CR-2022-BRS-000101 - [2025] EWHC 2291 (Ch)

The question which I have to deal with is not whether some or all of the allegations made in the petition are capable of being the subject of some kind of claim against one or more of the respondents (as well as being made in sufficient detail and sufficiently cogently expressed). Some of them plainly are so capable, although of course that does not mean that they would succeed at trial. I am in no position to know that at this stage. Instead, the questions for me are (i) whether the allegations made are capable of being the subject of the proceedings actually launched, that is, a petition under section 994, and (ii) if so, whether they are sufficiently detailed and cogently expressed to be allowed as amendments. The first of these is a much more restrictive question, arising from the fact that, as I have explained at some length, the scope of such petitions is narrower than other forms of legal proceeding, such as an ordinary CPR Part 7 claim. I will deal with the active respondents’ particular objections to paragraphs in the (9 May 2025 draft) petition as previously identified.