CIVIL PROCEDURE — admissions — admission of facts — withdrawal of admissions — where defendant’s pleadings admitted a condition precedent was satisfied — where no proper explanation for the admission was provided — whether leave should be granted to withdraw the admission under UCPR r 12.6 — leave refused
Quick Take
1Where a party seeking to withdraw a pleaded admission fails to provide a proper explanation for how the admission came to be made, and the court infers the admission was made deliberately because the admitted facts were regarded as immaterial, that inference weighs very heavily against granting leave under UCPR r 12.6.
2Even where an admission is factually inaccurate in a narrow sense, leave to withdraw may be refused where the party has not articulated any pathway by which the new issues raised would constitute a defence of significant merit, particularly where the party's own conduct (accepting performance under the agreement) is inconsistent with the proposed defence.
3The case management objectives in ss 56–60 and s 64 of the Civil Procedure Act 2005 (NSW) weigh against permitting withdrawal of an admission where the effect would be to expand the dispute to raise issues of no demonstrated merit, requiring the opposing party to incur further costs.
