A litigant has been allowed an extension by the High Court after applying for it three minutes before the court deadline.
Mrs Justice Jefford said the manner in which the claimant in Lloyds Developments Ltd v Accor HotelServices UK Ltd made the application was ‘undoubtedly unsatisfactory’ and wasted a lot of time and money, but ruled it should be allowed to stand on the facts of the case.
She observed that the application was made at ‘almost literally the very last minute’. The claimant had been given an unless order until 4pm on 8 March to pay the outstanding £120,000 incurred by the defendant during a previous part of the litigation.
At 3.57pm, the claimant’s lawyers filed an application for an extension of time to comply with the unless order. By 4.30pm, the defendant had filed an application for summary judgment. The sums outstanding were paid on 15 March.
Contesting the application for an extension of time, the defendant’s lawyers said there had been no reason given for seeking the order and no explanation for the failure to pay or need for more time. The claimant submitted this was an ‘error of procedure’ which did not invalidate the step taken.
The claimant is a company that went into administration earlier this year. Its lawyers said this had prompted the request for an extension as the administrators had not authorised the costs payment before the unless order was due to expire. The defendant said administrators had known about the unless order for some time and submitted it was a deliberate decision not to comply with a court order.
The judge said there was ‘considerable weight’ in this final point which was a strong factor in favour rejecting the application.
But given the sums due had been paid within seven days and there was no impact on the progress of the action towards a trial, she granted the application for an extension.
She added: ‘Although I would not seek to pre-empt any future decision of the court, it is right for me to observe that any further application of this nature – that is at the last minute seeking further time to comply with an unless order – is unlikely to have the same outcome.’
