HyltonTHE SUPREME Court has introduced new measures that will allow the settlement of civil cases through mediation. This is a departure from the previous system where cases were heard in a series of trials.
In a recent interview with JIS News, Solicitor-General, Michael Hylton explained that the change was part of the New Civil Procedure Rules that were introduced by the Supreme Court on January 1.
The aim is to significantly reduce the time for completion of trials and, by extension, members of the public will pay less in legal fees.
Mr. Hylton, who is also a member of the Rules Committee, said that, "cases take long to get tried because of the excessively large number of cases awaiting trial...and the reason why so many are awaiting trial is that cases take much longer to be tried than they need to."
He said that under the new rules, a formal hearing of the case would be done within two months, in the presence of the client and the attorney. The judge would then assess the arguments to determine if the entire case or an aspect of it can be settled by mediation.
He explained, for instance, that in a case that involves money where both parties agree to pay but cannot decide on how much, trained mediators would be assigned to assist the parties to come to a reasonable compromise.
He pointed out that even in instances where the nature of the claim or obstinate parties make it challenging to settle by mediation, attempts would still be made to resolve aspects of the claim out of court.
However, he stressed, that a judge could not order parties to settle.
"There will be parties who will insist, I want my day in court! In this situation, the judge would examine each party's case separately, look at what they are claiming, determine how strong the case is and inform them of possible weaknesses in the case. In other words, urge them towards a settlement," the Solicitor-General pointed out.
He added that the Supreme Court would be utilising the services of trained mediators, who were capable of speaking with the parties in a way that should make them more objective.
Another initiative that has been introduced to reduce the waiting time for completing trials, is the requirement for parties to exchange statements and documents before trials. "That alone cuts the court time significantly," he observed.
This is in contrast to the former system where parties came to court, related their stories in a long-winded way and invariably raised issues that the defence was hearing for the first time. Usually, the defence would request additional time to respond, lengthening the time of the trial.
Turning to the impact that the new rules would have on attorneys, Mr. Hylton said that they would now be required to research and prepare their arguments in more detailed before the trial.
Training sessions are being held with attorneys to appraise them of the new rules.
The New Civil Procedure Rules are modelled off similar ones that have been implemented in the United Kingdom and Australia.
