Andrew Onslow QC and Hannah Glover Successful in Court of Appeal

Andrew Onslow QC and Hannah Glover acted for the successful Respondent, Phoenix Healthcare Distribution Ltd, in an appeal concerned with the duties of a defendant to alert their opponent that service on them was defective. Master Bowles had held  – in a decision that had caused concern in the legal profession – that, in not alerting the Claimants to the service error, Phoenix and its solicitors had acted in breach of CPR 1.3 and been “playing technical games”, even where Phoenix would otherwise have lost its limitation defence. The Chancery Judge allowed Phoenix’s appeal. The Court of Appeal, applying Barton v Wright Hassall LLP [2018] 1 WLR 1119 (SC) and Abela v Baadarani [2013] 1 WLR 2043 (SC) (in which Andrew Onslow also appeared) has now dismissed the Claimants’ Appeal, holding that there was no breach of CPR 1.3 and no “technical game-playing”. The proceedings against Phoenix remain dismissed.

Read a copy of the judgment.