ENGLAND & WALES Law and Practice Contributed by: Damian Taylor, Olga Ladrowska, Christy Conlon and Nathan Barrow, Slaughter and May
defendant’s usual or last known address or an agreed address, or in another manner permitted by the court. A party located outside England and Wales can be sued if there is a basis for the court to establish juris- diction over that party (see 3.3 Jurisdictional Require- ments for a Defendant regarding the grounds on which the court may exercise jurisdiction). In many cases where a claimant seeks to sue a defendant outside England and Wales, the court’s permission is required before the claim form can be served. For a defendant outside England and Wales, the claim form must be served within six months of the proceedings being issued. 3.6 Failure to Respond If the defendant fails to acknowledge service or file a defence within the prescribed time after being served with the claim form, the claimant may request a default judgment. If the court decides to enter a default judg- ment, the claim will be decided in the claimant’s favour without consideration of the merits. To set aside or vary the default judgment, the defend- ant must apply to the court. The court must set aside the judgment if it was wrongly entered. Otherwise, the application will only be granted if the defendant can show that they have a real prospect of successfully defending the claim, or that there is another good rea- son why the judgment should be set aside or varied or the defendant should be allowed to defend the claim. 3.7 Representative or Collective Actions Representative or collective actions are permitted through various frameworks, namely representative actions, group litigation orders (GLOs) and the court’s general case management powers. Whether group proceedings are brought on an opt-in or opt-out basis depends on the type of group litigation structure. The framework for representative actions allows one or more individuals to bring a claim on behalf of a group of individuals with the same interest in the claim. Representative actions are structured on an opt-out basis, where individuals automatically become part of the group unless they specifically opt out. There is no need for members of the represented class to be
joined as parties to the action, nor to be identified on an individual basis. GLOs provide for the case management of claims that give rise to common or related issues of fact or law. GLOs are brought on an opt-in basis, where individu- als must express their intent to join the action and authorise the representative to act on their behalf. The court also has the power to consolidate proceed- ings and manage claims together, using its case man- agement powers. The courts have managed some of the largest multi-party actions using their case man- agement powers. For competition litigation, a collective action regime has been introduced in the Competition Appeal Tri- bunal. These types of collective proceedings require certification to proceed. The certification mechanism is designed to remove frivolous and unmeritorious claims, and to enable the Competition Appeal Tribunal to determine the class representative and class defini- tions and whether the proceedings should proceed on an opt-in or opt-out basis. 3.8 Requirements for Cost Estimate The Solicitors Regulation Authority’s code of conduct provides that clients should be given the best possible information about how their matter will be priced and, both at the time of engagement and when appropri- ate as their matter progresses, about the likely overall cost of the matter and any costs incurred. It is gener- ally considered good practice to provide clients with a cost estimate of the potential litigation at the outset and continue to update them about the cost position throughout the proceedings. The court is required as part of the “overriding objec- tive” to manage cases at proportionate cost. Where cost management rules apply, litigants will be required to prepare and exchange costs budgets detailing their projected costs for the litigation. In cases where cost management rules do not apply, the court has the power to require litigants to file costs estimates during the proceedings.
285 CHAMBERS.COM
Powered by FlippingBook