PI Brief Update

Chartwell Estate Agents and the Mitchell decision - Lisa Dobie, 1 Chancery Lane

04/06/14. Having delivered and attended several post Mitchell case updates, one recent decision that surprised and interested me (in the context of other post Mitchell decisions) was Chartwell Estate Agents Ltd v (1) Fergies Properties SA and Another [2014] EWHC 438. This decision was appealed and the Court of Appeal’s decision appeared on Lawtel.

So why did I find the first instance decision surprising? We know from Mitchell and subsequent case law that a) if a party is in breach of a rule, order or practice direction and that breach is more than trivial and b) there is no good explanation for it, then the chances of obtaining relief from sanctions were looking rather slim. Not impossible, but slim.

The background to Chartwell’s application was as follows:

The underlying dispute concerned non-payment of £450,000 of commission which was alleged to be due;

The non-compliance related to service of witness statements and the cross over between relief from sanctions and CPR 32.10.

Both parties had failed to comply with the direction for service of witness statements;

Notably, the Claimant alleged that they could not comply with the direction because they were...

Image cc Ian Britton

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