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The Working Party accordingly favours moving away from the purely ex parte
approach and adopting a scheme for serving notice of applications for leave on
respondents and interested parties. It is envisaged that by rules of court supplemented,
where appropriate, by practice directions :-
(a)
"Interested party" would be defined along the lines of CPR 54.1(2)(f).
(b)
An applicant would serve the leave application (which would state the relief
claimed and the grounds relied on) together with all affidavits in support on the
intended respondent and on all known interested parties, unless the court
otherwise directs,
along the lines of CPR 54.7. Where the applicant seeks
dispensation from having to serve all or any of the known interested parties,
such dispensation can be sought, with reasons, in the leave application itself and
dealt with by the court in such manner as it sees fit.
(c)
Each person served would be given 21 days to file an acknowledgment of
service, summarising the grounds for resisting the application (if resistance is
intended) or the additional grounds for supporting the application and serving
the acknowledgment on the applicant and other interested parties along the lines
of CPR 54.9.
(d)
Normally, the court would decide the leave application on the papers and
without a hearing unless a hearing is requested by the applicant (as currently
provided for by O 53 r 3(3)). The respondent and interested parties who
acknowledge service would not be expected to attend at any oral hearing, unless
directed to do so by the court.
(e)
Where leave is refused, the court would give reasons for such refusal and the
right of appeal provided for by O 53 r 3(4) would continue to apply.
Notes
Subject to any rules that might be introduced in the context of a scheme for regulating multi-party
litigation, one instance where service might be dispensed with involves cases where a very large
number of persons are known to be interested.
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