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04 June 2010
Issue: 7397 / Categories: Case law , Judicial line , In Court
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Putting to proof

In a claim in tort, is the defendant not entitled to put the claimant to proof without pleading a positive case for the defence without judgment being entered against him on allocation?

In a claim in tort, is the defendant not entitled to put the claimant to proof without pleading a positive case for the defence without judgment being entered against him on allocation?

The aim of the CPR was to do away with bare denials. CPR 16 expressly states that where the defendant denies an allegation he must state his reasons for doing so and, if he intends to put forward a different version of events from that given by the claimant, he must state his own version.

The defendant may be the Motor Insurers Bureau or a Road Traffic Act insurer which only has the claimant’s version of events on which to rely and effectively wants to put the claimant to proof. The court may permit it to do so: it may not. It will depend on the strength of the evidence: does

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NEWS
Contract damages are usually assessed at the date of breach—but not always. Writing in NLJ this week, Ian Gascoigne, knowledge lawyer at LexisNexis, examines the growing body of cases where courts have allowed later events to reshape compensation
The Supreme Court has restored ‘doctrinal coherence’ to unfair prejudice litigation, writes Natalie Quinlivan, partner at Fieldfisher LLP, in this week' NLJ
The High Court’s refusal to recognise a prolific sperm donor as a child’s legal parent has highlighted the risks of informal conception arrangements, according to Liam Hurren, associate at Kingsley Napley, in NLJ this week
The Court of Appeal’s decision in Mazur may have settled questions around litigation supervision, but the profession should not simply ‘move on’, argues Jennifer Coupland, CEO of CILEX, in this week's NLJ
A simple phrase like ‘subject to references’ may not protect employers as much as they think. Writing in NLJ this week, Ian Smith, barrister and emeritus professor of employment law at UEA, analyses recent employment cases showing how conditional job offers can still create binding contracts
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