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8.1 Evidence - Coggle Diagram

- - - - If an extension of time is agreed before witness statements are due to be served with does have an effect on a subsequent key date
        
        Application must be made to court for extension order (CPR3) to avoid risk of court disapproval of agreement at trial
        
        Similarly if extension of time cannot be agreed before witness statements are due to be served, application should be made
      - If no extension is agreed and witness statements are served late, application must be made for relief of sanctions (CPR 3.9)
        
        In other words - application for relief from sanction that the witness may not be called to give evidence (CPR 32.10)
        
        The rules contain circumstances the court is required to take into account when deciding whether to include the witness evidence
  - - - Example:
        
        "The car was driving fast"
        
        This is a shorthand way of the witness describing what they experienced with their senses. Longhand version would include facts like the witness hearing the car's engine turning over at high revolutions (it was loud and high pitched), the car overtaking other cars and the car leaving tyre marks on the roads. All this leads the witness to the perceived opinion that "the car was driving fast"
        
        This type of statement will generally be admissible as long as a proper appraisal of the facts does not call for any special expertise
        
        "Leane was drunk"
        
        This is another example which will be generally admissible
    - - Prohibition on using a statement in other proceedings:
        
        A witness statement may only be used for the proceedings in which it is served unless the witness of the court has given permission for some other use or it has been put in evidence at a hearing held in public (CPR 32.12)
- - - - Example:
        
        The Claimant was contracted to advise on the purchase and supervise the installation of a new computer system for the Defendant. It was envisaged at an initial meeting between myself and Mr Robinson, Managing Director of the Claimant, that this process would take a maximum of two months. A number of specific requirements were also made clear to Mr Robinson at the initial meeting and it was impressed upon him that it was imperative that the system should comply strictly with all those requirements. The Defendant is engaged in the supply of goods by mail order and it is crucial that its computer records and despatching systems function efficiently. I refer to my note of the initial meeting attached and marked "CH1"
    - - Example:
        
        I believe that the facts stated in this witness statement are true. I understand that proceedings for contempt of court may be brought against anyone who makes, or causes to be made, a false statement in a document verified by a statement of truth without an
        honest belief in its truth
- - - - Example:
        
        A technician in a laboratory made this statement to her supervisor:
        
        "The bolt securing the bracket to the base plate is worn away." There was a subsequent explosion in the laboratory in which the technician died and the bolt was destroyed. The laboratory sues the bolt manufacturer for negligence. In the proceedings the supervisor of the laboratory is called to give evidence. In evidence, the supervisor repeats the statement made by the technician
        
        An oral statement? - YES (by the technician to the supervisor)
        
        Made out of court? YES (in the laboratory)
        
        Which is being adduced in court to show that the statement is true? (to back up the laboratory's view that the bolt was defective) - YES
        
        Therefore it's hearsay evidence
    - - Notice of intention to rely on hearsay evidence:
        
        If a party intends to rely on hearsay evidence at trial, it must give notice to the other party that it intends to do so.
        
        Rules specify how the notice should be given (CPR 33.2):
        
        If the evidence is in a witness statement of a person who is to give oral evidence at trial, no formal notice is required. Notice of hearsay is deemed served when witness statements are served on the other party; no separate communication is required
        
        If evidence is in a witness statement of a person who is not giving oral evidence at trial, no formal notice si required but the other party must be informed that the witness will not be giving evidence at trial with reasons
        
        In all other cases, formal notice must be given to the other party identifying the hearsay, stating that the party wishes to rely on it and the reason why the witness will not be called
        
        If notice was not given when it should have been (usually no later than the latest date for serving witness statements), evidence will still be admissible, but the weight the court attaches to it is likely to be less and the offending party may be penalised in costs
      - Options on receipt of hearsay notice:
        
        A party as 4 options on receipt of a notice of intention to rely on hearsay (which includes notice given by serving witness statement + serving hearsay notice) (S.2 CEA 1995):
        
        (1) Request particulars of hearsay (S.2 CEA 1995)
        
        (2) Call for cross-examination (S.3 CEA 1995)
        
        (3) Challenge the weight of hearsay evidence (S.4 CEA 1995)
        
        (4) Attack credibility of an absent witness (S.5 CEA 1995)
      - Use of plans, photographs and models as evidence:
        
        Hearsay evidence includes oral statements + statements made in documents or any other medium where description is recorded
        
        This includes pictorial representations like plans, photos and models
        
        Notice rules that must be followed for any evidence (CPR 33.6):
        
        Not contained in a witness statement or expert's report;
        
        Not to be given orally at trial; or
        
        Not subject tot he notice of intention to rely on hearsay provisions discussed earlier
        
        Includes plans, photos and models. Unless notice is given, evidence won't be received at trial
      - Convictions as evidence in civil proceedings:
        
        The fact that a person has been convicted of an offence in the UK court is admissible in evidence to prove that he committed the offence.
        
        Proving the offence must be relevant to an issue in the proceedings. Per S.11 Civil Evidence Act 1968
        
        But this does not mean that a conviction ends the issue within the civil proceedings. Instead a person wanting to prove the contrary will have the burden to prove that the person convicted did not mean to commit the offence on the balance of probabilities
        
        No conviction other than a subsisting one is admissible in evidence
        
        S.11 Civil Evidence Act 1968:
        
        In any civil proceedings in which by virtue of this section a person is proved to have been convicted of an offence -
        
        (a) he shall be taken to have committed that offence unless the contrary is proved; and
        
        (b) the contents of any document which is admissible as evidence of the conviction (and the contents of the information, complaint, indictment or charge-sheet on which the person in question was convicted), shall be admissible in evidence for the purpose of identifying the facts on which the conviction was based.