BAILII is celebrating 24 years of free online access to the law! Would you consider making a contribution?
No donation is too small. If every visitor before 31 December gives just £5, it will have a significant impact on BAILII's ability to continue providing free access to the law.
Thank you very much for your support!
[Home] [Databases] [World Law] [Multidatabase Search] [Help] [Feedback] | ||
England and Wales Court of Appeal (Civil Division) Decisions |
||
You are here: BAILII >> Databases >> England and Wales Court of Appeal (Civil Division) Decisions >> Allen v Bloomsbury Publishing Ltd & Anor [2011] EWCA Civ 943 (14 July 2011) URL: http://www.bailii.org/ew/cases/EWCA/Civ/2011/943.html Cite as: [2011] EWCA Civ 943 |
[New search] [Context] [View without highlighting] [Printable RTF version] [Help]
ON APPEAL FROM THE HIGH COURT OF JUSTICE
(CHANCERY DIVISION)
(MR JUSTICE KITCHIN)
Strand, London, WC2A 2LL |
||
B e f o r e :
LORD JUSTICE LLOYD
and
LORD JUSTICE SULLIVAN
____________________
PAUL GREGORY ALLEN acting as trustee in the estate of Adrian Jacobs (deceased) |
Appellant/ Claimant |
|
- and - |
||
BLOOMSBURY PUBLISHING LIMITED JOANNE KATHLEEN MURRAY (PKA JK ROWLING) |
Respondent/Defendant |
____________________
WordWave International Limited
A Merrill Communications Company
165 Fleet Street, London EC4A 2DY
Tel No: 020 7404 1400 Fax No: 020 7831 8838
Official Shorthand Writers to the Court)
Mr W Edwards (instructed by Reynolds Porter Chamberlain) appeared on behalf of the 1st Respondent
Mr J Baldwin QC (instructed by Schillings Solicitors) appeared on behalf of the 2nd Respondent.
____________________
Crown Copyright ©
Lord Justice Lloyd:
"(i) the court has jurisdiction under rule 24.6 to make an order which is tantamount to an order for security for costs;
(ii) that jurisdiction extends to requiring someone advancing an unpromising claim to secure the defendant's costs;
(iii) before ordering security for costs in any case, the court should be alert and sensitive to the risk that by making such an order it may be denying the party concerned a right of access to the court; whether or not the person concerned has raised or can raise the money will always be a prime consideration;
(iv) the court has a wide discretion to ensure that justice is done in any particular case;
(v) relevant considerations, besides the ability of the person to pay, include his conduct of the proceedings and the apparent strength of his case;
(vi) a party only becomes amenable to an adverse order for security under rule 3 once he can be seen either regularly to be flouting proper court procedures or orders or otherwise has demonstrated a want of good faith, that is to say a will to litigate a genuine claim or defence as economically as reasonably possible in accordance with the overriding objective;
(vii) likewise, an order for security for costs would not be appropriate in every case where a party appears to have a somewhat weak claim or defence;
(viii) exorbitant applications for summary judgment in misguided attempts to obtain conditional orders providing security for costs are not to be encouraged;
(ix) the occasions when security for costs is ordered solely because the case appears weak may be expected to be few and far between;
(x) it would be wrong to encourage litigants to regard rule 3.1 as providing a convenient means of circumventing the requirements of Part 25 and thereby providing a less demanding route to obtaining security for costs. When the court is asked to consider making an order under rule 3.1(3) or 3.1(5) which is or amounts to an order for security for costs or when it considers doing so of its own motion it should bear in mind the principles underlying rules 25.12 and 25.13. In my judgment the court should also bear this principle in mind when considering whether to make a conditional order under rule 24.6."
That summary is not challenged before us.
"It follows, in my judgment, that the evidence is far from full or candid in setting out the means available to Mr Allen and I am wholly unsatisfied that Mr Allen will be prevented by an order for security from continuing the litigation."
Lord Justice Sullivan:
Lord Justice Rix:
Order: Appeal dismissed