Cases

Drury v Carnegie (CA)

Held

Allowing the appeal:

(1) The judge's decision on CPR 7.6(3)(b) could not stand. The error of fact he had made was not insignificant as, had he realised that the attempted service had not entailed sending any documents which named C to his place of work, he might well have reached a different conclusion. The judge had also erred in taking into account the steps taken to effect service after the four-month period had elapsed. 7.6(3)(b) required the judge to consider whether all reasonable steps had been taken to serve C during the four-month period. He had done nothing until the very last day and explanations for this delay were unsustainable. It could not be said that the steps taken were all that could reasonably have been expected of D. He therefore failed to satisfy the threshold condition in 7.6(3)(b).

(2) The judge had given no adequate reason for holding that D had acted promptly in making his application and the only possible conclusion on the evidence was that he had not.

Also