The CJC has a number of working parties hard at work on various projects, and under the oversight and direction of the full Council. Progress in these projects will be reviewed at the next Council meeting on 28 July 2016, which will be the last to be chaired by Lord Dyson ahead of his retirement as Master of the Rolls.
A quick resume on the various groups:
Impact of Jackson working group
The final act of this group was to publish its report on The scope of qualified one-way costs shifting: further issues for consideration. This report, which Alistair Kinley led, looked in detail at the case for extending QOCS, and in particular in relation to actions against the police. The report has been submitted to the government for consideration.
Civil litigation review working group
Rachael Mulheron set out this group’s anticipated work programme at a recent conference, and the first report is expected at the end of July. This is looking at “hot tubbing” and the use of concurrent evidence post-Jackson. The next topic in this group’s work programme is due to be before the event insurance, and its potential and pitfalls as a source of funding and access to justice.
Noise-induced hearing loss
This group has completed its first phase, with claimant and defendant representatives working together to reach a broad consensus on ways of streamlining and improving the processes for managing these claims, and for reducing the costs associated with them. The current second phase is exploring fixed costs for such cases.
Litigants in person
This group is exploring various elements of an improved strategy towards litigants in person, with different sub-groups looking at web presence, early initial legal advice and public legal education. The more strategic approach stems from the approach demanded at last year’s national forum, and the wish to see better co-ordination of effort and resources in assisting litigants in person.
Property disputes
This group’s report was published in May and fed into Lord Justice Briggs’ Civil Courts Structure Review. As with the group on Online Dispute Resolution, it stands ready to assist in the development of future policy.
Alternative dispute resolution
This group has just been established, and its first meeting drew up a work programme for the coming months.
Boundary disputes
A new group on boundary disputes is due to be set up later this year. It will consider whether some good practice guidance, or a pre-action protocol, might help smooth out the process of these notoriously difficult and emotional cases.
The CJC has convened a small workshop in July on the threshold for the small claims limit in personal injury cases, to discuss some of the practical issues for consideration, ahead of an anticipated government consultation.
The CJC continues to respond to consultation papers in the civil justice arena, with a recent example being proposals on McKenzie Friends. The CJC awaits major consultation proposals on the government’s Autumn statement reforms and fixed recoverable costs.
A number of appointments are in the offing to reinforce the CJC’s membership, and the first of these is HHJ Barry Cotter as the circuit judge member. He is the designated civil judge for Devon and Cornwall.
