General Matters Flashcards
When must a claim be started in the County Court?
PI claims:
value is less than £50k
claims other than PI:
value £100k or less
When must a claim be started in the High Court?
Never…
When the value of claims exceed a certain amount, they can be started in the High Court OR the County Court.
When may a claim be brought in the High Court?
PI claims:
Value is £50k or more
none PI claims:
value is more than £100k
What factors should be applied where there is a choice as to which court proceedings should be started in?
- the financial value of the claim and the amount in dispute
- the complexity of the facts, legal issues, remedies or procedures involved
- the importance of the outcome of the claim to the general public
What happens if proceedings are started in the ‘wrong’ court?
The claim can be transferred to a more suitable court (and the party at fault may be ordered to pay any extra costs).
What is the overriding objective of the CPR?
To enable the court to deal with cases justly and at proportionate cost?
When must the court give effect to the overriding objective?
When exercising any power or interpreting any rule.
Basically all the time
Who must further the overriding objective?
The court must further the overriding objective by actively managing cases.
The parties must help the court to further the overriding objective.
How will the court deal with a case justly and at proportionate cost?
a) ensuring that the parties are on equal footing
b) saving expense
c) dealing with the case in ways which are proportionate to -
i) the amount of money involved
ii) the importance of the case
iii) the complexity of the issues
iv) the financial position of each party
d) ensuring that it is dealt with expeditiously and fairly
e) allotting to it an appropriate share of the court’s resources, while taking into account the need to allot resources to other cases
f) enforcing compliance with rules PD’s and orders
How can expenses be saved?
- early settlement
- narrowing issues in dispute
so far as practicable, cases should be dealt with in ways which are proportionate to what?
i) the amount of money involved
ii) the importance of the case
iii) the complexity of the issues
iv) the financial position of each party
how can a case be dealt with expeditiously and fairly?
- setting a timetable for the case
- setting penalties for failing to comply with the timetable
- managing the use of experts to reduce delays
- controlling costs
How can the share of court resources allotted to a case be managed?
- using a timetable to manage a case
- limiting the number of witnesses, experts involved
- controlling the length of time a case takes at trial
- grouping cases together, where there is a common point of law
What does active case management include?
encouraging parties to co-operate with each other in the conduct of proceedings
identifying the issues at an early stage
deciding promptly which issues need full investigation and trial and accordingly disposing summarily of the others
deciding the order in which issues are to be resolved
encouraging the parties to use ADR if the court considers that appropriate and facilitating the use of such procedure
helping the parties settle the whole or part of the case
fixing timetables or otherwise controlling the progress of the case
considering whether the likely benefits of taking a particular step justify the cost of taking it
dealing with as many aspects of the case as it can on the same occasion
dealing with the case without the parties needing to attend court
making use of technology
giving directions to ensure that the trial of a case proceeds quickly and efficiently.
How might the court encourage co-operation between parties?
Staying proceedings to allow a short time for parties to discuss settlement
Ordering parties/their lawyers to exchange information, documents and calculations
