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S.I. No. 17 of 2014 - provisions overview

1 Case management directions

1. (1) The Court may, at any time and from time to time, of its own motion and having heard the parties, give such directions and make such orders, including the fixing of time limits, for the conduct of civil proceedings, as appears convenient for the determination of the proceedings in a manner which is just, expeditious and likely to minimise the cost of those proceedings.

(2) Except where these Rules provide otherwise, the Court may:

(a) ensure that the issues, whether as to fact or law, are defined as clearly, as precisely and as concisely, as possible;

(b) give case management directions as to the steps which remain to be taken to prepare the case for trial, and the timetable for the completion of preparations of the case for trial, and for that purpose may adopt any timetable proposed by the parties if satisfied that it is reasonable;

(c) make orders or give directions with respect to pleadings, the exchange between the parties of statements of issues, the identifying of issues in dispute between the parties, particulars, discovery, inspection of documents, or otherwise, which may be necessary or expedient;

(d) make inquiries of the parties so as to ascertain the likely length of the trial and the arrangements, if any, for witnesses, information and communications technology (including video conferencing) and any other arrangements which require to be made for the trial;

(e) fix the time and mode of trial, and may fix a date for trial and may also give directions as to the service of a notice of trial;

(f) make any orders and give any directions in respect of arrangements for the trial as the Court considers necessary;

(g) direct any expert witnesses to consult with each other within such time as the Court specifies for the purposes of—

(i) identifying the issues in respect of which they intend to give evidence,

(ii) where possible, reaching agreement on the evidence that they intend to give in respect of those issues, and

(iii) considering any matter which the Court may direct them to consider,

and require that such witnesses record in a memorandum to be jointly submitted by them to the Clerk and delivered by them to the parties, particulars of the outcome of their consultations, within such time as the Court specifies, provided that any such outcome must not be in any way binding on the parties.

(3) The Court may adjourn the consideration of case management directions from time to time and from place to place as may be appropriate to enable any order made or direction given to be complied with or any act to be done or step to be taken.

2 Adjournment to facilitate ADR

2. The Court when considering case management directions, may on the application of any of the parties or of its own motion, exercise its powers in accordance with Order 49B to invite the parties to use an ADR process to settle or determine the proceedings or issue and to make consequent orders.

3 Case management records

3. (1) The Clerk must maintain a record, which may be in electronic form, of all case management directions given.

(2) A copy of the case management directions must be placed on the Court file and a further copy of the case management directions must be made available to a party to the civil proceedings at the party’s request.

4 Attendance

4. (1) In any case where the Court adjourns the civil proceedings to a hearing for the purpose of considering case management directions (in this rule, a “case management hearing”), the solicitors appearing for each of the parties or, where a party is not represented by a solicitor, the party himself or herself, must attend the case management hearing and any adjournment thereof.

(2) Where the Court considers it necessary or desirable, it may direct that a party attend a case management hearing notwithstanding the fact that the party may be represented by a solicitor.

(3) Each representative of a party attending a case management hearing must ensure that he or she is sufficiently familiar with the civil proceedings and has authority from the party he or she represents to deal with any matters that are likely to be dealt with.

(4) Where a party is represented by counsel such counsel may attend a case management hearing, but the fees of counsel for either party for attending a case management hearing will be allowed in the measurement of costs only where the Court so certifies.

5 Judge taking case management hearing may decline to hear trial

5. A Judge before whom a case management hearing has been conducted may determine that the trial of the civil proceeding should be before another Judge.