Quite the most significant decision for many years, in terms of influencing the development of mediation within civil justice, is to be found in the judgment of a very strong Court of Appeal in Churchill v Merthyr Tydfil CBC [2023] EWCA Civ 1416. Sir Geoffrey Vos, Master of the Rolls, sat with Lady Chief Justice Carr and Lord Justice Birss, the Deputy Head of Civil Justice, and gave the lead judgment, which in effect reverses the 2004 Court of Appeal’s opinion expressed in Halsey v Milton Keynes NHS Trust [2003] EWCA Civ 576 that for a court to order parties to mediate infringed their Art 6 right to a fair trial. Churchill now gives judicial authority to the view expressed in the Civil Justice Council’s report, ‘Compulsory ADR June 2021’, that courts may order parties to mediate or use other dispute resolution processes even against party objections, ‘provided that the order made does not impair the very essence of the claimant’s
