Application Notice

Application Notice in relation to the Technology and Construction Court

[rtbs name=”technology-and-construction-court”]As a general rule, any party to proceedings in the Technology and Construction Court wishing to make an application of any sort must file an application notice (Civil Procedure Rules 23.3) and serve that application notice on all relevant parties as soon as practicable after it has been filed (Civil Procedure Rules 23.4). Application notices should be served by the parties, unless (as happens in some court centres outside London) service is undertaken by the court. Where the circumstances may justify an application being made without notice, see section 6.10 below. The application notice must set out in clear terms what order is sought and, more briefly, the reasons for seeking that order: see Civil Procedure Rules 23.6. The application notice must be served at least 3 days before the hearing at which the Technology and Construction Court deals with the application: Civil Procedure Rules 23.7 (1). Such a short notice period is only appropriate for the most straight-forward type of application. Most applications, in particular applications for summary judgment under Civil Procedure Rules Part 24 or to strike out a statement of case under Civil Procedure Rules 3.4, will necessitate a much longer notice period than 3 days. In such cases, it is imperative that the applicant obtain a suitable date and time for the hearing of the application from the assigned judge’s clerk before the application notice is issued. The applicant must then serve his application notice and evidence in support sufficiently far ahead of the date fixed for the hearing of the application for there to be time to enable the respondent to serve evidence in response. Save in exceptional circumstances, there should be a minimum period of 10 working days between the service of the notice (and supporting evidence) and the hearing date. If any party considers that there is insufficient time before the hearing of the application or if the time estimate for the application itself is too short, that party must notify the Judge’s clerk and the hearing may then be refixed by agreement. When considering the application notice, the judge may give directions in writing as to the dates for the provision or exchange of evidence and any written submissions or skeleton arguments for the hearing. In cases of great urgency applications may be made without formal notice to the other party, but that party should (save in exceptional cases) be informed of the hearing sufficiently in advance to enable him to instruct a representative to attend.