In June 2006, the Sheriff Principal of Glasgow and Strathkelvin introduced a personal injury pilot scheme at Glasgow Sheriff Court . This follows in the footsteps of the success of a similar scheme which was introduced a few years ago for commercial court actions raised at Glasgow Sheriff Court .
In short, instead of the usual Options Hearing, the case proceeds by way of Case Management Conferences (CMC’s) between the allocated Sheriff and parties’ solicitors up to the point of Proof.
Once defences are lodged, the process is sent to the Sheriff to whom the action has been allocated. The Sheriff will then decide whether the first CMC is to be conducted in court, chambers or by conference call. He will also decide how further CMC’s are to be conducted, if and when they are required. The scheme is voluntary and parties can opt out of it in favour of ‘normal’ court procedure.
The key underlying principles of the scheme are:
- The allocation of an action to a single Sheriff, who will deal with the action from the beginning through to its conclusion, is intended to steer the action to a speedy and economic conclusion. The Sheriff will have a knowledge of the case and the points in issue which will enable him to become more involved, thereby allowing more ground to be covered during the CMC.
- The requirement that solicitors attending CMC’s should have principal responsibility for the case allows for greater efficiency in the progress of the case. This stems from those solicitors’ superior knowledge of the case, their motivation and their authority to make decisions.
- Dealing with the action through e-mail and conference calls will provide for a more cost effective and efficient way of dealing with an action, both to legal practitioners and their clients. Also, as part of the scheme for commercial actions, this direct access to Sheriffs via email and the telephone has allowed parties to raise motions direct with the Sheriff, thereby circumventing the Sheriff Clerk’s office and the motion fees which will otherwise apply.
The personal injury pilot scheme has been devised to try and focus as early as possible on the issues in dispute in a court action with a view to disposing of the action more efficiently. The scheme is still very much in its infancy, however, going by the commercial equivalent, it is likely that most CMC’s will be conducted by conference call.
We shall have to wait and see whether the scheme proves to be a success. However, assuming practitioners and their clients provide the necessary co-operation and participation, there is no doubt that the scheme will prove a valuable addition to the current Scottish civil procedure, with the result that other Sheriff Courts could follow suit in the near future.
Contact
Louise Hay
(Information posted in July 2007and may not have been updated at time of reading).