Are litigants the latest victims of the government’s austerity measures, asks Georgina Squire
Almost two years since the Jackson reforms, the effects of the new regime are still unfolding. 2014 will be remembered by many as the year the Court of Appeal clarified Mitchell, ending the flood of pre-emptive applications (lest we be in breach!) and helping litigators sleep easier at night. However, we have yet to see the full impact of the Jackson reforms. With 2015 already presenting further challenges to litigators, we continue to attempt to navigate Jackson’s brave new world. So, five months into 2015, what developments should litigators be alive to?
Courts, forms & procedure
As we know, in 2014, the rules changed so that only claims in excess of £100,000 could be issued in the High Court, leading to a lot of cases being transferred to the county courts. We are seeing many claims well in excess of the £100,000 threshold being transferred to the county court. All county court claims are now processed by a central management system in Salford (the County Court Money Claims Centre
