Inability to afford a lawyer “cannot delay proceedings”, says master – Legal Futures

Posted March 21st, 2024 in delay, fiduciary duty, legal representation, news, stay of proceedings by sally

‘An impecunious defendant seeking to stay an action because they cannot afford legal representation must show they are trying to rectify the situation, a High Court master has said.’

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Legal Futures, 21st March 2024

Source: www.legalfutures.co.uk

Churchill unties the ‘knotty’ problem posed by Halsey – Littleton Chambers

‘On 29 November 2023 the Court of Appeal gave judgment in the case of Churchill -v- Merthyr Tydfil County Borough Council [2023] EWCA Civ 1416 which seeks to resolve the difficult issues raised by the earlier Court of Appeal decision in Halsey -v- Milton Keynes General NHS Trust [2004] EWCS Civ 576 [2004] 1 WLR 3002 and specifically the controversial and much criticised comments of Dyson LJ in paragraphs 9 and 10 of his judgment in Halsey to the effect that:

“to oblige truly unwilling parties to refer their disputes to mediation would be to impose an unacceptable obstruction on their right of access to the court”…’

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Littleton Chambers, 29th November 2023

Source: littletonchambers.com

Ruling provides for mediation in midst of litigation in England – OUT-LAW.com

Posted December 4th, 2023 in appeals, dispute resolution, news, stay of proceedings by tracey

‘A new ruling should encourage more organisations to seek to resolve their disputes out-of-court via mediation or other alternative dispute resolution (ADR) procedures, according to experts in dispute resolution.’

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OUT-LAW.com, 1st December 2023

Source: www.pinsentmasons.com

A knotty problem: Churchill v Merthyr Tydfil Council – Local Government Lawyer

‘The Court of Appeal has handed down its ruling in a test case on compulsory ADR. Elizabeth England analyses the judgment.’

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Local Government Lawyer, 29th November 2023

Source: www.localgovernmentlawyer.co.uk

Court of Appeal: Judges can order parties to engage in ADR – Legal Futures

Posted November 30th, 2023 in dispute resolution, judiciary, news, stay of proceedings by sally

‘Courts can order parties to engage in alternative dispute resolution (ADR), so long as it does not restrict their ability to proceed to a judicial hearing, the Court of Appeal ruled today.’

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Legal Futures, 29th November 2023

Source: www.legalfutures.co.uk

Sanctioned company has “right to access courts”, appeal judges rule – Legal Futures

Posted October 10th, 2023 in brexit, costs, freezing injunctions, news, Russia, sanctions, stay of proceedings by sally

‘The Court of Appeal has rejected a Russian tycoon’s bid to stay an $850m claim brought against him by two Russian banks, despite one of them being sanctioned, citing the right to access the courts.’

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Legal Futures, 9th October 2023

Source: www.legalfutures.co.uk

Alerter by Thomas Evans – Potential Group Action stayed for ADR – Henderson Chambers

‘The High Court has stayed a potential group action against University College London, which cancelled in-person teaching (due to industrial action and Covid-19) but without making any fee adjustments. Whilst the High Court did not require the parties to engage in any particular form of ADR, the stay was imposed in the context of the defendant’s proposal that the claimants should submit complaints to a statutory adjudication scheme. The stay was imposed against the wishes of the claimants, who – whilst expressing a willingness to engage in ADR – did not want to participate in the particular form of ADR proposed by the defendants.’

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Henderson Chambers, 27th July 2023

Source: www.hendersonchambers.co.uk

Abuse of Process for Lost Evidence: Alive and Kicking – 25 Bedford Row

‘Colin Wells discusses the recent case of ANP [2022] EWCA Crim 1111 in which the Court of Appeal (Criminal Division) considered the circumstances of when a case might be stayed as an abuse of process when important evidence has been lost or destroyed.’

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25 Bedford Row, 5th December 2022

Source: www.25bedfordrow.com

Novel consideration when balancing the imperatives of adjudication and litigation – Practical Law: Construction Blog

‘The court may order a stay of a claim pursuant to CPR 3.1(2)(f) where the claimant has previously been ordered to pay the defendant sums in satisfaction of an adjudicator’s decision and the claimant has not done so. That power is exercised, in part, with the “pay now argue later” ethos of the Construction Act 1996 in mind. The key decisions to date (which I discuss below) balance a party’s rights of access to the court against those broader policy objectives. This post looks at a case in which the TCC applied and expanded the case law in this area, RHP Merchants and Construction Ltd v Treforest Property Co Ltd.’

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Practical Law: Construction Blog, 2nd February 2022

Source: constructionblog.practicallaw.com

Court rejects Slater and Gordon bid to end costs recovery cases – Law Society’s Gazette

Posted September 17th, 2021 in costs, damages, law firms, news, personal injuries, stay of proceedings by tracey

‘Lawyers chasing personal injury firms over the deductions from former clients’ damages have been handed a huge twin boost by the court.’

