Now that we’ve all had the chance to consider the new rules for the County Court Provisional Assessment Pilot, which starts on 1 October 2010, lets make sure we are all familiar with the details.
CPD 40.12 appears to continue to apply:
The following provisions apply in respect of the papers to be filed in support of the bill;
(a) If the claim is for costs only without any additional liability the papers to be filed, and the order in which they are to be arranged are as follows:
(i) instructions and briefs to counsel arranged in chronological order together with all advices, opinions and drafts received and response to such instructions;
(ii) reports and opinions of medical and other experts;
(iii) any other relevant papers;
(iv) a full set of any relevant pleadings to the extent that they have not already been filed in court.
(v) correspondence, files and attendance notes;
(b) where the claim is in respect of an additional liability only, such of the papers listed at (a) above, as are relevant to the issues raised by the claim for additional liability;
(c) where the claim is for both base costs and an additional liability, the papers listed at (a) above, together with any papers relevant to the issues raised by the claim for additional liability.
CPD 40.11 does not. That part says:
Unless the court directs otherwise the receiving party must file with the court the papers in support of the bill not less than 7 days before the date for the detailed assessment hearing and not more than 14 days before that date.
When do the documents referred to in CPD 40.12 get filed, if at all? I heard a rumour that the provisional assessment would be done without the file but the fact CPD 40.12 remains in place seems to suggest the opposite.
