HHJ Graham Wood has published a Liverpool Court Hearings update and given some welcome information regarding the approach the civil courts in and around Merseyside and Cheshire that will take place immediately from now. The Liverpool Court Hearings update will be adopted by Liverpool and Chester civil courts, but don’t be surprised if Birkenhead, St Helens and several other local civil courts adopt the same approach.

Briefly:-

Small claims hearings – all lists vacated until after 04 May 2020. Orders to follow accordingly.

Fast track and multi-track trials – vacated for minimum of 4 weeks from 25 March 2020. Parties can apply for variation/reinstatement but must have exceptional circumstances. Trials listed within a window of up to 01 June 2020 will be vacated and new trial windows issued in due course.

All face to face hearings such as injunctions or committals  – will remain listed but may be vacated after being assessed.

Interim hearings, stage 3 hearings, disposal hearings etc – will be dealt with remotely by telephone, Skype, or BTMeetMe in due course.

What Does This Mean?

We welcome this response from our local courts. This is a pro-active approach to the disruption caused by this pandemic. There will inevitably be delays experienced by claimants, defendants and practitioners, and there may well be a backlog once normal service is able to be resumed.

Remote Mediation

Should any local solicitors have cases which they feel are capable of negotiated settlement Mediatelegal offers a full range of telephone, remote or online mediations for all civil, commercial, costs, or workplace disputes. We operate the following simple fees for all mediations:-

Our standard mediation formats and fees, all based on time required only, are as follows:-

2 hour mediation = £200 + VAT per party

4 hour mediation = £600 + VAT per party

8 hour mediation = £1000 + VAT per party

We also offer a bespoke 1.5 hour telephone/video mediation service for RTA/PI cases which are currently awaiting or aimed towards a Portal stage 3 hearing. The cost for this service is £125 + VAT per party.

To find out what is happening with Liverpool court hearings you can download the full document here.