High Court overturns costs judge ruling that holiday claimants should have used ABTA mediation scheme
Claimants who litigate instead of using an available ADR scheme are not automatically acting unreasonably, the High Court has ruled. It overturned a costs judge’s decision that holiday claimants should have used the Association of British Travel Agents’ mediation scheme rather than litigate.
NHSLA includes costs specialists on first mediation panel
The NHS Litigation Authority has included a specialist costs service among the three providers named on its first mediation panel, which began work today. The two-year contracts were said to be worth £160,000 in total during the procurement exercise.
Replace judges with neutral facilitators to handle major personal injury cases, says QC
A leading personal injury QC has held “board-level discussions” with claimant and defendant law firms and major insurers about his idea to replace the courts’ involvement in catastrophic personal injury claims with that of a neutral facilitator.
NHSLA set to launch formal mediation panel for injury and costs claims
The NHS Litigation Authority has launched a procurement exercise for its first mediation panel, which will look to resolve claims for personal injury and clinical negligence and those arising from claims for legal costs.
Holiday claimants should have used ABTA mediation scheme, says judge as she slashes costs
It was neither reasonable nor proportionate for a group of claimants to spend £456,000 in base costs alone on litigating holiday claims that could have been dealt with far more cheaply by the mediation scheme run by the Association of British Travel Agents, a costs judge has decided.
CEDR in international arbitration push after transatlantic link-up
The Centre for Effective Dispute Resolution is to push international arbitration after signing a collaboration agreement with the New York-based International Institute for Conflict Prevention and Resolution.
Defendant penalised after “unreasonably” refusing to mediate costs dispute
Newspaper group Mirror Group Newspapers has been hit with indemnity costs after the Senior Costs Judge ruled that it had unreasonably failed to engage in efforts to use alternative dispute resolution instead of going to detailed assessment.
Lord Chief Justice: Rulings of judges-turned-arbitrators need to be in public domain
A way must be found to put into the public domain the decisions of leading ex-judges who are now sitting as arbitrators, the Lord Chief Justice said yesterday. Lord Thomas’s speech coincided with the announcement that the now retired Master of the Rolls, Lord Dyson, was returning to 39 Essex Chambers, where he would act as an arbitrator.
