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Shooting Admiral Byng - Ian Miller, 1 Chancery Lane

05/12/14. Admiral Byng was held responsible for the loss of Minorca in 1756. He was relieved of his command, court martialled and shot by a firing squad. Voltaire remarked of the decision to shoot him that it was beneficial to kill an Admiral from time to time “pour encourager les autres”. Although Hildyard J. made reference to Admiral Byng in his judgment in the case of Caliendo v Mishcon de Reya [2014] EWHC 3414 he was not prepared metaphorically to shoot the Claimant’s solicitors, DLA Piper LLP, to encourage the rest of us.

DLA were 3½ months late in serving notice on the defendant of the existence of a CFA and an ATE policy in a professional negligence claim. They made an application for relief from sanctions at the time of service of proceedings and admitted that they had no good reason for their failure...

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