Harrap v Brighton and Sussex University Hospitals NHS Trust [2018] EWHC 1063 (QB) (9 May 2018)

The Court held that a failure to properly deal with witness evidence was a justifiable departure from the normal rule on discontinuance (CPR 38.6(1)).  The Defendant in the clinical negligence matter provided new evidence after a cross examination of their witness. Following the cross examination, the Claimant discontinued its claim. The evidence was not in the Defendant’s witness statement and, as a consequence of this, the Court held that this amounted to unreasonable conduct by the Defendant and was a good reason to depart from the general rule that the discontinuing party pays the other party’s costs.