The Civil Procedure (Amendment No.6) Rules 2013

EXPLANATORY NOTE

(This note is not part of the Order)

These Rules make the following amendments to the Civil Procedure Rules 1998—

• the amendment of:

  • rule 14.1B (admissions made under the RTA Protocol);

  • rule 27.14 (costs on the small claims track);

  • Part 36 (offers to settle); and

Part 45 (fixed costs), including the insertion of new Section IIIA in Part 45

These amendments concern the extension of the current Pre-Action Protocol for Low Value Personal Injury Claims in Road Traffic Accidents (“the RTA Protocol”) to include claims up the value of £25,000, and to most employers’ liability and public liability claims, via the introduction of the Pre-Action Protocol for Low Value Personal Injury (Employers’ Liability and Public Liability) Claims (“the EL/PL Protocol”).

In particular, the amendments to Section III of Part 45 extend the fixed costs regime, which prescribes the costs which may be recovered by a claimant under the RTA Protocol, to include claims made under the extended RTA and EL/PL Protocols and prescribes the costs a claimant may recover in those cases.

New Section IIIA of Part 45 provides for a fixed costs regime in respect of those claims which exit the RTA and EL/PL Protocols and which are subsequently settled or proceed to judgment and again prescribes the costs which might be recovered by a claimant in those cases. Provision is also made both in respect of defendants’ costs in those cases where the fixed costs regime would otherwise apply (including those cases where a defendant successfully counterclaims) and the costs recoverable by both parties in related interim applications.

New rules 36.10A and 36.14A make provision in respect of the fixed costs in Sections III and IIIA of Part 45 which a claimant may recover when the claimant either accepts or fails to beat a defendant’s Part 36 offer. Provision is also made with regard to defendants’ costs in those circumstances.

Consequential minor amendments are made to Parts 45 and 36, as well as rules 14.1B and 27.14, which reflect the introduction of the EL/PL Protocol;

• the insertion of a note in rule 47.6 to draw attention to the (new) location of costs provisions specifically in relation to civil recovery orders;

• the addition of paragraph (15) to RSC Order 79 rule 9, in relation to section 1(1A) and (1B) of the Bail (Amendment) Act 1993.