Commercial Court finds desire to limit costs a good reason for filing witness statement 3 months late
In the case of Monde Petroleum SA v Weterzagros Ltd, 19 May 2014, QBD, Hamblen J, though the breach of order was not trivial, the Court granted the claimant relief from sanction in respect to a witness statement which was served three months later as it was satisfied that there was good reason for that delay as the claimant was trying to save costs where there were concurrent arbitration proceedings which substantially overlapped with the claim. The late statement itself was clarificatory and the Court would have wanted to see it. This is an interesting decision which might show an increasing willingness of the Court to acknowledge that procedural rules can sometimes reasonably be overlooked if done so for a greater good.
