Relief from Sanctions—Do the Merits Matter? (Bangs v FM Conway Ltd)
Dispute Resolution analysis: the Court of Appeal considered whether the Denton criteria for the grant of relief from sanctions were met in a case where a claimant’s failure to file and serve its particulars of claim on time had resulted in its claim being struck out, despite the defendant having already admitted liability in pre-action correspondence and later withdrawn that admission. The first instance judge, despite finding that the first two limbs of the Denton test had been met, concluded that the strength of the claimant’s case, as indicated by the defendant’s (withdrawn) admission, was such that the third limb, requiring the court to consider all the circumstances of the case, could not be satisfied. It therefore set aside the strike out. The Court of Appeal reversed that decision, holding that, in this case, the first instance judge was wrong to have considered the merits of the case at all. Written by Emily Lodge, associate at Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan UK LLP.
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