where the pleaded case excludes…

Future loss of earnings should normally be assessed by the conventional multiplier/multiplicand method. A Smith v Manchester award is appropriate where…

On an interim information application, the court may tailor disclosure to the information needed for effective short-term case management. A broad request for…

The unlawful means tort remains confined to carefully defined economic interests. It requires deliberate use of unlawful means affecting a third party’s…

The Civil Liability (Contribution) Act 1978 has mandatory or overriding effect in contribution proceedings brought in England and Wales. It therefore applies…

In a professional negligence claim concerning a lost underlying action, the claimant must show that the negligence caused the loss of an opportunity with a…

Medical negligence is assessed by the standard applicable when the conduct occurred. A practice accepted as proper by a responsible body of skilled medical…

For jurisdiction under the Recast Brussels Regulation, the claimant must establish a good arguable case, assessed by reference to a plausible evidential basis…

Under section 104 of the Equality Act 2010, a political party must assess inequality by reference to its current elected representatives in the relevant body.…

Permission to make a very late amendment is discretionary and must be determined by balancing the applicant’s prejudice against the prejudice to the opposing…

An interim third-party debt order is a routine enforcement procedure, not exceptional relief. An applicant must provide accurate evidence and make disclosure…

A person will generally have a reasonable expectation of privacy in the fact and details of a criminal investigation concerning them before charge. That…

Under CPR 45.29J, departure from fixed recoverable costs requires genuinely exceptional circumstances. The threshold is high and must be assessed against the…

Paragraph 6(b) of Schedule 1 to the Housing Act 1985 creates an exception to security of tenure for short-term accommodation arrangements. Its construction…

A contractual cause of action for breach of a simple contract accrues when the breach occurs. Where performance is conditional and no express time is fixed…

On an interim payment application, the court must make a conservative assessment of the likely final judgment and may order no more than a reasonable…

A mother whose child is stillborn as a result of negligence is a primary victim. She need not satisfy the Alcock control mechanisms or prove that her injury…

In determining the natural and ordinary meaning of allegedly defamatory words, the court must assess the publication as a whole from the perspective of the…

For a preliminary trial of serious harm in a defamation claim, the ordinary burdens and standards of proof apply. Serious harm under Defamation Act 2013…

On an appeal against findings of fact, the appellate court must ask whether the trial judge erred, not whether it would have reached a different conclusion. A…

In clinical negligence, the Bolam test applies to the choice and performance of surgical technique, subject to the requirement in Bolitho that supporting…

A data controller responding to a subject access request must conduct a reasonable and proportionate search, but must not apply blanket exemptions to retrieved…

Under section 24 of the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984, reasonable suspicion is a low threshold, but the necessity of arrest imposes a distinct and…

In an appeal concerning the discretion under section 33 of the Limitation Act 1980, the appellate court should intervene only for an error of principle or a…

Apparent bias is assessed by asking whether the fair-minded and informed observer, having considered all relevant circumstances, would conclude that there was…

In an undefended libel claim, default judgment may be entered without a hearing where the procedural requirements are met and the court can fairly determine…

The scope of an occupier’s or organiser’s duty of care at a social event is fact-specific. The provision of alcohol does not automatically require written…

A director who induces the company to breach a contract is protected by the rule in Said v Butt only when acting bona fide within the scope of the director’s…

An indemnity clause covering liability, loss, claims or proceedings arising from defective works may extend to the costs of an appeal. The question is whether…

In a clinical negligence claim, breach of duty is assessed prospectively by reference to what was known, or ought to have been known, at the time. A…

For substitution after expiry of a limitation period, the relevant mistake is one as to the defendant’s name, rather than the defendant’s identity or legal…

In determining the meaning of words in a defamation claim, the court must assess the single meaning conveyed to the hypothetical reasonable reader by the…

In a clinical negligence claim, compliance with an established medical practice is not negligent merely because another responsible body would have acted…

For an interim payment, the court applies the procedural law of the forum, even where the substantive claim is governed by foreign law. The applicant must…

Private law proceedings are not automatically excluded merely because the alleged wrong involves a public authority or raises the validity of a public law…

Informed consent requires a doctor to take reasonable care to ensure that a patient understands material risks, including their possible severity and impact.…

At an interlocutory stage, a claim has a realistic prospect of success where it is more than fanciful, but the court should avoid conducting a mini-trial. A…

Current suicidal ideation and planning indicate a high risk of self-harm and ordinarily require urgent referral to a crisis team. Past ideation and planning…

When deciding whether to extend the statutory time limit for a homelessness appeal, the court must examine all the circumstances and ask whether there was a…

The natural and ordinary meaning of an alleged libel is determined from the publication as a whole and by its overall effect on the ordinary reasonable reader.…

In a clinical negligence claim, the claimant bears the burden of proving factual causation. An increase in risk does not, by itself, establish that the breach…

Contributory negligence in a road collision requires an apportionment exercise based on the causative potency and blameworthiness of each party’s conduct. The…

