request for further information and clarification

Statements of case such as the particulars of claim, the defence and/or counterclaim may not set out sufficient information for the defendant to properly understand the case that the claimant intends to advance against the defendant at the trial.  Part 18 of the CPR entitles a party to file and serve requests for further information and clarification in respect to those court documents. These requests for further information and clarification are lists of questions for the claimant to answer, and must be concise and proportionate to the issues in dispute in the litigation.

The purpose of these requests in litigation is to clarify matters that are in dispute in the proceedings, so that the party issuing them is able to understand the case that they are required to answer.

For example, the claimant may allege in UK litigation that an oral contract was formed between the parties involved in the dispute in the particulars of claim, but not provide sufficient information for the defendant to ascertain the contractual terms alleged to have been agreed in the contract. The defendant is entitled to file and serve a request for further information and clarification requiring the claimant to:

1. specify the words used by the parties that have contractual effect;
2. the person who spoke those words;
3. when the words were spoken; and
4. where the persons involved were located when the words were spoken.

Purpose of request for further information

The claimant may ask for clarification of any matter referred to in a statement of case which is in dispute, or ask for additional information in respect to any matter, whether or not referred to in the statement of case.

The claimant s permitted a reasonable time to respond to the request.  A reasonable time is usually considered to be 3 weeks. If it is the case that the claimant fails to respond to such a request, the defendant is permitted to apply to court to require the defendant to prepare and serve responses to proper requests upon the defendant. 

Not all requests for further information and clarification are permitted. For instance, the claimant is under no obligation to respond by providing evidence, however this is not to say that the facts that would be asserted arising from such evidence should not be provided.  Also, requests that are oppressive are not required to be responded to.  An application may be made for proper responses to requests where the response is considered to be inadequate.

These same principles apply to additional claims (including counterclaims). That is to say, where a defendant files a counterclaim with its defence, or a reply to the defence to counterclaim, the claimant will be entitled to responses.

In addition to this, a defendant or claimant is entitled to a copy of any document referred to in a statement of case by a separate procedure.