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You are here: BAILII >> Databases >> England and Wales High Court (Commercial Court) Decisions >> James Fisher Everard Ltd & Ors v European Diesel Services [2021] EWHC 978 (Comm) (19 March 2021) URL: http://www.bailii.org/ew/cases/EWHC/Comm/2021/978.html Cite as: [2021] EWHC 978 (Comm) |
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BUSINESS AND PROPERTY COURTS
OF ENGLAND AND WALES
COMMERCIAL COURT (QBD)
Fetter Lane London, EC4A 1NL |
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B e f o r e :
____________________
JAMES FISHER EVERARD LTD & TWO OTHERS |
Claimants |
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- and - |
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EUROPEAN DIESEL SERVICES |
Defendant |
____________________
MR P. LAND (instructed by Kuit Steinart Levy LLP ) appeared on behalf the Defendant.
____________________
Crown Copyright ©
MR JUSTICE BRYAN:
"Except where these Rules provide otherwise, the court may:
(a) extend or shorten the time for compliance with any rule, practice direction or court order (even if an application for extension is made after the time for compliance has expired)."
The applicable principle to be applied in relation to such case management is the overriding objective in CPR 1.1, and in particular CPR 1.1(2):
"Dealing with a case justly and at proportionate cost includes, so far
as is practicable:
(a) ensuring that the parties are on an equal footing;
(b) saving expense;
(c) dealing with the case in ways which are proportionate –
(i) to the amount of money involved;
(ii) to the importance of the case;
(iii) to the complexity of the issues; and
(iv) to the financial position of each party;
(d) ensuring that it is dealt with expeditiously and fairly;
(e) allotting to it an appropriate share of the court's resources, while taking into account the need to allot resources to other cases; and
(f) enforcing compliance with rules, practice directions and orders."
I would add that para.(f) was added in the wake of the CPR and the Mitchell principles.
"... the court will scrutinise an application for an extension more rigorously than [before the Jackson Reforms] and that it must firmly discourage any easy assumption that an extension of time will be granted if it would not involve any obvious prejudice to the other side."
He continued, and I quote:
"53. On the other hand, I think it is important not to go to the other extreme, and not to encourage unreasonable opposition to extensions which are applied for in time and which involve no significant fresh prejudice to the other parties. In cases of that nature, considerations of cost and proportionality are highly relevant, and the wider interests of justice are likely to be better served by a sensible agreement, or a short unopposed hearing, than by the adoption of entrenched positions and the expenditure of much money and court time in preparing for and dealing with an application that could have been avoided.
54. I would also observe that, although all court orders mean what they say, and must be complied with even if made by consent, there are some orders relating to the completion of specified stages in preparation for trial (such as disclosure, the exchange of witness statements or a timetable for expert evidence) where there may still be so many imponderables when the order is made that the date for compliance cannot sensibly be regarded as written in stone. Everything will always depend on the circumstances of the particular case, and the stage in the proceedings when the order is made, but in many such cases it should be understood that there may be a need for reasonable extensions of time or other adjustments as the matter develops. It would, I think, be unfortunate if the new and salutary emphasis on compliance with orders were to lead to a situation where, in cases of the general type I have described, a reasonable request for an extension were to be rejected in the hope that the court might be persuaded to refuse any extension at all."
At para.54 he continued:
"The defendants' stance disregarded the duty of the parties and their representatives to cooperate with each other in the conduct of proceedings and the need for litigation to be conducted efficiently and at proportionate cost. It stood Mitchell on its head."
"The consistent message from these authorities is that a party who needs more time for a procedural step in existing proceedings should not just ignore the problem but should ask the other side for consent, and if consent is not forthcoming, should make an in-time application for an extension; and conversely that the other side should respond positively and in a spirit of co-operation to reasonable requests for consent rather than 'cry foul' and seek to take opportunistic advantage of the other party's difficulties."
"I accept entirely Mr Jones's submission that the absence of any significant prejudice to the other party is no longer to be regarded (if it ever was) as sufficient reason by itself to grant an extension of time regardless of other considerations. But it does not seem to me to follow that it has ceased to be of any relevance. Dealing with the case justly in my view requires the court to weigh up the respective disadvantages to both sides of granting or refusing the application, and the fact that there is no, or no readily discernible, disadvantage to Dilip in granting the extension, and potentially overwhelming prejudice to the respondents in refusing it, is to my mind a very material consideration."
Then at [75], he said as follows:
" That leaves sub-paragraph (f), which I will set out again for the sake of convenience:
'... enforcing compliance with rules, practice directions and orders.'
I have already said that the message I discern from the cases is that parties should respect the rules and orders of the court and if they get into time difficulties should ask the other party for consent to an extension, and failing that make an in-time application for an extension. This is what the respondents have done, and they are not to be treated as if they were in default and applying for relief from sanctions."
Then at [76]:
"However I accept that the new culture exemplified by Mitchell means that parties cannot expect to get an extension simply by asking for it. They do have to explain to the court why they need it, and the court will scrutinise the reasons put forward. Here that means looking at why the extension was sought." (emphasis added)