Court Rules During Coronavirus
New Practice Direction 51ZA Extension of Time Limits
Civil Procedures Rules Update
Our civil litigation solicitors in Chester, Liverpool, Warrington and Wrexham are pleased that new court rules during coronavirus were introduced on 2 April 2020 to permit the extension of time limits during the uncertain times of the covid-19 pandemic.
Litigation Lawyers and parties to litigation used to be able to extend court directions up to 28 days without asking for permission from the court and the new practice direction extends this to 56 days i.e twice the length of time.
It should be noted that any extension beyond 56 days will still need court approval, but the practice direction states that the court will still take into account the impact of the pandemic when considering these applications.
Parties and their lawyers should not however, expect such applications to be granted automatically, instead any party requesting such an extension would be well advised to set out detailed reasons why the coronavirus pandemic has necessitated the request for an extension of time beyond the 56 days already provided for.
If you have any questions concerning this article or anything else concerning litigation or contract disputes why not arrange a free 30 minute telephone of video consultation with one of our litigation lawyers.
