ENGLAND & WALES Law and Practice Contributed by: Damian Taylor, Olga Ladrowska, Christy Conlon and Nathan Barrow, Slaughter and May
4. Pre-Trial Proceedings 4.1 Interim Applications/Motions
Another way to achieve early judgment is to apply for a claim, or part of it, to be struck out where it lacks reasonable grounds, constitutes an abuse of the court process or violates a rule, practice direction or court order. While the application can be made at any stage of the proceedings, it should be brought as early as possible; the court may exercise its discretion to refuse an application if it is made too late in the litiga- tion process. See also 3.6 Failure to Respond for an explanation on As set out in 4.2 Early Judgment Applications , sum - mary judgment, strike-out and default judgment appli- cations are common dispositive motions made before trial. Where the defendant considers that England and Wales is not the appropriate forum to hear a claim, it can apply to challenge the court’s jurisdiction. obtaining default judgment. 4.3 Dispositive Motions Litigants may also apply for a preliminary issue hear- ing, in which a specific issue of law and/or fact is resolved prior to the main trial, to assist the court in handling the proceedings in a just and efficient man- ner. Litigants may apply for a preliminary issue hear- ing, or the court may order one of its own initiative under its broad case management powers. 4.4 Requirements for Interested Parties to Join a Lawsuit A person not originally named as a claimant or defendant may be joined to an existing claim if it can be shown that it is desirable to add the new party so that the court can resolve all the matters in dispute, or that there is an issue involving the new party and an existing litigant which is connected to the matters in dispute and it is desirable to add the new party so that the court can resolve that issue. An application to the court, supported by evidence, must be made by either an existing litigant or the interested person seeking to be joined to the proceedings.
It is possible to make interim applications before trial or substantive hearing of a claim. There are a number of different types of interim applications. Litigants may use interim applications to seek to obtain remedies from the court. In these circumstances, the court has broad discretion to grant whatever remedy it consid- ers appropriate, subject to the specific rules and legal tests governing the type of relief sought – including specific disclosure, interim injunctions or interim pay- ments. Interim applications may also be used to deal with case management matters. 4.2 Early Judgment Applications Litigants can make applications for early judgments, including by way of summary judgment or strike out. Litigants may apply for summary judgment on the whole of a claim or on a particular issue if they can establish that there is no real prospect of succeeding on the claim or issue, or of successfully defending the claim or issue, and that there is no other compelling reason why the claim or issue should be disposed of at trial. Demonstrating “real prospect” is quite a low threshold in practice and has been interpreted to mean “not fanciful”. In some circumstances, summary judgment can also be proposed by the court of its own initiative under its broad case management powers. Generally, a claimant may apply for summary judg- ment only after the defendant has filed either an acknowledgment of service or a defence. A defend- ant may apply for summary judgment at any time in the proceedings. An application notice for summary judgment must set out or attach any written evidence on which the applicant relies. Typically, a respondent to the appli- cation must be given at least 14 days’ notice before the hearing of a summary judgment application. Any written evidence must usually be filed and served at least seven days before the hearing in the case of a respondent’s evidence, or three days before the hear- ing in the case of an applicant’s evidence in reply.
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