FROM RUSSIA WITH INTEREST
Failing to plead interest is a highly risky omission. But never say never. Yes, I know that CPR 16.2 provides that interest ‘must’ be pleaded. However, CPR Pt 16 does not apply to Pt 8 claims, which in Timokhin v Timokhina [2026] EWHC 1194 (KB)—concerned with recognition and enforcement of Russian judgments for over £417,000—was a pretty powerful reason to award the claimant unpleaded interest as it was indeed a Pt 8 claim. Nevertheless, Mr Justice Dexter Dias would have awarded it anyway. There was no prejudice alleged by virtue of the omission and none discernible. And there’s a Court of Appeal decision which could get you out of a hole, as cited in Timokhin, to wit El Ajou v Stern [2006] EWCA Civ 165 in which Lord Justice Carnwath (as he then was) stated that the CPR regulated the statutory power to award interest. They did not take it away, though. Had the pleading point been pressed before him,
