Civil Procedure Rules - 49th update
There have been a couple of changes in the 49th update to the Civil Procedure Rules that have come into force.
Firstly, a new practice direction on pre-action conduct has been brought into force with the aim of enabling parties to try and settle an issue without the need to start court action. The principles behind this are to encourage parties to exchange sufficient information about the issue to understand the claim and each other's position so they can make an informed decision about settlement.
Please note, the new direction is not intended to apply to debt claims where there is no dispute that money is owed and where the claimant follows a statutory or other formal pre action procedure.
The new procedure includes a claimant's letter before claim prior to the start of proceedings. The defendant is then allowed 14 days to acknowledge the letter and a reasonable amount of time (generally 14 days) to provide a full response. In a debt claim where the claimant is a business, it also requires that they provide specific information to an individual defendant. This includes;
- Details of how the money can be paid (eg the method of payment and the address to which it can be sent).
- Confirmation that the defendant can contact the claimant to discuss possible repayment options.
- Highlighting that free advice and assistance is available and providing them with a list of organisations.
This information can be provided at any time between the claimant first intimating the possibility of court action and the claimant's letter before claim.
Failure to comply with the new Direction may result in staying proceedings until directions have been met or ordering that the party at fault pays the costs or part of the costs. Parties may also be required to explain what steps were taken to comply with the practice direction prior to commencement of the claim.
In following this new Direction, it's believed that both parties will have an opportunity to try and resolve the matter before taking it to court. At the very least they should be able to establish what issues are left outstanding so it can narrow the scope of the proceedings and therefore limit potential costs.
The second amendment is in regards to fast track claims. Any proceedings where the value of the claim is not more than £25k will be allocated to the fast track. This was previously £15k.
Obviously LRC will be taking on board both of these amendments and should you have any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact us.
