Dispute Resolution Horizon Scanner - England and Wales: December 2023 - Court-ordered ADR, key Supreme Court rulings, assimilated law, Hague Judgments Convention, GHR uplift, legislation, consultations and court updates

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Practice notes

ARCHIVED: This Horizon scanner, archived as at 14 December 2023, reviews recent and forthcoming developments of interest to Dispute Resolution (DR) lawyers. It records changes since the 3 October 2023 edition of the Horizon scanner: Dispute Resolution—Horizon scanner—October 2023 [Archived].

Hot topic—court’s power to order parties to engage in a non-court based dispute resolution process

In a seminal ruling, the Court of Appeal in Churchill v Merthyr Tydfil County Borough Council [2023] EWCA Civ 1416 marked a notable advance in the evolution of dispute resolution across England and Wales.

Arising from the council’s stance towards claims alleging a failure to stop Japanese Knotweed migrating from its land into the garden of an adjacent private property, the case revisited the contested question of court-mandated dispute resolution mechanisms.

The Court of Appeal clarified that the principles in Halsey v Milton Keynes General NHS Trust [2004] EWCA Civ 576 are persuasive rather than binding, confirming the court’s power to stay proceedings for non-court based dispute resolution where appropriate and while safeguarding the right to a judicial hearing. This decision indicates that the court will not...

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