Cases - Winchester Cigarette Machinery Ltd v Payne

Record details

Name

Winchester Cigarette Machinery Ltd v Payne

Date

[1993]

Citation

Times Law Reports 19 Oct, CA

Legislation

Rules of the Supreme Court

Keywords

Expert witness

Summary

The Court of Appeal dismissed an appeal by the defendants against a judge's order to stop them from calling experts at a late stage in proceedings. The defendants sought to call experts in an action due to be heard 3 weeks later in a hearing scheduled for 15 days. The court held that the judge had been correct to refuse to call the experts so late, in circumstances where prejudice to the claimants would result, because of the need to seek an adjournment to deal with the changed situation. The court retains an inherent discretion to refuse an order where the other party's position would be jeopardised.