In a fatal-accident dependency claim, future financial and services losses must be assessed by estimating what would probably have happened, while allowing for…

This judgment holds that the contracts between sub-postmasters and Post Office Ltd were relational contracts. They carried an implied duty of good faith…

A person who undertakes legal work for reward, and holds himself out as possessing the skill of a competent legal professional, owes the client the…

An order directing an account does not bring the litigation to an end. The court retains jurisdiction to manage the accounting process and to determine issues…

A judgment entered after proceedings were served at an address which the claimant knew the defendant had left is irregular where reasonable steps under Part…

A person may be in contempt of a worldwide injunction where they have notice of its substance, even though personal service has been dispensed with. Publishing…

The open justice principle requires hearings and judgments to identify the parties unless anonymity is necessary. An adult litigant of full capacity who…

In clinical negligence, a patient must receive sufficient information about material risks and reasonable alternatives to make an informed choice. Where…

On an appeal concerning assessed costs, an appellate court should interfere with a discretionary costs decision only where the lower court exceeded the…

In a defamation claim where meaning is tried as a preliminary issue, the claimant may apply to amend a pleaded meaning, including by raising a more serious…

In a property dispute between joint legal owners, unequal financial contributions do not by themselves displace the presumption that beneficial ownership…

Under a conditional fee agreement incorporating the Law Society’s standard terms, an opinion about “making a settlement” is not confined to advice on accepting…

Under the Consumer Protection Act 1987, a claimant need not identify the precise mechanism by which a product became unsafe. It is sufficient to establish, on…

Where substantial issues of causation remain unresolved, the court should not determine an interim payment application by assuming that those issues will be…

An employer’s duty to provide health surveillance under Control of Substances Hazardous to Health Regulations 2002, regulation 11, arises only where the…

On an appeal from findings of fact in a highway-defect claim, the appellate court must exercise caution and may intervene only where the trial judge was…

In medical negligence claims, compliance with a practice supported by a responsible body of medical opinion does not automatically establish that treatment was…

An appellate court should exercise great caution before overturning a trial judge’s findings of fact. Intervention is justified only where the finding had no…

In a clinical negligence claim involving acute low back pain, a general practitioner must take an adequate history and conduct an adequate examination to…

For an interim injunction against industrial action, Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act 1992, sections 221 and 219 require the court to focus…

On an application for default judgment requiring a hearing, the court must determine what judgment the claimant is entitled to on the statement of case and…

A court should override a third party’s confidentiality obligation only to the extent necessary to resolve the proceedings fairly. The centrality of the…

The successful party ordinarily recovers its costs, but the usual standard basis should be displaced only where the conduct is out of the norm or unreasonable…

Limitation runs from accrual of the particular contractual cause of action relied upon. A reimbursement clause may create a separate cause of action even where…

A libel claim must identify a viable publication by the defendant to a third party. An inferred publication may be pleaded only in very exceptional…

A default judgment may be set aside under Part 13.3 where the application was made promptly in the circumstances, even though it could have been made sooner.…

Permission to amend a statement of case is discretionary. The court must refuse an amendment which is unclear, hopeless, abusive or non-justiciable. A very…

Relief from sanctions for failure to serve witness statements does not give a party carte blanche to call every proposed witness. Where permission to serve a…

Religious bodies do not enjoy general immunity from defamation claims merely because the publication arose from an internal religious decision. Claims…

Relief from sanctions requires application of the three-stage Mitchell/Denton approach. The court must assess the seriousness and significance of the breach…

Under the Evidence (Proceedings in Other Jurisdictions) Act 1975, jurisdiction to assist a foreign court arises under section 1. Section 2 confers a…

A mandatory interim injunction may be granted where there is a serious issue to be tried, the applicant has a substantial or high degree of assurance of…

The court may disapply the limitation period for personal injury claims where, considering all the circumstances, a fair trial remains possible and it is…

An application for security for costs under CPR 25.13 involves two stages. The court must first determine whether a specified condition is satisfied. If so, it…

A confidential-information claim may be brought to an end by agreement through a Tomlin order. Where the parties have agreed clear undertakings, documentary…

For detention pending deportation to be lawful, the underlying decision to deport must itself be lawful. Convention safety issues, including the risk of…

In a medical negligence claim, a claimant need prove only that the breach probably caused the injury or death. The claimant need not establish the precise…

In a defamation claim, meaning is assessed by the impression conveyed to the ordinary reasonable reader, reading the publication as a whole and in context. The…

In group litigation, the scope of a trial is governed by the pleaded case and the issues defined by the Group Litigation Order. A party cannot expand that…

Open justice is a fundamental constitutional and Convention principle. A civil hearing may be conducted in private only where a clear case establishes that…

A treaty-created European Union institution or office has no legal personality in English law unless that status has been incorporated or otherwise conferred…

A defamation claim should be dismissed as an abuse of process under the Jameel jurisdiction only where the resources required for adjudication are wholly…

Permission to appeal in a conspiracy claim should be granted only where the pleaded case has a realistic prospect of overcoming the legal defects identified…

