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About two years ago, Lord Woolf published his report on the Justice System in England. He told us what we already know, that the legal system was too slow, too expensive, and too complicated. Lord Woolfs report has led to the biggest shake up in court procedure in living memory, leading to the introduction of the New Civil Procedure Rules (CPR) and begins on 26th April 1999.
The rules give the courts new, wide ranging powers to haul litigation into the millennium. No longer will lawyers be able to play the system to delay, prevaricate and frustrate the opposition into submission. This time the courts are in charge. Their aim is to bring cases to justice (settlement or trial) as quickly as possible.
On the 26th April 1999 major changes will be implemented on debt litigation in England and Wales as a result of the Woolf report. The following gives a brief resume' of the major changes.
Costs will be proportional to the size of the claim. Apparently solicitors will no longer be able to charge costs which outweigh the size of the claim. Costs must be proportional to the size of the debt.
There should be a reduction in legal bills and costs awards will be made instantaneously with payments due immediately. You will no longer have to wait three to six months after the case is actually finished to get some of your costs back.
Judges will be prepared to make decisions on paperwork only, or with lawyers at the end of a telephone line. The courts are finally being modernised and are embracing modern technology.
There will be differing 'tracks' in relation to the size of the debt.
All actions must be on a claim form.
More information will have to be given to the Court or (Solicitors) up front on those cases where the debt is disputed. This information may have to include reports on visits to your clients premises.
Bringing a speculative claim or issuing proceedings before the case has been fully investigated is likely to cost you dearly in the long run. If you change your case part-way through there will be cost sanctions (you will have to pay the other sides wasted costs, probably there and then and your own cost recovery will be reduced). Worse still, there will be credibility problems and it is possible that your claim could be dismissed and you will have to start again at your own cost.
Statements of truth
All claim documents and defences now have to include a Statement of Truth signed either by you or by your solicitor with your authority. Another good reason for investigating the claim first - if you are wrong, then it could prove to be very costly for you.
Quicker to trial and less hassle on route
Cases between £5,000 and £15,000 will have trial dates about seven to eight months from when the proceedings are issued (as opposed to anywhere up to eighteen months and beyond at present). Settlements and settlement opportunities will therefore be earlier. All other cases should be dealt with quicker. There are now fewer opportunities for pedantic legal points and spoiling tactics, repeated hearings and delays along the way. All Courts are aiming for all cases to take no more than forty weeks from start to finish. Defences will be due thirty days after the date the Court post the claims document to you, provided you send an Acknowledgement of Service within fourteen days of receiving the claims document. It will be much more difficult to obtain extensions of these deadlines. There will also be a maximum stay of proceedings (i.e., a period when nothing happens on the claim) of about twenty eight days for any settlement negotiations. Cost sanctions will be used against parties causing delays and it will be easier to get the Court to dismiss claims that are not being dealt with expeditiously.
You may be required to attend an initial hearing when the Judge determines how the case will be project managed. There may be other occasions when you will have to attend and talk to the Judge and you may even be involved by telephone. You will be required to sign the Statement of Truth on the bottom of the document that starts the case off or you will be required to authorise your solicitor to do so, having confirmed the contents are true. You will also sign your Witness Statement, stating that the statement is in your own words. The need for comprehensive information and speed means you need to have in place good business systems to retrieve information and the key people available at the start of the case.
Expert - Move towards one expert appointed for both partiesExpert reports will only be used with the Courts permission and you are likely to be allowed one joint expert, i.e., one expert appointed by both the parties rather than one each. It will be more cost-effective to have a joint expert from the start even before proceedings are issued.
It will no longer be acceptable to file a defence along the lines of "we deny the sum is owing wholly or in part". This is good news. The defendant will have to file better particulars in support of their defence. The Court will give you a brief second chance to set out your defence in full but again, there may be a cost sanction. If you don't comply then judgment will be entered against you.
Those of a value of £1k and above soon to be agreed at £600. can be transferred to the High Court Sheriff for enforcement. This is good news because the Sheriff Officers work on a commission basis on cash collected with the commission charges being included in the execution.
For more information in transferring your County Court Judgments to the High Court Sheriff for execution please visit their website at http://www.sheriffs.co.uk
There are no changes in the procedure and issue of statutory demands, Section 123 (a) notices, winding up petitions and bankruptcy petitions.