Congratulations to Sir Henry Brooke Chairman of Trust Mediation who collected a Lifetime Achievement Award and the Mediation Achiever of the Year Award at the 2011 Personal Injury Awards. As one of the Trust Mediation panel mediators I am privileged to work with Sir Henry from time to time. I had the opportunity to observe…
Author Archives: Philip Hesketh
Calculating the BHR or spot rate in credit hire claims.
Darren Bent v Highways and Utilities Construction 2011 This is a first for me – writing about a case where one of the parties used to be in my fantasy football team (he’s not now, Demba Ba partners Van Persie). Of course this case is not about football it’s about the far more exciting issue…
Court of Appeal ruling on interest in credit hire claims.
Pattni v First Leicester Buses Limited The Court of Appeal has delivered its judgment in Pattni v First Leicester Buses Limited [2011] EWCA Civ 1384. The judgment also includes the case of Darren Bent v Highways and Utilities Construction. In both cases the claimants were not “impecunious” (see Lagden v O’Connor [2003] UKHL 64. Can the…
Arlene McCarthy MEP on the European Mediation Directive
I am delighted to welcome Arlene McCarthy MEP for the North West Region as my guest blogger this week. Arlene writes: On 13th September 2011, the Parliament adopted my report on the implementation of the Mediation Directive. The aim of the report was to assess the impact of the 2008 Directive in the Member States, and examine…
Government “even more convinced” about mediation
Following its consultation on resolving disputes in the workplace the government is “even more convinced about the role that mediation can play, as one of the forms of early dispute resolution.” In its response to the consultation the Department for Business Skills and Innovation said a substantial growth of mediation has the potential for a…
What did your solicitor tell you about mediation?
What’s your story? Have you been to see a solicitor recently about a non-matrimonial legal dispute? What advice did your solicitor give you about alternatives to going to court such as mediation? Please a comment below about your experience. Why? Because the government thinks not enough solicitors are complying with their professional duty to advise…
£24m in the budget for mediation
legalweek.com has reported that the Ministry of Justice is adding another £10 million pounds into its 2012 budget for publicly funded mediation taking the total to £24 million for the year. The report says: An MoJ spokesperson said: “Research shows that mediation can cost a quarter of the price and take a quarter of the…
Judge proposes mediation for criminals.
Mr Justice Ramsey has suggested that mediation could be an appropriate way to deal with minor criminal offences as well as complex white-collar crime. He spoke recently at the CIArb’s Mediation Symposium. The Law Society Gazette reported his comments: In such cases, he [Mr Justice Ramsey] said, mediation could be used to give structure to…
Warning drums beat against manadatory mediation.
If you were waiting eagerly for the government’s response to the Settling Disputes in the County Court consultation paper then you’ll have to wait a while longer. It has been put back from the end of October date – no idea if the postponement is related to Mr Djanogly having his referral fee duties removed….
Why the Manchester Mediation Pilot Scheme is failing
The Manchester Mediation Information and Assessment Pilot Scheme was born on 4th July this year. I am one of the Manchester mediators who have attended the court since then acting as “duty mediators”. Unfortunately the scheme appears to have been, in short, a failure. What’s the Scheme for? It was introduced following the Government’s consultation…
