CPRing
We welcome the Civil Procedure (Amendment) Rules 2020 (SI 2020/82) which come into force on 30 March 2020 although we must wait until 6 April 2020 for the most exciting change, on entry of a default judgment, to get going. Next time, the 113th CPR update.
On your marks An acknowledgment of service or defence will bar the entry of judgment in default of them having been filed, notwithstanding that they have been filed out of time. That’s the effect of changes to CPR 12.3 which adopt the interpretation favoured in Cunico Resources NV and others v Daskalakis and another and another case [2018] EWHC 3382 (Comm) (see (‘Civil Way’ 169 NLJ 7827, p14)) and avoid any further wine bar brawls on the subject. Cunico was followed by Master McCloud in Smith v Berrymans [2019] EWHC 1904 (QB) who leapfrogged and the challenge is set for a Court of Appeal outing later in the year. The moral for claimants now is quite clear: organise a ping the second
