Consent Directions Overridden

In Re Debtors (No 13-Misc-2000 and No 14-Misc-2000) (Ch D TLR 10 April)

In bankruptcy proceedings in the county court the parties had agreed directions by consent. There were however other proceedings in the High Court and the petitioner applied for the bankruptcy proceedings to be transferred to the High Court so all matters could be heard together. The court deprecated the suggestion by one of the parties that it was not open to the court to make such an order because it would effectively override the directions made by consent. Such a contention was contrary to the climate of the Civil Procedure Rules and even under the old Rules of the Supreme Court it was clear that the court did not regard consent directions as being bindingly contractual in nature. The subsequent court would pay great attention to the fact that previous directions had been made by consent but, save in exceptional circumstances, the court would not allow itself to be dictated to by what the parties had agreed if it was plainly inappropriate for the parties to be tied to their agreement.