Litigation/Dispute Resolution

The county court is a “dysfunctional operation that has failed to adequately deliver civil justice across England and Wales”, MPs said today in a damning report.

The Solicitors Regulation Authority is to demand assurances from firms conducting volume consumer claims that they are meeting their professional obligations.

Consumer claims law firm Barings says it is already working with 1,000 people affected by the Afghan data breach, while Leigh Day says claimants will retain at least 70% of damages.

The Judicial Appointments Commission was wrong to adopt a practice of never putting negative material to a candidate save in exceptional circumstances, the Court of Appeal has ruled.

Public expectations of compensation over motor finance mis-selling are running “very high”, according to research published by Slater & Gordon.

Access to justice is “improving” and people are “surprised when they use the new systems which we’ve put in place” how easy to use they are, the Master of the Rolls has told peers.

“Further forms” of accreditation for expert witnesses beyond the existing MedCo scheme in personal injury could be “worthy of consideration”, the deputy head of civil justice has said.

The law firm acting for the claimants in the boundary fares collective action has called for a donation of £5-6m from unclaimed damages to the Access to Justice Foundation.

The High Court has rejected an appeal by a former law firm whose counterclaim was struck out on the grounds of abuse of process by “warehousing”.

The Legal Ombudsman has published three of its final decisions in full for the first time, including the names of the firms involved, arguing that the move increases transparency.

A senior lawyer should be appointed to make sure that first compensation offers to victims of the Post Office Horizon scandal are “full and fair”, the first part of the inquiry report has recommended.

The government has given its “wholehearted support” to a private member’s bill that gives judges the power to hold remote hearing for breaches of some injunctions.

Parties or their solicitors “unreasonably refusing to accept electronic service” could become a tactic of the past under reforms put out by the CPRC.

The Court of Appeal has upheld as enforceable litigation funding agreements which calculate funders’ return as a multiple of their investment, rather than a percentage of damages.

An automated platform which uses generative AI to “hold the hand” of customers throughout the small claims process has secured £550,000 in its second funding round.