Sara Sutherland successfully resists strike out application in personal injury case

November 7, 2017

Sara Sutherland, instructed by Stephensons Solicitors, has secured an important procedural victory for her client in the High Court.

In the case, the claimant, Wendy Marie Evans, sought to claim damages for personal injury against Tesco Stores Ltd, arising out of an incident said to have occurred when she was shopping at one of the defendant’s stores.

The central issue was whether the service of a copy (as opposed to the original) of the claim form was an error which can and should be corrected under CPR 3.10 or rather whether the whole claim must be struck out for failure to serve the claim form.

In his judgment Mr Justice Morris concluded that the Claimant’s error in serving a copy of the claim form was an “error of procedure” falling within CPR 3.10 and that, in the circumstances of this case, it was not appropriate for the court to order that that error should invalidate the step taken in the proceedings.  Tesco’s strike out application was therefore dismissed.

Sara Sutherland is an experienced junior who is instructed in multi track personal injury and clinical negligence cases. She has been recommended most recently in the Legal 500 as “an astute and persuasive lawyer”.