Court of Appeal clarifies when multiple claimants can bring claims using a single claim form

In the recent case of Morris v Williams & Co Solicitors (A Firm) [2024] EWCA Civ 376, the Court of Appeal clarified the circumstances in which multiple claimants can bring claims using a single claim form. The judgment, which is analysed in full on HSF's litigation blog here, will be of interest to our policyholder and professional clients, as well as those who insure them.

The relevant rule on this issue is set out at CPR r.7.3 which provides: "[a] claimant may use a single claim form to start all claims which can be conveniently disposed of in the same proceedings".

Policyholders with claims involving multiple insured claimants and/or insurer defendants often face difficult decisions as to the number of claim forms that should be issued. This is an important issue because, in addition to the risk of claim forms being struct out on the basis of non-compliance with the provisions of the CPR, there are potentially significant financial implications for issuing multiple claim forms: the Court fee for issuing a civil money claim in excess of £200,000 is currently £10,000 per claim form.

In determining the requirements of CPR r.7.3, the Court of Appeal refused to add a gloss to the "convenience" test finding that the rule means what it says and claimants may use a single claim form to start all claims which can be conveniently disposed of in the same proceedings. Sir Geoffrey Vos, Master of the Rolls (MR), who gave the leading judgment did, however, note that it was clear that the circumstances in which the convenience test would be met included those described in Order 15 rule 4 in the Rules of the Supreme Court (before the introduction of the Civil Procedure Rules in 1999). This referred to where common questions of law or fact arise in all the claims, and the claims are in respect of or arise out of the same transaction or series of transactions. The MR also opined that the convenience test would probably also be met where common issues would bind all or most of the claimants, but that was not a requirement of the CPR.

This decision will provide policyholders with comfort that where common questions of law or fact arise and the claims relate to the same transaction or series of transactions - and a degree of comfort that where common issues would bind all or most of the claimants - that the claims can be consolidated into a single claim form, thereby avoiding having to pay multiple Court fees.

For professionals who are increasingly facing class actions and mass actions, this decision might mean that they find themselves more frequently on the receiving end of group actions initiated by a single claim form. Professionals in such circumstances will, however, welcome the MR's acknowledgement that defendants in such cases might face potential unfairness in the absence of active case management and his observations that (1) every possible step should be taken in such a situation to ensure that each claimant's case is properly explained so that the defendant knows the case it has to meet, and so as to facilitate early dispute resolution; and (2) such cases will be inevitably require active case management and proper engagement with the court by the parties and their lawyers.