Editorial: On Unreasonableness and Opportunism – Aidan Ellis, Temple Garden Chambers
22/08/14. One of the surprising aspects of Denton v TH White Ltd [2014] EWCA Civ 906, was the criticism which the Court of Appeal reserved for those who resist successful applications for relief from sanctions. According to Denton, unreasonableness and opportunism are inimical to cooperation and the avoidance of satellite litigation. Those who unreasonably oppose applications for relief must therefore be punished – not only by the costs of the application but by placing a marker in the Order that such conduct may be penalized in the assessment of costs at the end of the proceedings (see paragraphs 42 – 43).
Following the strident terms and robust language of the earlier decision in Mitchell v News Group Newspapers Ltd [2013] EWCA Civ 1537 and its application particularly in the County Courts, it became very difficult to advise a client to consent to an application for relief from sanctions. In the post-Mitchell era, to consent might have...
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