Litigation/Dispute Resolution

The Ministry of Justice has put back by six months to April 2023 the extension of fixed recoverable costs across the fast-track and in most money cases worth up to £100,000.

Civil litigation should be conducted “with cards on the table – face up” and the courts should not “sanction an act of deliberate concealment” by one of the parties, appeal judges have ruled.

The difficulty of people signing up to a collective action and the availability of third-party funding were legitimate factors to take into account in making it opt-out, the Court of Appeal has ruled.

There was no express or implied retainer between a law firm and a businessman with a “colourful commercial career” suing it for £2.5m in damages, the High Court has ruled.

The freedom of parties to choose their lawyers should not “transform into an ability to choose a venue”, a High Court judge has said in moving a judicial review hearing from London to Leeds.

The High Court has accepted an apology from a party which broke an embargo on a ruling, in the third such case in the space of just two months.

A QC has rejected an application recuse himself from sitting as a deputy High Court judge in a case involving a law firm suing for unpaid fees that itself owes him fees.

The burgeoning field of data breach claims has taken a blow with a High Court judge saying the disclosure of a person’s name, gender and date of birth is not serious enough.

The Ministry of Justice and courts service have “missed opportunities to swiftly deliver an ambitious court reform programme”, MPs on the justice select committee said today.

A deputy master could hand down her judgment on a case that had been heard but settled the day before she was due to circulate a draft striking out the claims, the High Court has ruled.