Lord Dyson warning on non-compliance with CPR

Lord Dyson MR has warned litigants that 1 April 2013 heralds a tough new approach to non-compliance with the Civil Procedure Rules (CPR) and to relief from sanctions.

Speaking at the District Judges' Annual Seminar on 26 March, Lord Dyson stated that parties should "no longer expect indulgence if they fail to comply with their procedural obligations".

He observed that courts at all levels, including the Court of Appeal, had previously focused too closely on achieving justice in individual cases without considering the impact of tolerating non-compliance and granting relief from sanctions on the system as a whole.

He stated:

He stressed that the decision in Henry v News Group Newspapers Ltd [2013] EWCA Civ 19 was not to be taken to indicate that non-compliance with the new costs management procedure would be tolerated, stressing that it had been decided under the pre-1 April 2013 CPR.

He acknowledged that in some lower value cases, applying the principle of doing justice at proportionate cost might mean deciding issues on the basis of less evidence than previously.

Source: Litigation Futures: Dyson sends out pre-Jackson warning over non-compliance with CPR (26 March 2013).