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Law Society's Gazette, 17th September 2021

Source: www.lawgazette.co.uk

Private Prosecution Stayed as an Abuse of Process: Costs Recovered – 25 Bedford Row

‘The issue of recovering legal costs for a defendant who successfully applied to stay a private prosecution, on grounds of abuse of process, was considered and decided upon by the Court of Appeal (Criminal Division) in Muhammed Asif v Adil Iqbal Ditta and Noreen Riaz [2021] EWCA Crim 1091 (judgment 15th July 2021).’

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25 Bedford Row, 9th August 2021

Source: www.25bedfordrow.com

TCC stays expert determination proceedings – Practical Law: Construction Blog

‘It has been quite some time since I have blogged about expert determination. In fact, the last time was six years ago when I wrote about the Court of Appeal’s judgment in Begum v Hossain, which concerned the valuation of shares in an Indian restaurant. That was before the term “Brexit” had been coined and most of us were happily oblivious to the meaning of the word “furlough”. Therefore, Jefford J’s recent judgment in Maypole Dock v Catalyst Housing Ltd, which concerned an interim injunction to restrain the pursuit of an expert determination, caught my eye.’

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Practical Law: Construction Blog, 6th July 2021

Source: constructionblog.practicallaw.com

Stay of proceedings in consequence of restructuring plan – Mills & Reeve

‘A restructuring plan to compromise certain landlord claims was allowed to proceed without being impeded by judgment being entered on a landlord’s claim for arrears.’

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Mills & Reeve, 7th July 2021

Source: www.mills-reeve.com

Eviction ban: A million are in fear of losing their homes, charity says – BBC News

Posted June 1st, 2021 in coronavirus, news, rent, repossession, stay of proceedings by sally

‘As England’s coronavirus eviction ban comes to an end on Monday, around a million households fear losing their homes, a charity says.’

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BBC News, 31st May 2021

Source: www.bbc.co.uk

Case Note: Município de Mariana & Ors v BHP Group plc, BHP Billiton plc and BHP Group Ltd – Blackstone Chambers

‘This note considers the judgment of Turner J in the Technology and Construction Court of 10 November 2020 in the case of Município de Mariana & Ors v BHP Group plc, BHP Billiton plc and BHP Group Ltd. In that judgment, Turner J struck out a claim by a very large group of claimants for compensation for damage caused by the 2015 collapse of the Fundão Dam in South Eastern Brazil, in which over 40 million cubic metres of tailings washed into the Doce River with massive human, environmental, and economic cost. This note presents the factual background of the case and sets out the most relevant features of the judgment for the practice of mass tort litigation in the multinational context.’

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Blackstone Chambers, 15th February 2021

Source: www.blackstonechambers.com

Consigned to History: Do abuse of process arguments work in historic sex cases? – Carmelite Chambers

Posted February 2nd, 2021 in abuse of process, delay, news, stay of proceedings by sally

‘Ben Hargreaves looks at the case law from R (Ebrahim) v Feltham MC [2001] 2 Cr.App.R. 23 through to R v Hewitt [2020] EWCA Crim 1247 and considers whether there is any prospect of turning the tide on the diminishing scope for successful abuse arguments in historic sex allegations.’

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Carmelite Chambers, 1st February 2021

Source: www.carmelitechambers.co.uk

High Court strikes out group action as an abuse of process: Municipo de Mariana v BHP Group PLC [2020] EWHC 2930 (TCC) – Henderson Chambers

‘The High Court has struck out claims brought by more than 200,000 Brazilian claimants in the English courts against British and Australian holding companies in relation to the collapse of the Fundao Dam in Brazil in 2015. In Municipo de Mariana v BHP Group PLC ([2020] EWHC 2930 (TCC)) Turner J found the claims to be an abuse of process and also considered that, in the alternative, the proceedings should be stayed under the Recast Brussels Regulation and on the basis of forum non conveniens. While Turner J emphasised that the factual background of this case was central to his conclusions, his judgment contains a detailed analysis of the relevant caselaw and his consideration of the facts surrounding the claim will no doubt be of interest to parties involved in similar cross-jurisdictional and group actions. Charles Gibson QC led the Counsel team for the Defendants.’

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Henderson Chambers, 19th November 2020

Source: www.hendersonchambers.co.uk

Children: Public Law Update (October) – Family Law Week

“John Tughan QC of 4PB considers the latest judgments that Public law child lawyers need to know about.”

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Family Law Week, 28th October 2020

Source: www.familylawweek.co.uk

Judge condemns late argument in “forensic arms race” of a case – Litigation Futures

‘A High Court judge has strongly attacked the claimants in what he described as a “forensic arms race” over a complex claim by 202,000 Brazilian people and businesses following the collapse of a dam in 2015.’

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Litigation Futures, 7th October 2020

Source: www.litigationfutures.com

Eviction and contempt – Nearly Legal

Posted September 25th, 2020 in appeals, debts, landlord & tenant, news, rent, repossession, stay of proceedings, undertakings by sally

‘This is a somewhat unusual appeal in the context of possession proceedings, being an appeal against a 12 month committal of the tenant to prison on two counts of contempt of court.’

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Nearly Legal, 21st September 2020

Source: nearlylegal.co.uk