The Court of Appeal have held, in the case of Sharp v. Leeds City Council [2017] EWCA Civ 33, that applications for Pre-Action Disclosure under s.52 County Courts Act 1984 are interim applications within the meaning of CPR 45.29H.

The Claimant was pursuing a claim through the MoJ Portal, in accordance with the Pre-Action Protocol for Low Value Personal Injury (Employers’ Liability and Public Liability) Claims, and made an application for Pre-Action Disclosure when Leeds City Council failed to provide the disclosure required by the Protocol. The Claimant argued that the application was not subject to fixed costs as it was not an “interim” application for the purpose of CPR 45.29H and should be viewed as a separate and self-contained application.  

The Court of Appeal rejected the Claimant’s arguments and Lord Justice Briggs, giving judgment for the Court, held that such applications should be viewed as “interim in the fullest sense”, because they followed the institution of the claim by the uploading of a Claim Notification Form on to the MoJ Portal, even though such applications pre-date the issue of proceedings.