Public, not vested, interests lie at the heart of Jackson LJ’s final report,says Andrew Parker
It is clear from Sir Rupert Jackson’s final report that access to justice has been at the forefront of his mind when reshaping the litigation landscape. The balance is that access must be both for claimants with valid claims and for defendants with valid defences. That is the public interest focus that lies at the heart of the whole report, cutting through the many pleas of vested interests.
Thus the decision to recommend that recovery of success fees and after the event (ATE) insurance premiums should cease to be recoverable is taken in the full knowledge that there must be some acceptable alternative (NLJ, 26 February 2010, p 294) Sir Rupert has settled on “qualified one-way costs shifting”, which would ensure protection for the vast majority of claimants who currently use ATE from any exposure to opponents’ costs, save where the claimant fails to beat a defendant’s Pt 36 offer.
