The claimant obtained judgment against the defendants and subsequently obtained a final third party debt order under CPR r 72.2. The claimant sought interest pursuant to section 35A of the Senior Courts Act 1981 on the sum to be paid under the order from the defendants and the third party, contending that an application for a third party debt order was a “cause of action” for the purposes of section 35A(1) of the Act, the factual situation constituting the cause of action being the existence of the judgment debt coupled with the debt owed by the third party to the judgment debtor, and the remedy being the order itself.
On the application—
Held, application refused. An application for a third party debt order was not a cause of action against the third party. It was a form of execution or enforcement of the remedy awarded to the claimant in respect of an underlying cause of action. It was not itself the remedy. Unlike the claim to interest on the cause of action before it was adjudicated upon, the occasion for a third party debt order arose only after judgment was given. Interest under section 35A of the Senior Courts Act 1981 was confined to the former situation. Moreover, there was no good reason why the third party should be burdened with interest on the debt of the judgment debtor, on which interest would ordinarily be running. Accordingly, interest would not be ordered against the third party on the sum to be paid under the third party debt order (paras 67, 68, 71).
William Day (instructed by Stewarts Law LLP) for the claimant.
The first defendant in person and for the second defendant.
The third party in person.