Wealden Times | WT204 | February 2019 | Wedding supplement inside

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New Year’s Resolution?
How about Alternative Dispute Resolution
Bringing a professional
negligence claim through the
courts is never cheap, and the
issue of funding litigation has
never been debated so richly,
says Tristam Razzell of law firm
Cripps, incorporating Pemberton
Greenish. This is in large part due
to The Review of Civil Litigation
Costs (commonly known by the
slightly more Hollywood Jackson
Reforms), which was a review of
civil litigation costs in England
and Wales, conducted by Lord
Justice Jackson in 2009; the final
report was some 557 pages long,
but the implications of the report
have been written about on pages
innumerable. The reforms came
into effect 1 April 2013.
The effect of the Jackson Reforms
is that it is now economically
difficult to bring professional
negligence claims of a certain
value in the court process. Let us
say you instructed an architect
to design a property for you, and
following construction the design
has been shown to be extremely
poor; this has led to damage of
your property which will cost
£50,000 to rectify.
You may have gone through the
rigmarole of bringing a claim
to trial, but you are likely to be
walking away with much less
money than you need to rectify
the problem. This is just one
reason why the Jackson Reforms
have caused so much debate,
particularly on the issue of access
to justice. The problem is that
once your legal fees have been
accounted for, you can end up
with much less than you lost. This
cost implication inevitably puts
people off bringing professional
negligence claims.
However, litigation is not the only
way to resolve a professional
negligence dispute, and indeed
the courts actively encourage
those locked in a dispute to find
alternative options. Resolving
a dispute at a sensible cost is
part and parcel of a litigation
lawyer’s role. This is usually
done by way of an informal round
table meeting, or a more formal
mediation, which involves the
joint appointment of a mediator
to engage with and listen to both
sides, shuttle between them and
endeavour to help them reach a
settlement.
However, in April 2018 The Pre-
Action Protocol for Professional
Negligence introduced a new
method of dispute resolution
known as adjudication. This is a
type of dispute resolution known
formally as an Alternative Dispute
Resolution (ADR). Importantly, it
can save massively on legal costs,
mitigating the time and stress of a
professional negligence claim.
Adjudication involves jointly
appointing an adjudicator at
an early stage in the dispute;
the adjudicator will make a
decision on the claim based on
the information provided by
each party, and the decision of
the adjudicator will be binding
on the parties. This is a new
string to the ADR bow. We at
Cripps, incorporating Pemberton
Greenish, are skilled in settling
disputes for proportionate
cost; the vast majority of our
professional negligence claims
settle before reaching the
litigation stage, and adjudication
provides us with yet another tool
to allow us to settle your claim
at the earliest possible stage,
mitigating costs and saving on
time.
We specialise in all forms of ADR,
and continue to enjoy success in
adopting ADR for our clients to
get them to exactly where they
need to be, at a reasonable cost
and with as little stress and hassle
as possible. If you are involved in,
or are contemplating bringing, a
professional negligence dispute,
but have been put off by the
prospect of a protracted and
expensive court process, make
your New Year’s Resolution an
Alternative Dispute Resolution,
and discuss with one of our
professional negligence solicitors
today if ADR is suitable for your
claim.
If you would like more
information about dispute
resolution contact Tristam Razzell
on 01892 765428, email
tristam.razzell@crippspg.co.uk
or visit www.cripps.co.uk
www.cripps.co.uk @crippslaw This article gives examples and is intended for general guidance only