KB-2022-003316 - [2025] EWHC 2573 (KB)

At a hearing on 1-2 October 2025, the Court held a third substantial Case Management Hearing in this litigation. It followed the first Case Management Hearing on 26-27 November 2024 (“the First CMH”) and the second 2-day Case Management Hearing on 6-7 May 2025 (“the Second CMH”). At this third Case Management Hearing, the Applications issued by the parties, and the issues to be resolved, exceeded the time available to deal with them. I have adjourned the outstanding Applications to a further hearing to be fixed in early November. The trial is fixed to begin on 14 January 2026.

This judgment deals only with the Claimants’ application to make amendments to their Particulars of Claim, and an overlapping application by the Defendant (“Associated”) to strike out various parts of the Claimants’ statements of case. I shall refer to these as the Pleadings’ Applications. In view of the impending trial date, the Pleadings’ Applications require resolution urgently. This urgency, and my other judicial commitments, means that I have had less time than I should have wished to prepare this judgment.