Whitehead v Avon County Council

JurisdictionEngland & Wales
Judgment Date10 February 1997
Date10 February 1997
CourtCourt of Appeal (Civil Division)

Court of Appeal

Before Lord Woolf, Master of the Rolls, Lord Justice Thorpe and Lord Justice Waller

Whitehead
and
Avon County Council

County court practice - automatic directions timetable - displaced if action stayed

Automatic timetable ceases on stay of proceedings

The automatic directions for the timetabling of proceedings under Order 17, rule 11 of the County Court Rules (SI 1981 No 1687/L20) ceased to apply if an action was stayed. However, a court should always consider whether it was appropriate to impose its own time limits to such an action.

The Court of Appeal so held in a reserved judgment dismissing an appeal by the defendant, Avon County Council, against the decision of Judge Batterbury at Bath County Court on March 24, 1995 that the personal injury action of the plaintiff, Cynthia Whitehead, had not been automatically struck out by virtue of the automatic directions under Order 17, rule 11 of the 1981 Rules.

On September 6, 1993 the action was stayed "pending the examination of the plaintiff by (Dr X) and pending the provision by the plaintiff of a suitable form of authority enabling (Dr X) to have full access to the whole of the plaintiff's general medical records."

Mr Andrew Collender, QC and Mr Christopher J Russell for the defendant; Mr Edwin Glasgow, QC and Mr Peter Langlois for the plaintiff.

LORD JUSTICE WALLER said that the difficult question raised on the appeal related to the effect of an order staying proceedings on the automatic directions laid down by Order 17, rule 11: in particular, whether the automatic strike out under rule 11(9) occurred despite there being in place an order for a stay as at the "guillotine date" that is, the date 15 months after the close of pleadings or nine months after the date fixed by the court for requesting a hearing date.

In construing the rules his Lordship bore in mind that their aim was to take matters out of the hands of the parties so far as timetabling was concerned. But as Downer & Downer Ltd v BroughTLRWLR (The Times January 19, 1996; [1996] 1 WLR 575) showed: (a) if orders were inconsistent with the automatic directions those directions might well cease to have effect, and (b) the aim of the rules could also be achieved by the court itself making appropriate orders.

There was no reason why a court should not make an order about which there could be no argument. In a case such as the present an order could have been made "staying the action pending examination by Dr X, that examination...

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3 cases
  • Re Order 17, Rule 11 of the County Court Rules; Bannister v S.G.B. Plc and Others and other Cases
    • United Kingdom
    • Court of Appeal (Civil Division)
    • 25 de abril de 1997
    ...( Gomes v Clark), or if an order is made staying the action, even if it is likely that the stay will only be a temporary one ( Whitehead v Avon County Council). In Gomes, where interlocutory judgment was entered for damages to be assessed in a personal injuries action, Lord Woolf MR said th......
  • Cockerill v Tambrands Ltd
    • United Kingdom
    • Court of Appeal (Civil Division)
    • 21 de maio de 1998
    ...were ousted if an order was made staying the action, even if it was likely that the stay would only be a temporary one ( Whitehead v Avon County Council (1997) Times, 17 March). The rationale underlying the ouster of automatic directions in such a case was that the stay of an action, pendin......
  • Jackson and Others v Pinchbeck and Others
    • United Kingdom
    • Court of Appeal (Civil Division)
    • 21 de maio de 1998
    ...dismissed the first plaintiff's appeal. He distinguished the decision of the Court of Appeal in Avon County Council v WhiteheadTLR (The Times March 17, 1997) and held that in the circumstances, the defence delivered during the period when the action was stayed, became effectively delivered ......

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