Post-Howlett, defendants will relish the latitude provided to them, but claimants will be less content, says Dominic Regan
‘I sound a word of caution: lies are told in litigation every day up and down the country and quite rightly do not lead to a penalty being imposed in respect of them.’ So said the ever worldly Lord Justice Ward in Widlake v BAA [2009] EWCA Civ 1256, [2009] All ER (D) 246 (Nov).
Fraud is an achingly popular assertion in all manner of civil disputes today. What though is required of a defendant who wishes to pursue this line at trial? Is fraud to be explicitly pleaded? The Court of Appeal has recently addressed this point in Howlett v Davies and Ageas [2017] EWCA Civ 1696, [2017] All ER (D) 52 (Nov) (see ‘Civil way’, p 13).
The incident
This was a personal injury case where, if fundamental dishonesty was made out, the claimants would forego the costs protection generally afforded by qualified one-way costs shifting. However, the guidance of the court can be properly applied across the civil spectrum
