The Court of Appeal, facing a massive backlog of cases, warned today that it would not tolerate unnecessary delays in bringing claims to court. Delays that prejudiced fair trials would be struck out, the judges said.
The warning came as Waller and May LJJ ruled that the High Court should have struck out a claim by Co-operative Retail Services against Guardian Assurance over damage to property at Barnstaple in the early 1990s.
Guardian claimed that Co-operative had left it too late to bring the action and that it should be struck out for want of prosecution. But the High Court rejected the claim, saying the five-year delay had not caused substantial prejudice.
Today the appeal judges said the High Court ruling was wrong. Allowing Guardian’s appeal, May LJ said that the events took place so long ago that there was a substantial and obvious risk of an unfair trial.
“The trial would not be fair for the parties, including the defendants, who would therefore be seriously prejudiced,” he said.
He said reconstructing events would be a “painstaking and time consuming business”, and it would not be just to use the resources of the courts in this way.
The case concerned retail premises in Barnstaple High Street owned by Co-operative. Guardian acquired a development site next to the premises in 1989. The claim arose out of damage allegedly caused after Guardian contractors underpinned walls belonging to Co-operative.
Co-operative Retail Services Ltd v Guardian Assurance plc, Court of Appeal (Waller and May LJJ) 28 July 1999
PLS News 28/7/99
