Civil litigation

CPR 17.1(2)(b) requires that, where a party has served a statement of case (including a defence), he may amend it only with the permission of the court.  Where the effect of the amendment would be to withdraw an admission made in an earlier statement of case, the court must have regard to CPR 14.1 and the matters listed in para 7.2 of the associated Practice Direction, including the relative prejudice which will be suffered by each party if the admission is (or is not) withdrawn. 

If the admission was made in pre-action correspondence and has not been repeated following the commencement of proceedings, the question for the court is whether allowing it to be withdrawn in the party’s pleaded case would be to allow an abuse of process or be likely to obstruct the just disposal of the proceedings.

The relative prejudice which would be suffered by each party if the admission is (or is not) withdrawn is a factor which the court must take into account in order to give effect to the overriding objective to deal with the case justly.

Fairness may require that a party should not be permitted to withdraw a pre-action admission which has led the other party to act to his detriment unless the detriment is insubstantial.