The Court of Appeal's eagerly anticipated decision on the scope of CPR 7.3 has been handed down. Vos MR giving the leading judgment reinstated the simplicity of the court deciding in each case on the facts whether the cases joined on the claim form could be conveniently disposed of in the same proceedings on the basis that convenience is an ordinary English word that did not require elaboration.
Thus, the Court of Appeal overruled Abbott v MOD [2023] EWHC insofar as it limited the scope of what could come within convenient disposal, but the Court of Appeal recognised that cases fulfilling the tests suggested in that case would be ones which satisfied the CPR 7.3 criterion.
Download the judgment here.
Andrew Clark
9 St John Street Chambers