The Civil Procedure Rules (CPR) have now been in operation for nine months. How has this major change to the civil legal system been working in practice?
A number of cases which have come before the courts during 1999 have shown how the courts are prepared to interpret the CPR.
Overriding Objective
The Overriding Objective of the CPR is to deal with cases ‘justly’ by ensuring parties are on an equal footing, by looking to reduce costs and dealing with cases proportionally, that is to the amount of money involved, the importance and complexity of the case, the financial standing of the parties and appropriate regard to the use of the courts’ resources.
The courts have already confirmed their commitment to these principles. In Maltez v Lewis the courts refused to interfere with the choice of legal representation, restricting the costs which the less advantaged party had to pay when the other side instructed higher charging advisers.
The provision of a summary to assist in identification of the issues of a case, thus saving the court’s time, was applauded in St Albans Court Ltd v Daldorch Estates Ltd. Conversely a perceived lack of organization and non co-operation between the parties in Adoko v Jemal was criticised for wasting court resource.
Case Management
The courts have not been slow to exercise their ability to determine the means and time-scale within which a case should be conducted. In what was thought to be the first case management conference to take place under the new rules, the judge, Mr Justice Rattee, brought forward by one year the trial date of the dispute between the administrators of the Maxwell estate and its auditors. The parties also reluctantly accepted mediation in an attempt to resolve the dispute. This was successful and the case settled for £67 million.
Costs
Costs are a major issue in any legal action and the courts are keen to ensure that costs are reduced wherever possible. In Sullivan v Co-operative Insurance Society the defendant appealed against the high amount of costs he had to pay. The claimant had engaged London solicitors although the parties and the majority of that medical experts and witnesses were based in Manchester. The appeal was allowed and the Court of Appeal signalled the use of professional and highly experienced legal professionals, if available within the geographic area of the dispute, would be more desirable to help keep litigation costs down.
Mediation
The CPR has given a higher emphasis to trying to settle claims before they get to court. Evidence that the use of mediation is becoming an increasingly popular form of dispute resolution has been collected by the Centre for Dispute Resolution (CEDR).
By November CEDR were reporting an increase of 100% in the number of commercial mediations against the same period in 1998 and CEDR figures show the average length of a mediation to be 1.3 days with cost savings of over £80,000 per party per case.
The Future
It is still early days and there is some way to go before the full implications of the Woolf Reforms can be known but from these few cases the courts have signalled that the practices of yesteryear will no longer be tolerated.
Identification of the issues, co-operation between parties and improved case management is already resulting in savings in management time and costs. The greater use of ‘offers to settle’ and mediation have expanded the options for reaching settlement without necessarily resorting to litigation.
As it enters its second and probably equally momentous year, there is no doubt that the CPR will continue to alter the nature of disputes and their resolution. In the majority of cases it is to be hoped that by adopting a commercial and pragmatic approach aimed at reducing costs and increasing the speed at which disputes are resolved, the accessibility of court and associated processes will be enhanced to the ultimate benefit of both parties in a dispute.
The information and opinions contained in this article are provided by Hammond Suddards. They should not be applied to any particular set of facts without appropriate legal or other professional advice.
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