Proposals by Lord Justice Jackson to extend fixed recoverable costs (FRC) in civil litigation claims are likely to take until 2019 to go through, according to a legal expert.
Lord Jackson outlined his vision to extend the scheme in July this year, which he described as a “supplement” that would finish the job of introducing FRCs for all fast-track cases, and would bring in a new fixed-cost ‘intermediate’ track for certain claims up to £100,000.
The move came several years after Lord Jackson’s original reform package, which was aimed at controlling what he called “disproportionate” civil litigation costs and was implemented in 2013. In his July announcement, Lord Jackson said it was “now right to extend FRC above the fast track,” but added that it was necessary to “proceed with caution in order to protect access to justice.”
But the plans – which are now in the hands of the government and judiciary – are unlikely to be finalised for more than a year, says Terry Renouf, a consultant at law firm BLM.
“It wouldn’t be hard to implement – it is relatively straightforward, as it’s an extension of existing schemes. So, in many respects, it’s not like the 2013 reforms – you don’t need legislation. It could happen fairly quickly,” Renouf explained.
However, the reality facing the government means that the proposals are likely to take longer, he said.
“It could be 2018, but the noises seem to be that it’s actually not going to happen that quickly. We need a government consultation, and they are getting busy – Brexit is on everybody’s desk and is taking up a lot of the government’s time,” Renouf commented.
One of the potential issues that the industry could see as a result of the plans, which constitute a “significant change to the process of assessing costs,” is a spike in claims, according to the lawyer.
“When FRCs were first introduced… there was a huge spike in activity prior to the implementation of those reforms, and that will happen again,” Renouf said.
While Lord Jackson initially suggested introducing FRCs for all cases worth up to £250,000, he said in July that he had not gone that far because of improvements made in costs management. The latest plans propose a pilot capped costs process for business and property cases up to £250,000, and also recommend establishing a working party to examine fixing costs for clinical negligence claims worth up to £25,000.
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