Credit Hire Claims: New Mandatory Requirements

On the 6^th April 2020 amendments to Practice Direction 16 (PD16) of the Civil Procedure Rules (CPR) come into force which impose a number of mandatory requirements for cases involving credit hire claims. These changes are the first to come out of the consultation carried out by the Civil Procedure Rules Committee.

The 2017 Consultation

The consultation, which ran in the Spring of 2017, sought views on what directions ought to be mandatory in all credit hire claims proceeding in the County Court. Representatives from both claimant and defendant practitioner firms responded, with most supporting the view that standardised directions were needed as credit hire continues to produce a high volume of litigation, and there is significant inconsistency in directions orders made by the courts. This can be problematic for all parties with the practice adopted by many courts of not ordering disclosure until 14 days before trial, potential settlements thereby being delayed. In