Case Management by the Court

The court's duty to manage cases is set out at rule 1.4, which can be found above (see 1.6). This is expanded upon by rule 3.1(2):

Except where these Rules provide otherwise, the court may – a

extend or shorten the time for compliance with any rule, practice direction or court order (even if an application for extension is made after the time for compliance has expired);

b

adjourn or bring forward a hearing;

c

require a party or a party's legal representative to attend the court;

d

hold a hearing and receive evidence by telephone or by using any other method of direct oral communication;

e

direct that part of any proceedings (such as a counterclaim) be dealt with as separate proceedings;

f

stay the whole or part of any proceedings or judgment either generally or until a specified date or event;

g

consolidate proceedings;

h

try two or more claims on the same occasion;

i

direct a separate trial of any issue;

j

decide the order in which issues are to be tried;

k

exclude an issue from consideration;

l

dismiss or give judgment on a claim after a decision on a preliminary issue;

m

take any other step or make any other order for the purpose of managing the case and furthering the overriding objective.