Page 16 - PIC Magazine Autumn Issue 16

ARTICLE
Civil Procedure Rules
Update No. 124!
Emma Ganley, Costs Consultant at PIC takes a look at the most recent changes to the CPR Rules.
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e are now up to the 124th update to the Civil Procedure Rules, the pace of changes to the
rules seemingly accelerated by the necessary attempts to manage the current Covid pandemic and deal with the changes necessitated by the Brexit process.
Some of the most significant of these changes relate to the Budget/ Costs Management process which is the subject of another article in this magazine so here I simply draw your attention to the fact that there are changes to Part 3E and refer you to the excellent article by my colleague Dominic Woodhouse at pages 22 and 23.
This article is therefore an overview of the other amendments, the majority of which came into force on 1 October 2020. It is not intended to be completely comprehensive but hopefully references those most likely to come up in most people’s practice.
Contempt of Court
Extensive changes are made to CPR 81 dealing with the procedure (although importantly not the scope or jurisdiction of the court) in relation to these applications. Given the extensive nature of the changes a review of the rules and practice direction is recommended particularly taking into account what seems to be a recent flurry of cases and the recent changes made to the wording of a Statement of Truth - it seems that Contempt is currently a hot topic.
The rules deal with the need for an Application under Part 23 supported by evidence given by affidavit or affirmation, the requirements for such evidence, with provisions for service including personal service when the Defendant
is not represented and allowing the Legal Representative to refuse service of such an Application in which case the Application will be referred to the court.
It also important to
note that the court can consider a contempt of court on its own initiative, with provision made for a summons which includes the matters which the statement has to include in those cases where an Application is made.
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