Court of Appeal hears appeal in Churchill v Merthyr Tydfil

Last week the Court of Appeal heard the long-awaited appeal in this leapfrog appeal from the County Court.  Beverley Vara wrote about the issues in dispute in

this article

A few points which came out of the hearing:

• All parties and intervenors agreed that Halsey was no longer good law in relation to mandating mediation and Article 6

• Is access to ADR the same as access to justice?  Is a “resolved” outcome necessarily the same thing as a “just” outcome?

• Is the dispensation of justice limited to Courts and other determinative processes?

• Can mediation be seen to be part of the civil justice system which, the respondent argued, it could not as civil justice is “the system that takes a civil right through issue to trial, and appeal”

• Can an internal complaints process be considered as ADR?

• Where a party is unrepresented at mediation, to what extent can the mediator protect that party’s interests?

• Is some form of resolution of dispute a “good enough” outcome to live with?

 “we cannot let the tail wag the dog.  Dispute resolution can’t be about paying lawyers; it’s about solving disputes for real people”.

Judgment is awaited but what is certain is that there will be a lot of commentary on the decision!