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PI Brief Update

How Does the Ministry of Justice Consultation on County Court Reform Affect Mediation in Personal Injury Claims? - Tim Wallis, Trust Mediation Ltd

20/02/12. The MoJ issued its consultation paper, about creating a simpler, quicker and more proportionate system for the county courts, in March 2011. In February 2012 it issued its response on the consultation. It is clear from this that a number of reforms are contemplated and these will probably be implemented at the same time as those relating to the Jackson reforms and the ban on referral fees. In the introduction to the consultation response Rt. Hon. Kenneth Clarke QC MP, Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice, and Jonathan Dganogly, MP, Justice Minister, concluded that although the county court had many strengths it was in fact a system that is not working as well as it should. The aim of the reforms outlined in the consultation paper “….is to deliver a system that prevents the unnecessary escalation of disputes before cases reach the court room; where the courts offer quicker and more efficient services where they are needed…..” The changes most likely to impact on personal injury practitioners are those concerned with extending the RTA protocol to deal with RTA claims up to £25,000 and also employers’ liability/public liability claims. Further, it is clear that there is going to be a considerable extension of the fixed costs regime.

In addition there are a number of other changes which, in due course, are likely to see an increase in mediation in the personal injury sector. These will now be examined in more detail.

Small Claims and Automatic Referral to Mediation

Although the small claims limit for personal injury and housing cases will remain the same the financial limit for the small claims track will be increased from £5,000 to £10,000. Further, there will be an automatic referral to mediation for all claims in the small claims track. The MoJ make it clear that this is not...

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All information on this site was believed to be correct by the relevant authors at the time of writing. All content is for information purposes only and is not intended as legal advice. No liability is accepted by either the publisher or the author(s) for any errors or omissions (whether negligent or not) that it may contain. 

The opinions expressed in the articles are the authors' own, not those of Law Brief Publishing Ltd, and are not necessarily commensurate with general legal or medico-legal expert consensus of opinion and/or literature. Any medical content is not exhaustive but at a level for the non-medical reader to understand. 

Professional advice should always be obtained before applying any information to particular circumstances.

Excerpts from judgments and statutes are Crown copyright. Any Crown Copyright material is reproduced with the permission of the Controller of OPSI and the Queen’s Printer for Scotland under the Open Government Licence.