A case about points of law 2003

N.B. The most recent guidelines on ADR and the courts can be found in The Halsey Case 2004 (May 2004).
 
The case on this page has been included as it has contributed significantly to the development of case law on ADR, but it is no longer definitive.
 
This means that the Halsey judgement should be read before making a decision about whether ADR should be tried before going any further with the court process.
 
The Royal Bank of Canada Trust Corporation Ltd v Secretary of State for Defence
May 2003
In this case the court imposed costs penalties on the Ministry of Defence in a dispute about the meaning of a clause in a tenancy lease. The landlord (Royal Bank of Canada) had offered to try to resolve the matter through mediation, but the MOD, the tenant in this case, refused on the grounds that they believed a point of law needed to be established. In fact the MOD won the case, but again were penalised on costs because of their refusal to mediate, particularly bearing in mind the Lord Chancellor’s pledge in March 2001 that government departments would use ADR to resolve disputes wherever appropriate, and wherever the other side agreed. In fact, the original pledge did specify that there may be “disputes where a legal precedent is needed to clarify the law or where it would not be in the public interest to settle”, but it seems from this case that the courts are increasingly restrictive in deciding what is or isn’t an appropriate reason to refuse to mediate.
 

Note to advisers
In an ideal world an adviser working with a client would consider all the options for resolving the dispute in question, and help the client to make an informed decision about the most appropriate route. However, the constraints of the Funding Code, the Civil Procedure Rules and recent legal precedents mean that:

• it is essential to at least consider ADR options seriously with the client
• a refusal to try mediation or another form of ADR may mean cost penalties for those who are not legally aided, or a refusal of Legal Aid for representation for those who are
• the process of decision-making should be recorded, in order to provide evidence, if needed, that ADR was considered