Practice Direction 57AC in practice

The question in respect of PD57AC was whether it would ultimately mean reform or revolution, as explored in our previous post.[1] As outlined in that post, the courts have already given guidance on PD 57AC in two cases: (i) a decision in the Commercial Court of Sir Michael Burton in Mad Atelier International BV v Manes;[2] and (ii) a decision in the TCC of O'Farrell J in Mansion Place Ltd v Fox Industrial Services Ltd.[3]

The latest guidance provided by the courts can be found in Blue Manchester Ltd v Bug-Alu Technic GmbH and another[4] ("Blue Manchester"). In Blue Manchester, although the application to strike out the second defendant's witness statements for non-compliance with PD 32 and PD 57AC failed, the court did offer some of the most detailed guidance we have seen yet on PD 57AC.

You can read the full post on our Commercial, Construction & International Arbitration Blog here.