We are continuing our series on Civil Procedure Rules, highlighting some of the little known but common rules and hopefully explaining them in plain English.
The next rule we will be looking at is Practice Direction 5B – Communication and filing of documents by email.
The rule says:
2.1 Subject to paragraphs 2.2 and 2.3, a party may e-mail the court and may attach or include one or more specified documents to or in that e-mail.
2.3 In the County Court—
(b) when printed out on both sides of A4 paper, the following documents, together, must not exceed 25 sheets of paper in total—
(i) the e-mail;
(ii) any attachments, including any e-mail or document embedded in any attachment; and
(iii) copies of the documents in paragraphs (i) and (ii) that the court will serve where service is requested or required under the rules;
(c) only one e-mail, including any attachments, may be sent to the court to take any step in the proceedings and a party may not send another e-mail or a hard copy of any additional document as part of that step; and
(d) the total size of an e-mail, including any attachments, must not exceed 10.0 megabytes.
What does this mean?
The majority of claims that we see are dealt with in the County Court, not the High Court. Paragraph 2.2 deals with the High Court but we do not explain them here. Paragraph 2.3 as you will see deals with the County Court. Many people, whether acting without representation or with a solicitor get this wrong. We see many litigants who think it as acceptable to send multiple emails to the Court but the correct approach is to send only one email. Further, the Practice Direction also limits the number of pages to 25 pieces of paper (i.e. 50 pages when printed double sided). If these conditions cannot be met, then the documents you intend on filing with the Court should be sent by post. If you do not meet the conditions, then Paragraph 2.4 allows the Court to reject the email. Notwithstanding that, during the pandemic, the Courts have been more flexible and so if you wish to send more pages or more emails, we recommend you contact the Court first to check their procedures.
You can find the full Civil Procedure Rules online (currently) at https://www.justice.gov.uk/courts/procedure-rules/civil/rules
Any questions or support with the above please email us at: philip@whitecollarlegalandadmin.com or phone 0151 230 8931.