An employer may owe a duty to protect members of an employee’s family from secondary asbestos exposure where such exposure is reasonably foreseeable. Liability…

At an approval hearing involving child claimants, the court must balance open justice against the protection of privacy and confidentiality. The hearing should…

On an appeal from refusal to strike out or summarily dismiss a claim, the appellate court may intervene where the lower court has erred in principle or reached…

A claimant who obtained an interim injunction requires the court’s permission to discontinue, but the discretion remains broad and principled. The court must…

An indemnity costs order requires conduct that takes the case out of the norm. Unreasonable conduct must generally be unreasonable to a high degree; refusal of…

In a defamation claim, natural and ordinary meaning is assessed from the impression made on the hypothetical ordinary reasonable viewer or reader, having…

In a contractual damages claim, a breach must be an effective or dominant cause of the loss. It need not be the sole cause and may be one of several…

Where future treatment costs are liable to change quickly in duration, prescription or expense, a court-ordered periodical payments order may be unsuitable…

In determining the meaning of allegedly defamatory words, the court must consider the publication as a whole from the viewpoint of the hypothetical reasonable…

A Part 36 offer may remain effective despite a formal or technical defect where the defect causes no real uncertainty or prejudice and is properly treated as…

In proceedings engaging competing public interests, costs should not automatically follow the event. Under Civil Procedure Rules 1998 CPR 44, the court retains…

On an appeal from a specialist Technology and Construction Court decision, the appellate court must review rather than rehear the case. It should respect…

For an interim injunction restraining threatened disclosure of confidential information, the claimant must show a sufficient threat or risk of publication, a…

An oral contract may be made without written formalities. The absence of a written record concerns proof rather than validity. In a substantial commercial…

Extensions of time in group litigation are exceptional because parties require certainty for effective case management. The court must nevertheless balance…

When sentencing for contempt arising from breach of an injunction, the court must assess the harm caused or risked and the contemnor’s culpability. The penalty…

A split trial is a discretionary case-management decision governed by the overriding objective. The court must balance prospective savings against the risk of…

An employer’s duty to investigate workplace noise does not arise automatically upon publication of guidance. A reasonable period must be allowed for the…

Procedural fairness at a planning inquiry requires that participants know the case they must meet and have a reasonable opportunity to adduce evidence and make…

Disclosure of sensitive air-safety investigation material to the public requires an objective balancing exercise. The benefits of disclosure must outweigh its…

A membership organisation’s contractual disciplinary procedures may be subject to an implied duty of procedural fairness. The content of that duty depends on…

Amendment should be refused where the proposed pleading would itself be liable to strike out or summary judgment. The court must assess whether the pleaded…

A driver emerging from a minor road must take extreme care and obtain a sufficiently comprehensive view of the major road before proceeding. It is insufficient…

A clinician advising on medication must warn of material risks and reasonable alternatives. Whether a risk is material is for the court, applying the…

In a negligence claim arising from injury to an innocent bystander during an emergency, liability is determined by the ordinary tests of objective…

Applications to compel a journalist to identify confidential sources engage the statutory protection in Contempt of Court Act 1981, s 10, read compatibly with…

A hospital is liable in negligence where it fails to pass a receiving care home specific information about a patient’s known risks, and that omission…

The natural and ordinary meaning of an allegedly defamatory book is the broad impression conveyed to the hypothetical reasonable reader by the whole…

After default judgment, remedies are ordinarily assessed on the claimant’s unchallenged pleaded case. Evidence and factual findings are unnecessary unless the…

Immigration detention is lawful only if the statutory conditions for detention are met. Under section 3(8) of the Immigration Act 1971, a person claiming to…

On the civil balance of probabilities, the seriousness of an allegation affects the inherent probabilities and the strength of evidence required, but does not…

Insurance wording must be construed objectively and contextually, with the words used remaining primary. Under a policy covering accidental damage to property…

Restrictive covenants are enforceable only so far as reasonably necessary to protect legitimate business interests assessed when the employment contract was…

A declaration should not ordinarily proceed against a party which has no direct liability to the claimant where the declaration will not bind the insurer…

A challenge to late service of a claim form, where the court has jurisdiction but is said not to be entitled to exercise it, must be made under CPR Part 11.…

In a defamation claim, the court must identify the single natural and ordinary meaning conveyed to the hypothetical reasonable reader, who reads the…

An insurer may be ordered under section 51 of the Senior Courts Act 1981 to pay a successful claimant’s costs even where the insured formally controlled the…

A breach of the public sector equality duty under Equality Act 2010, section 149, does not automatically determine a possession claim. The duty requires a…

In an appropriate personal injury claim, statistical evidence on life expectancy may be admitted alongside clinical evidence. The court is not confined to…

A party’s repeated and serious failures to comply with disclosure obligations may justify indemnity costs where the conduct takes the case out of the norm. A…

Summary judgment in a civil recovery claim is appropriate only where the defendant’s case has no real prospect of success, in the sense that it is false…