Civil way: 20 May 2011

22 MONTHS LATER

It took the trial judge in Bond v Dunster Properties Ltd and others [2011] EWCA Civ 455, [2011] All ER (D) 248 (Apr), 22 months to deliver his judgment after the conclusion of the hearing of a series of preliminary issues. Judge Havelock-Allan QC, who had been sitting in the Bristol Mercantile Court, unsurprisingly received plenty of stick for the delay from the Court of Appeal.

It was pointed out that the usual period for delivery of judgment was three months (circuit and district judges and recorders are usually expected to deliver within three months of the hearing in civil cases and two months in family cases with a referral to the senior presiding judge or the President in default) and the Master of the Rolls Lord Neuberger said he would be investigating whether more robust and effective procedures were needed in some quarters