The High Court has refused relief from sanctions after a typing error in an e-mail address led to documents being served after the judge’s deadline.
Cockell Building Services v Holton [2015] EWHC 1117 (TCC) concerned a £1.6m dispute over building and repair work following a fire at a Grade II listed house, Greys Mallory.
Mr Justice Edwards-Stuart said he would strike out a counterclaim brought against the builders unless the relevant documents were served by 20 March. When the deadline was missed, he said the counterclaim was automatically struck out and refused relief from sanctions.
Edwards-Stuart J said that the typing error on its own would be unlikely to have caused him to strike out the counterclaim but that it was the “culmination” of a course of non-compliance serious and significant enough to pass the Denton test.
The trial is scheduled for July.
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