Using the Wrong Form

Hannigan v Hannigan (CA The Independent 23 May)

The claim was issued in the wrong form, the statement of case was not verified by statement of truth, the Royal Coat of Arms was missing, as were the marginal notes and 3.5cm margin. Nevertheless, the district judge, and circuit judge on appeal, were wrong to have struck out the case. It could not be right to return to the arid technicalities that had existed pre-Woolf. The defendants and their solicitors knew what was being claimed and the interests of administration of justice would have been better served if the defendants’ solicitors had pointed this out. Although the claim was reinstated the Court of Appeal warned that it was not to be taken as giving a green light to sloppy and inefficient behaviour, the sanction for which would be wasted costs orders against the solicitors.