Multi-Track Personal Injury Trial Bundle: From Pleadings to Authorities

When the multi-track applies

CPR Part 26 governs track allocation. Tracks are allocated under CPR r.26.9:

• Small claims: total value no more than £10,000 and PSLA no more than £5,000 (RTA on or after 31 May 2021), £1,000 (RTA exceptions in r.26.10) or £1,500 (other PI). Child or protected-party whiplash claims go to the fast track (r.26.11).
• Fast track: up to £25,000, with a trial of no more than one day and oral expert evidence limited to one expert per party in no more than two fields (r.26.9(5)–(6)).
• Intermediate track: up to £100,000, with a trial of no more than three days (r.26.9(7)). For PI this applies only where the cause of action accrued on or after 1 October 2023 or, for a disease claim, where no letter of claim was sent before that date (SI 2023/572 r.2(2)).
• Multi-track: otherwise, and always for mesothelioma or asbestos lung disease claims and for clinical negligence unless the claim would otherwise be an intermediate-track claim and liability was admitted in full in the letter of response with no limitation defence (r.26.9(10)(b)).

Allocation is normally on the papers after directions questionnaires (r.26.7). The CMC produces the directions order setting out trial preparation timelines, expert evidence permissions, and disclosure requirements.

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The nine-section structure

A standard multi-track PI trial bundle:

Section A — Pleadings and case management

• A1: Claim Form (N1)
• A2: Particulars of Claim
• A3: Defence (and any Counterclaim)
• A4: Reply (where served)
• A5: Case Management Order(s)
• A6: Pre-Trial Review order (where one was held)
• A7: List of Issues for trial (agreed where possible)

Section B — Witness statements

Each witness gets a sub-section. Order is typically: claimant first, then claimant's lay witnesses, then defendant's lay witnesses. Each statement is followed by the witness's exhibits, paginated continuously.

• B1: Claimant's witness statement(s)
• B2: Claimant's family/lay witness statements
• B3: Defendant's witness statement(s)
• B4: Defendant's lay witness statements
• B5: Hearsay notice and any responses (CPR Part 33)

Section C — Medical records

The records are arranged chronologically across all sources, OCR'd throughout. Bookmarks for each treating clinician/institution.

• C1: GP records (full set, chronological)
• C2: A&E records
• C3: Hospital admissions and discharge summaries
• C4: Consultant outpatient letters
• C5: Imaging and radiology reports
• C6: Theatre notes (where relevant)
• C7: Anaesthetic records (where relevant)
• C8: Drug charts and medication records
• C9: Therapy notes (physiotherapy, OT, SALT, psychological therapy)
• C10: Other treating-provider records (ambulance reports, occupational health, dental)

Section D — Medical experts: breach and causation

• D1: Claimant's breach-of-duty expert(s)
• D2: Defendant's breach-of-duty expert(s)
• D3: Joint statement on breach
• D4: Claimant's causation expert(s)
• D5: Defendant's causation expert(s)
• D6: Joint statement on causation
• D7: Inter-expert correspondence and answers to CPR Part 35 questions

Section E — Medical experts: condition and prognosis

• E1: Claimant's condition and prognosis expert(s)
• E2: Defendant's condition and prognosis expert(s)
• E3: Joint statement
• E4: Life expectancy expert (catastrophic injury cases)

Section F — Non-medical experts

For RTA cases this is typically engineering and reconstruction. For catastrophic injury this is care, accommodation, deputyship, vocational rehabilitation, and educational expert evidence.

• F1: Engineering / accident reconstruction expert
• F2: Care expert (claimant and defendant)
• F3: Accommodation expert (post-Swift v Carpenter methodology)
• F4: Deputyship cost expert (Court of Protection deputy)
• F5: Vocational rehabilitation expert
• F6: Educational psychologist (brain-injured children)

Section G — Joint statements (consolidated)

Where a separate consolidated joint-statements section is required by the trial directions, place all joint statements together for ease of reference. Otherwise joint statements sit with the relevant expert section above.

