PRACTICE DIRECTION - 5.6

DOCUMENTS FOR USE AT TRIAL

1.    In cases for trial (including assessment of damages) where the parties will seek to place documents before the trial Judge, it is the responsibility of the solicitors for all parties to seek to agree and prepare a bundle of documents in loose-leaf files.  Delay in its preparation should not be permitted because one party fails to co-operate.  The plaintiff's solicitor should propose what documents should go in the agreed bundle in adequate time for the defendants to consider the proposal.  Failing timely agreement, the plaintiff's solicitor should proceed to prepare the bundle.  Additional documents can be inserted as required.

Additional documents should be numbered "88-1, 88-2, 88-3" rather than by use of letters.

Bundles must not include documents which are unlikely to be referred to at the trial.  If documents unexpectedly become relevant during the trial they can be added.

2.    In many cases it is desirable that a core bundle should be prepared containing the documents which are central to the dispute to which the parties will refer.  This should be done in all cases in which the agreed bundle exceeds 100 pages.

3.    Often doubt arises concerning the status of documents in an agreed bundle.  Attention is drawn to Order 27, rule 4 under which in practice most listed documents are deemed to be authentic.  When a bundle is agreed, it should be clearly and explicitly settled between the parties and marked on the front of the bundle which documents:

(1)   are deemed to be authentic; or if not listed for any reason, are agreed to be authentic; or

(2)   are agreed only for inclusion; or

(3)   are also agreed (subject to any submission as to weight) as evidence of their contents.

It is always open to a party to agree that a document be included in a bundle and treated as evidence of its contents while reserving the right to object to the admissibility of the evidence on grounds of irrelevance.

4.    Bundles of documents to be placed before the trial Judge must be:

(1)   firmly secured (not stapled);

(2)   arranged in chronological order from the front;

(3)   paged consecutively on the top right-hand corner; and

(4)   fully and easily legible (typed copies if necessary).

Transcripts of judgments and evidence should not be bound up with other documents.

5.    All the documents (with the exception of transcripts) must be bound together in lever-arch files or ring-binders.  Lever-arch files and ring-binders must not be over-filled (and should never include more than 250 pages) and care must be taken to ensure that the rings close and fit properly so that the pages can be turned over easily.  Where each set of bundles consists of more than one file, the spines should be prominently labeled (e.g. Bundle A, Bundle B, etc.).  Transcripts should be provided in a separate bundle.

6.    All documents must be legible.  In particular, care must be taken to ensure that the edges of pages are not cut off by the photocopying machine or rendered illegible by the binding.  If it proves impossible to produce adequate copies of individual documents, or if manuscript documents are illegible, typewritten copies of the relevant pages should also be interleaved at the appropriate place in the bundle.

7.    If there are more than 5 bundles in a case, each of the bundles should also be labeled on the top right-hand corner of the inside cover.

8.    Agreed bundles must be lodged with the Court at least 72 hours before the date fixed for the hearing (excluding Saturdays, Sundays and general holidays).

9.    This Practice Direction supersedes the previous Practice Direction 5.6 on Documents for Use at Trial.

10.   This Practice Direction shall come into effect on 2 April 2009.

Dated this 12th of February 2009.