Priestley v Dunbar & Co (a firm)

Judgment – Default judgment. The claimant brought a professional negligence claim against the defendant firm of accountants. Judgment in default was entered in favour of the claimant and the defendant's appeal against that judgment was dismissed. The Chancery Division, allowing the defendant's appeal, held that, whilst it had been open to the district judge to find that the application to set aside the judgment had not been made promptly, the lack of promptness in all the circumstances of the case would not make it just to dismiss the application to set aside the judgment in default. There had been nothing in the district judge's judgment to suggest that he had evaluated all the circumstances of the case, including those specifically mentioned in CPR 3.9, and his evaluation of the circumstances mentioned in the judgment had been flawed.