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Section 17: Interlocutory applications and summary assessment of costs
With a view to reducing the number of interlocutory applications (which generally add
to costs and delay), the Working Party is in favour of introducing rules and practice
directions whereby :-
(a)
the parties are encouraged to adopt a reasonable and cooperative attitude in
relation to all procedural issues, penalising unreasonable attitudes by costs
sanctions where appropriate;
(b)
the court is empowered, of its own motion and without hearing the parties, to
make procedural orders nisi which are necessary or desirable and unlikely to be
controversial, with liberty to the parties to apply for the order not to be made
absolute;
(c)
interlocutory orders made after non-compliance with an order made on the
summons for directions are "self-executing", ie, they prescribe an appropriate
sanction which automatically applies in the event of any further failure to
comply; with any relief from such sanction not being granted as a matter of
course, but being dependent upon the party in default being able to give a
reasonable explanation for non-compliance and on any such relief being made
subject to appropriate terms;
(d)
applications are, so far as practicable, dealt with on paper without the need for a
hearing and, to this end, appropriate procedures are introduced to enable the
master either to deal with the application at once on the papers, or to adjourn it
for an oral hearing before either a master or a judge; with an appeal as of right
from the master to the judge;
(e)
unwarranted interlocutory appeals are met with appropriate costs and other
sanctions; and,
(f)
far fewer time summonses will be taken out or allowed.
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