18 St John Street Barrister Dr Mike Wilkinson successfully applied to set aside a default judgement for £200,000…
Default judgment for £200k set aside and the time for service was not extended where the Claimant’s solicitor had inadvertently re-sent a letter of claim when attempting to serve a claim form and particulars of claim…
Acting for the defendants, Mike (instructed by Stephen Cordon at Dwyers) successfully applied to set aside a default judgment for £200,000 on the grounds that service of a claim form had been invalid as it had been sent in an envelope which contained a letter of claim that had been mistakenly reproduced and sent in error by the Claimant’s solicitors.
Taking the decision of Christopher Clarke J (as he was then) in Asia Pacific (UK) Ltd v Hanjin Shipping Company Limited [2005] EWHC 243 (see para.33) as a starting point, Recorder Geraint Jones QC held that the relevant test for service was whether an objective reader, knowing the relevant factual background, would read the letter of claim as a whole to indicate that service was not then being effected.
The Recorder held that the benefit of any doubt should go to the receiving party and went on to refuse to extend the time for serving the claim form under r7.6 CPR on the grounds that the Claimant’s solicitors could and reasonably should have re-served the claim form within the four month period proscribed by r7.5 upon issue first being taken with the service by the Defendant’s solicitors.
For more information on Dr Michael Wilkinson please contact Chambers Director James Parks on 0161 278 8202 or email jparks@18sjs.com or contact the clerks on 0161 278 8261 or email businessproperty@18sjs.com
