Construction Focus: Time for an exception?

John Starr investigates the use of mediation in construction disputes and debates its effect on individual access to justice ‘Access to justice can mean not only the objective notion of justice for all, unfettered by troublesome low-value cases, but also the subjective notion of public vindication of one’s position.’ Mediation has evolved, over the decades …
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Alternative Dispute Resolution: Being nice

Andrew Hogan sets out the different strategies for approaching mediation ‘What is crucial is to lay the groundwork early with a detailed and reasonable offer of ADR in whatever mode is thought appropriate.’Alternative dispute resolution (ADR) is an alternative to litigation. Seen 20 years ago, as touchy-feely nonsense, ‘being nice’ to the ‘being nasty’ of …
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Costs Sanctions: Every loser wins

The courts have once again punished a wholly successful party in costs for their unreasonable refusal to mediate – a trend that is only likely to grow, writes Ben Handy ‘The judge found that there were reasonable prospects that mediation would have succeeded, at least in part. The defendant was not justified in coming to …
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Construction Focus: An unreasonable refusal

John Starr considers a case where no costs sanctions were imposed despite an unreasonable refusal to mediate ‘In this case, the judge came to the conclusion that the fair and just outcome should be that neither party’s conduct should be taken into account to modify what would otherwise be the general rule on costs.’ In …
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Mediation: Ignore at your peril

Kate Andrews discusses the importance of mediation, and the costs consequences that can result where a party unreasonably refuses, or ignores, a request to mediate, in light of a recent Court of Appeal judgment ‘Prior to the recent Court of Appeal decision in PGF v OMFS, case law seemed to suggest that a positive suggestion …
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Construction Focus: Mediation retains its appeal

John Starr analyses the Court of Appeal’s approach to mediation and a new Court-run scheme ‘CAMS has been running for a number of years and has consisted of the court writing to the parties to tell them about mediation and the Mediation Scheme run by the Court of Appeal.’ For some years now, the Court …
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