Out of Time

Vinos v Marks and Spencer plc ([2001] 3 All ER 784 CA) Kaur v CTP Coil Ltd (CA 10 July 2000 unreported)

CPR Rule 7.5(2) requires claimants to serve their claim form within four months of the date of issue. In both of these cases, through an oversight, the claim form was not served in time - being nine days and four days late respectively. The claimants in Vinos accepted they could not succeed in obtaining an extension of time under CPR rule 7.6(3), which provides that the court may extend the time only if (a) the court has been unable to serve the claim form; or (b) the claimant has taken all reasonable steps to serve the claim form but has been unable to do so; and (c) in either case, the claimant has acted promptly in making the application. In Kaur the claimant succeeded in persuading the circuit judge, but not the Court of Appeal, that difficulties in preparing the medical report and schedule of special damage were relevant factors in deciding whether the claimant had taken ‘all reasonable steps’ to serve the claim form. The Court of Appeal held that the steps refer to service, not to the preparation of documents.