Section H — Quantum schedules

• H1: Claimant's Schedule of Loss
• H2: Defendant's Counter-Schedule
• H3: CRU certificate (most recent — see CRU Certificates and Schedule of Loss)
• H4: Joint statement on quantum (where prepared)
• H5: Updating Schedule of Loss (where the case has run on)

Section I — Inter-party correspondence and authorities

• I1: [None — without-prejudice correspondence and Part 36 offers are not included; for Part 36 see CPR r.36.16(2)]
• I2: Open correspondence on the live issues (where relied on)
• I3: Authorities (claimant)
• I4: Authorities (defendant)

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Filing deadlines

CPR rule 39.5 with Practice Direction 32 para 27.4:

• Not less than 3 days before trial: bundle to be filed
• Not more than 7 days before trial: bundle to be filed
• Identical copy to be served on each party

Use the court's electronic filing system as directed (CE-File in the King's Bench Division in London).

The bundle's contents must be agreed where possible. Where the parties cannot agree, the disagreement is recorded at the front of the bundle in a covering note, and each party's contested documents are clearly flagged.

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Common multi-track bundle problems

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Part 36 offers in the bundle

Part 36 offers (CPR Part 36) are NOT in the trial bundle until liability and quantum have been determined — under r.36.16(2) the fact and terms of an offer must not be communicated to the trial judge until the case has been decided.

Limited exceptions under r.36.16(3) and (4): a defence of tender before claim; a stay after acceptance; written agreement; or where part of the case has already been decided and the offer relates only to that part (r.36.16(3)(a)–(d)). In a standard liability+quantum trial, Part 36 offers stay out of the trial bundle entirely and surface for the costs assessment afterwards.

BundleCreator's PI trial bundle templates have no Part 36 section, so offers stay out of the trial bundle; keep them in a separate file for any costs hearing after judgment.

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How BundleCreator helps

BundleCreator's Personal Injury template provides editable sections you can arrange in the nine-section order above, with continuous pagination, OCR'd medical records, hyperlinked index, and section bookmarks. Each expert's report is bookmarked individually; the hyperlinked index lets trial counsel jump between (for example) the claimant's breach expert and the defendant's response on the same issue.

For catastrophic-injury cases the bundle commonly splits across multiple volumes paginated continuously — Volume 1 (Sections A-C), Volume 2 (Sections D-F), Volume 3 (Sections G-I). The output is sub-bundle PDFs ready for upload to the court's electronic filing system, plus a master index covering all volumes.

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Frequently asked questions

Do the parties have to agree the bundle contents?

Yes, where possible. PD 32 para 27.12: contents should be agreed where possible; otherwise include a summary of the points of disagreement.

What if a key document is missing?

Apply to the court for a direction, or include with a clear note explaining the difficulty. The court takes a pragmatic view — but if the missing document goes to a live issue, the trial may be adjourned.

Can witness statements be in narrative form or do they need to follow a strict structure?

CPR PD 32 governs the form of witness statements generally. They must be in the witness's own words, in the first person, with paragraphs numbered, in chronological order where possible, and signed with a statement of truth (PD 22). PD 57AC imposes additional strict requirements on trial witness statements in the Business and Property Courts (Commercial Court, Chancery, TCC, IPEC, Companies Court) — including a confirmation by the witness and a certificate of compliance from the legal representative. PD 57AC does NOT apply to PI trials in the King's Bench Division or County Court, where PD 32 alone governs.

How do CPR Part 35 expert questions appear in the bundle?

CPR Part 35 questions are written questions to an expert post-report. The questions and the expert's answers are appended to the expert's report in the bundle — usually as an annex to the relevant report in Section D, E, or F.

Where do schedules of loss go if the case has been settled in part?

A partly-settled case (e.g. liability admitted; quantum tried) typically has a settlement order in Section A and an updating Schedule of Loss in Section H reflecting the agreed liability position. The Counter-Schedule responds on the live quantum issues only.

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Further reading

• CPR Part 29 — Multi-track
• CPR Part 32 and PD 32 — Evidence and witness statements
• CPR Part 35 and PD 35 — Experts and assessors
• CPR Part 39 — Trial preparation (rule 39.5 trial bundles)
• CPR PD 32 para 27 — Trial bundle requirements
• CRU Certificates and Schedule of Loss in Personal Injury Trial Bundles
• Engineering Expert Evidence in RTA Trials: When and How to Bundle