What does 2014 hold for the Jackson reforms, asks Dominic Regan
It is over before it began. The speedy, decisive and blunt judgment in Mitchell v News Group Newspapers [2013] EWCA Civ 1537, [2013] All ER (D) 314 (Nov), represents the real implementation of the Jackson reforms. Oh yes we had new words back in April but interpretation is everything. Any doubt should now evaporate.
A matter of default
Contrary to the views expressed by some this case was really nothing to do with budgeting. It was about default and the way that courts should deal with non-compliance. The offending breaches were in the context of the defamation pilot scheme which had been running for years already.
The Master of the Rolls went out of his way to praise the costs judge.
Lord Dyson rightly acknowledged that forgiveness is still available under CPR 3.9, a measure that has been rewritten but not abrogated. The new battleground will be to distinguish minor lapses from major ones as the former ought to be overlooked.
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