Defendant’s non-attendance

Hackney LBC v Driscoll (CA TLR 29 August)

There is a distinction between the common law principle giving a right to a defendant who had no notice of legal proceedings to apply to the court to set aside a judgment against him and the position of a defendant who knew of the proceedings and had originally appeared in court at a hearing which had been adjourned to a new date of hearing to be notified to him, but of which he was not notified, and that resulted in his failure to attend the trial, when the judgment was entered against him. In the latter case, CPR rule 39.3 provides: