The Civil Procedure (Amendment) Rules 2024

EXPLANATORY NOTE

(This note is not part of these Rules)

These Rules amend the Civil Procedure Rules 1998 (S.I. 1998/3132) by—

• amending Part 8 (alternative procedure for claims) to change a cross-reference in consequence of changes previously made to Part 14 (admissions);

• amending Part 15 (defence and reply) to change a cross-reference to Part 24 (summary judgment);

• amending Part 19 to update a cross-reference to rule 19.5 (which is now rule 19.6);

• amending Part 26 (case management – preliminary stage)—

  • to clarify that the court shall allocate a claim to track after the parties have filed their directions questionnaires, not at the point at which the directions questionnaires are filed;

  • to provide that in the circumstances in which a claim for clinical negligence may be allocated to the intermediate track rather than the multi-track, the defendant’s admission of liability in full must be provided in accordance with the appropriate pre-action protocol letter of response, and to define the meaning of “admission of liability in full”; and

  • to provide that a claim against a public authority for trespass to the person must be allocated to the multi-track, unless, having regard to rule 26.13(1), the court considers that it would not be in the interests of justice to do so;

• amending Part 28 (the fast track and the intermediate track)—

  • to provide that the court shall give directions when it allocates a claim to the fast track, unless it fixes a case management conference, and may give directions or fix a case management conference when it allocates a claim to the intermediate track;

  • to provide that, in the intermediate track, the holding of a case management conference is at the court’s discretion, rather than mandatory; and

  • to clarify the documents which should be included, and those which should be excluded, when applying the twenty page limit on expert reports in claims allocated to the intermediate track;

• amending Part 31 (disclosure and inspection of documents) to provide that rule 31.5 applies to claims allocated to the intermediate track as well as the multi-track;

• amending Part 45 (fixed costs)—

  • to provide that any changes to the fixed recoverable costs in Tables 12, 14 or 15 in Practice Direction 45 which come into force on 6th April 2024 will apply to orders for costs made on or after that date in claims issued before that date

  • to clarify that in claims to which Sections IV, VI, VII or VIII of that Part apply, the parties may expressly agree that Part 45 shall not apply;

  • to provide that Part 45 does not apply to costs incurred in respect of, or in connection with, inquest proceedings;

  • to address the situation under rule 45.5(8) where one or more claimants, jointly entitled to one set of costs under rule 45.5, might be entitled to both additional costs under Part 36 and increased costs under rule 45.13(2), rather than only additional costs or increased costs;

  • to provide that the costs incurred in respect of restoration proceedings are recoverable in claims to which Sections VI, VII and VIII of Part 45 apply, and not, as was previously the case, Section VIII only, in respect of which some consequential amendments are made to Sections VIII and IX of Part 45; and

  • to change two cross-references to Part 36 (offers to settle);

• amending Part 54 (judicial review and statutory review) to flag the specific time limit provided for in the Public Service Obligations in Transport Regulations 2023; to make provision for claimants in judicial review proceedings to be able to file a reply to an acknowledgment of service; and to make minor updating changes;

• amending Part 81 (applications and proceedings in relation to contempt of court) to clarify the nature of a penal notice in the light of Taray Brokering [2022] EWHC 2958 (Ch).