Don’t let lockdown be an excuse for failing to comply with Court deadlines

Master Leonard made it clear in the case of Masten v London Britannia Hotel Ltdthat Covid 19 and lockdown was not a good reason for non-compliance of Court deadlines. Master Leonard said there had been a negligent failure to serve Points of Dispute by the Paying Party and that the failure could not be offset by the effects of the circumstances of those working on the case. Following a Personal Injury claim a Bill of Costs was served by the Claimant and Points of Dispute were agreed to be due on or by 28th February 2020. However, this date passed and no Points of Dispute were received by the Claimant. A request for a Default Costs Certificate was made and received by the middle of June 2020. Subsequently, the Defendant made an Application to set aside the Default Costs Certificate. The Application acknowledged that the failure was significant and serious but that relief should have been granted in the circumstances as the failure arose around the time that homeworking and family commitments changed. Master Leonard said the Claimant was being asked to relinquish the Default Costs Certificate and to accept a four-month delay to serve Points of Dispute. He said ‘There are cases in which the application of the overriding objective and the balance of fairness require that the consequences of negligence must be borne by the negligent party. This is one of them.’ As such the Application to set aside the Default Costs Certificate was refused.