Jeremy Ford reports on the seminal decision in Mitchell v News Group Newspapers
In the 18th implementation lecture, Lord Dyson emphasised that justice goes beyond simply looking at the immediate parties to proceedings, the court has to consider the needs of all litigants, all court users. To do justice in this broader sense cases must be conducted at proportionate cost and parties must comply with civil procedure, factors enshrined in the amended overriding objective. It is this broader definition of justice that underpins the Court of Appeal seminal decision in Mitchell v News Group Newspapers Limited [2013] EWCA Civ 1537, [2013] All ER (D) 314 (Nov).
This definition of justice is not an alien concept, it was, at least initially, a fundamental part of the Woolf Reforms. We can all remember judges making robust case management decisions when the CPR was first implemented but over time, when exercising its discretion where there had been non-compliance with rules or orders, courts reverted back to considering the lack of prejudice to the non-defaulting party as the touchstone of its decision making. After Mitchell
