How Bad Is Bad?


I recently had a small claims case at a Lancashire court. It was a road traffic accident where the defendant had collided with my client's parked, unoccupied car. The insurer admitted liability early on but proceedings were issued for quantum. The defendant solicitors, in their wisdom, had the audacity to dispute liability against an unoccupied vehicle. They served no evidence in support of the defence, but did serve a witness statement admitting liability.



Yet the matter came to trial. The defendant failed to attend court, liability was conceded at the door and the claimant recovered the whole of the claim. However, the judge refused to award the claimants costs under rule 27.14 of the Civil Procedure Rules (unreasonable conduct), ruling that the defendant had not behaved unreasonably enough.



My question is: how badly does a defendant have to behave to engage rule 27.14?



Mohammed Y Patel, Bolton