Meaning of ‘no real prospect of success’

ED & F Mann Liquid Products Ltd v Patel ([2003] EWCA Civ 472 SJ 11 April p416)

Both CPR rule 13.3(1) (applications to set aside default judgments) and CPR rule 24.2 (applications for summary judgment) use the same terminology of ‘no real prospect of successfully defending the claim’. Both approaches require the defendant to have a case which is better than merely arguable, as was formerly the case under RSC Order 14. The only significant difference between the provisions of the two rules is that under CPR rule 24.2 the overall burden of proof rests on the claimant to establish that there are grounds for his belief that the respondent has no real prospect of success whereas, under CPR rule 13.3(1), it is for the defendant to satisfy the court there is good reason why a judgment regularly obtained ought to be set aside. A defendant applying under CPR rule 13.3(1) could encounter a court less receptive to applying the test in his favour than if he were a defendant advancing a timely ground of resistance to summary judgment under CPR rule 24.2.