Litigation can proceed at a snail’s pace at the best of times. It can become a war of attrition. A mediated or negotiated outcome can be quicker and use less resources. Over the pandemic things have got worse unfortunately. Delays continue to affect the county court system and it is anticipated that the position will not improve soon.
Quarterly civil justice statistics published by the Ministry of Justice show that from October to December 2021 the mean time taken for small claims to go to trial was 51.4 weeks. That was 14.3 weeks longer than the same period pre-pandemic in 2019 and roughly the same time as a year before, during lockdown.
Multi/fast track claims took 74 weeks to go to trial, which is 13 weeks longer than in October to December 2019.
The MoJ predicted that claim volumes are likely to return to historic trend levels over time, but court users should be prepared for delays for some time.
We therefore recommend mediation as a way of short circuiting the process and achieving a quicker outcome, by consent. In the words of Abraham Lincoln a good settlement is better than a good lawsuit.