Practice & procedure

Under CPR 3.9(1), the court could grant relief from the sanctions imposed by an unless order if the court considered it just to do so taking into account all of the circumstances. Where there was a consent order, then, the fact that the parties had come to an agreement did not take away the court’s power to grant relief. In considering whether to do so, the court would place very great weight on what the parties had agreed and would, except in unusual circumstances, be slow to depart from that agreement. In general, the action or inaction of a party’s legal representative had to be treated under the CPR as the action or inaction of the party himself. However, when it came to consider who had caused the failure to comply, it was evident that a failure by the legal representative was treated as weighing in favour of granting relief, as compared to a failure by the