Developments include the rebranding of the Rolls Building courts, CE-file being made compulsory from 25 April 2017 and updates to the CPR and the court guides.
Compulsory CE filing in the Rolls Building
As discussed in our feature: All change for the Rolls Building: what you need to know, users of the courts of the Rolls Building, i.e. the Admiralty & Commercial Court, the Mercantile Court, the Technology & Construction Court and the Chancery Division (incorporating the Companies Court), will have to use the CE-filing system as of 25 April 2017.
From this date, users will no longer be able to attend the public counter and issue or file any court documentation in hard copy. Instead, you will need to be a registered CE-file user (go to http://www.ce-file.uk/ to register and access the CE-file system) and file, issue and pay your court fees online. The CE-file system is available 24 hours a day, 365 days a year and the relevant procedure is set out in the CPR PD 51O, as well as in the user's guide available online, and is applicable to all:
(a) Claims under CPR Part 7, Part 8 and Part 20.
(b) Pre-action applications, including pre-action disclosure applications under CPR 31.16.
(c) Insolvency proceedings.
(d) Arbitration claims.
Changes to PD 51O clarify that documents may only be submitted by email (as opposed to the CE-file system), if a judge, master or registrar so requests.
Claims brought in the Queen's Bench Division and the Administrative Court will not be subject to online filings, but no doubt, with time, an online system will be designed and implemented for those courts too.
Rebranding of the Rolls Building Courts
The specialist courts of the High Court based in the Rolls Building, namely:
- the Admiralty and Commercial Court;
- the Technology and Construction Court; and
- the courts of the Chancery Division (including those dealing with financial services, intellectual property, competition, and insolvency),
will be rebranded in June 2017 as "The Business and Property Courts of England & Wales". The individual practices and procedures of these courts will continue for some time, although it is hoped that eventually there will be one court guide across the board. The rebranding will allow for more flexible cross-deployment of specialist judges.
Business and Property Courts in Birmingham, Manchester, Leeds, Bristol and Cardiff have also been proposed. The Birmingham Courts will be formally opened on 6 July 2017.
CPR Update
The 88th update to the CPR comes into force on 6 April 2017 and includes the following changes to:
Trial fees: Hearing fees are to be paid closer to trial and will no longer be refunded where the parties settle before trial. Importantly, if the hearing fee is not paid on time, the claim will automatically be struck out and any interim injunction awarded will cease to have effect 14 days after a claim is struck out for non-payment of court fees (CPR 25.11(1)(b)).
Costs budgeting: amendments to CPR 3.15 and CPR 3.18 as a consequence of the Court of Appeal's decision in SARPD Oil International Ltd -v- Addax Energy SA and another [2016] EWCA Civ 120 (see our costs update for further detail), where it was held that the court may record comments about incurred costs which can be taken into account at any subsequent detailed assessment.
Chancery Division Guide update
Despite a substantially revised version published in February 2016, further amendments have been made to the Chancery Division Guide to reflect:
- reference to the fact that the CE-filing scheme in the Rolls Building will become mandatory on 25 April 2017 (para 6.1);
- the extension of the shorter trial pilot scheme until 30 September 2018 (para 8.14);
- some minor amendments in relation to Part 8 claims (Chapter 9);
- a change of wording in relation to statements of truth in statements of case (para 10.17);
- added wording that default judgment is not available under Part 8 (para 12.1);
- clarification that the five-day trial estimate (which is the minimum length of trial when a PTR will be appropriate) includes pre-reading time (para 21.24);
- guidance on time limits and place for delivering skeleton arguments for trial (paras 21.77–21.79);
- guidance on the way in which certain competing claims to moneys paid into court may be dealt with (29.127); and
- a new chapter (Chapter 30) on Chancery business outside London.
New Queen's Bench Guide 2017
The Queen's Bench Guide 2017 has been published to reflect:
- changes to various court rules since the last edition, including the changes that were made to CPR 3 (costs management), CPR 36 and CPR 52; and
- changes to the operation of the division including the abolition of the Practice Master and the introduction of the Urgent and Short Applications List in its place.
