High Court grants order consolidating four sets of proceedings brought against the defendants arising out of the death of the plaintiffs' mother, on the grounds that: (a) there was a broad commonality between the proceedings; (b) the saving of a full set of High Court costs is a substantial saving of costs which could only be cured in this case by the consolidation of the proceedings; and (c) there was a low risk of confusion and the Court did not see any risk of a miscarriage of justice.
Application to consolidate four sets of proceedings - proceedings arise out of the death of the plaintiffs' mother - plaintiffs allege that said death arose as a result of negligence - first plaintiff brought two separate claims against different defendants seeking damages for psychiatric injury - her brother also issued two sets of proceedings and, in one set of those two sets of proceedings, incorporates the statutory claim - defendants argued that in terms of the liability aspect, the issues to be determined are identical in respect of all four cases - Order 49, rule 6 of the Rules of the Superior Courts - where there is a common question of law or fact of sufficient importance - whether there is a substantial saving of expense or inconvenience - whether there is a likelihood of confusion or miscarriage of justice - court grants order consolidating the proceedings.