SQE1 sample questions

Question 42

A large public limited company (PLC) leases a vending machine to a small village school. The school has failed to make a payment of £300 due under the lease agreement for the machine. PLC has commenced a claim against the school in the County Court.

The school is defending the claim on the basis that sums are not due, because the vending machine no longer works. PLC has instructed its solicitor to compile a list of documents containing 267 pages of emails and to seek expert evidence on vending machines from two different experts.

Are these instructions likely to be consistent with the overriding objective of the Civil Procedure Rules?

A. No, because the overriding objective requires the parties to help the court deal with cases justly and at proportionate cost.

B. No, because the overriding objective requires the parties to help the court deal with cases quickly.

C. Yes, because the overriding objective applies only to the courts, not the parties.

D. Yes, because the overriding objective requires proportionality only in regards to the relative merit of a claim, not in regards to the relative value of the claim.

E. Yes, because the overriding objective applies only to pre-action conduct.