For a party to be successful in any proceedings, the advocate should be able to present to the court the facts and apply the relevant law to the facts, in addition to following the procedures and rules of court. The Civil Procedure Rules 1998 (CPR 1998) contain rules whose aim is to improve access to justice by making legal proceedings cheaper, quicker, and easier to understand.
CPR Part 18 (Part 18) Request is a powerful provision in the CPR 1998 to help parties take an early view of the weaknesses or otherwise of their case.
Following the Rule and the Overriding Objective, a Part 18 Request should be used to: obtain admissions; reveal weaknesses in the other party’s case; obtain information about important facts which the applicant needs to prove in support of its case; ascertain details of aspects of the other party’s case so that there will be fewer surprises in the course of the proceedings or at trial; clarify the other party’s case or limit the other party’s ability to depart from its case; and or narrow the issues between the parties and so reduce the expense and length of the trial.
Case law determines that any party in a case can make a formal request for the other party to clarify or provide additional information about any issue (s) in dispute in the proceedings, whether that issue(s) is contained in or referred to in the statements of case or not [West London Pipeline & Storage Ltd v Total UK Ltd [2008] EWHC 1296 (Comm), [2008] Lloyd’s Rep IR 688]. The court, at its own volition or on application by a party, can order a party to respond if it does not do so voluntarily. However, the request must be confined “strictly” to what is necessary. This means the request must be relevant, reasonable, and proportionate for the avoidance of unnecessary delays and costs.
Do not use Part 18 Request to support a fishing expedition
Both claimant and defendant can issue a Part 18 Request at an early stage of proceedings. But the standard practice is that the claimant should prepare its case based on the information available to it at the commencement of proceedings, although it can review its position in the course of the proceedings and reassess the strength of its case. The defendant can issue a Part 18 Request to help it prepare its defence. However, the court will not tolerate a claimant embarking on a fishing expedition by issuing several Part 18 Requests to identify or establish a cause of action or a defendant using a Part 18 Request to bolster its defence, especially when the claim is as simple as a debt action whose cause of action has been established and particularised in the Particulars of Claim. A party must therefore be alert and prepared to resist any dubious tactic which does not meet the strict guidelines of necessity. Necessity in this sense is a stringent condition, and any such request must be reasonable, relevant, and proportionate
