A Court Order? So what!

One of the many frustrations of being involved with civil court claims is that the Court will give procedural directions imposing time limits but, when the other side fails to meet the time limits, there is little effective enforcement action.  The usual process is to make application back to Court for an order to strike out claims or defences unless there is compliance within this second time limit.  

 A recent decision of the High Court suggests that the Courts may be more willing to impose these “unless” orders following the recent implementation of the Jackson Reforms about which I have commented in earlier blogs.  Let us hope that this is carried through to the lower Courts as well, as a bullish interpretation of time limits and enforcement can only be a good thing and help to bring cases to trial in a quicker and more effective way as well as reducing costs.  

 The key to fair justice is consistency and so long as we all know that the Courts are going to be bullish in terms of enforcement and we can expect that being applied in the same way by all Judges and all Courts, then we can run cases accordingly.  The problem is where the approaches adopted by different County Courts and Judges differ dramatically and/or that unreasonable latitude is allowed to those litigants who choose to act in person.  This can only lead to uncertainty, injustice and increased costs.