Closed: MOJ Consultation about mandatory ADR/Mediation in small claims

Ed2022

Replied via email - pending an acknowledgement email.

Coupon-mad

Have done mine now as well, awaiting an acknowledgement that I assume will come tomorrow.

Jenni_D

Sorry - not been in this board for a few days so missed this.  

An observation ... if /when the Parking Bill et al comes into force, and the formal ADR via the Single Appeals Service is running, doesn't this mandatory mediation point become somewhat moot? (As the new system should vastly reduce the number of NoPCs which proceed to a court claim).

Coupon-mad

I think it will be moot in the end (a good few years in the future) but, the new Code won't dent the conveyor belt of old cases being rushed to court and that'll carry on.  So PPCs will be cluttering up the courts for years yet.

And those numbers will get even worse, if the DLUHC change the code of practice for the rogue parking industry, believe their crap and let them add £70 per PCN.

That would send out a very damaging 'you have the Government's backing to add huge sums per PCN for no reason at all' signal to all PPCs, and if they do the maths even the non-litigious ones will be sending tens of thousands of cases in their archives to the likes of DCBLegal.

Ed2022

@Coupon-mad is this the consultation you were talking about or is there another thread?

Apologies if I am being sense but do you mind pointing me to it?

Coupon-mad

Ed2022 said:

@Coupon-mad is this the consultation you were talking about or is there another thread?

Apologies if I am being sense but do you mind pointing me to it?

No this was something different.  Really glad that some of us managed to respond to this one about parking claims and 'mediation' which might at least make the MoJ realise these cases are different and require liaising with the DLUHC. 

Ed2022

thank you @Coupon-mad

Coupon-mad

Updating on this:

The MoJ has ignored the comments of individual respondents (us little people) and IMHO clearly prefers to listen to 'organisations' which represent bulk claim issuers:

https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/increasing-the-use-of-mediation-in-the-civil-justice-system/outcome/increasing-the-use-of-mediation-in-the-civil-justice-system-government-response-to-consultation#correction-slip

"As stated above, our initial target is to implement integrated mediation for all specified money claims issued through standard procedure and allocated to the small claims track within this Parliament.

Our aim is for this to provide the basis for extending the policy to all standard small claims in the future. We will announce the implementation details and timings in the coming months."

Here is the only little mention (lip service) paid to our concerns:

Question 1
We propose to introduce automatic referral to mediation for all small claims (generally those valued under £10,000). Do you think any case types should be exempt from the requirement to attend a mediation appointment? If so, which case types and why?

"21. In addition to personal injury, a range of other case types were suggested by respondents as appropriate for exemption. The most common were housing and parking related claims.  In relation to parking claims, several individual respondents expressed the view that these were cases where there was limited scope for compromise and that mediation had the potential to favour the claimant (usually a private parking company) by assuming a claim was valid and encouraging negotiation."

As @Galloglass pointed out on another thread this year:
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6421016/mediation-should-i-take-the-option-of-mediation

"User Group represents firms that issue 85% of all money claims in the County Court - the type of claim a motorist will receive. They are the bulk issuers of claims and generate the demand for court services"

So, the conclusion (of course, as expected) is in future, when the CPRs are updated to require it:

UNLESS THE DLUHC STEP IN AND REPLACE MEDIATION WITH ADR:

...the below horrific sanctions will be what will likely be inflicted on any hapless parking case victim Defendants who miss their pointless Mediation bullying session:

"If a party has not attended their scheduled mediation appointment, they will be recorded as having failed to comply with the requirement to mediate. A judge will be able to apply sanctions they consider appropriate and lawful, taking mitigating circumstances into account. It could be that the non-compliant party is required to pay for some of the other party’s legal or court costs; or a judge may decide to strike out (dismiss) a party’s claim or defence, leading to a default ruling in the other party’s favour."