FLK1 · 380+ cited questions

Dispute Resolution

Dispute Resolution tests civil litigation mechanics: pre-action conduct, statements of case, disclosure, and the court’s active case management under the Civil Procedure Rules.

A recurring pattern asks what happens when a party unreasonably refuses to engage with alternative dispute resolution, since this feeds directly into costs consequences.

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What is covered

The overriding objective and case management powers
Pre-action protocols and starting proceedings
Alternative dispute resolution and its interaction with costs
Disclosure, evidence and enforcement of judgments

Sample question

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Written for this page only, in the same single best answer format as the 380+ questions in the Dispute Resolution section of the course.

Sample question

A claimant proposes mediation early in proceedings. The defendant declines, believing the claim to be hopeless and wanting a quick summary judgment instead, but does not otherwise explain the refusal to the claimant or the court. The defendant wins at trial. In deciding whether to depart from the general rule that costs follow the event, which of the following will the court consider?

A Whether the defendant’s belief that the claim was hopeless was objectively reasonable on the facts known at the time

B Whether the claimant would have accepted a lower settlement figure, had mediation gone ahead as proposed at the time

C Whether the defendant’s own solicitors had personally recommended mediation before the refusal took place at all

D Whether the trial judge personally considers mediation a more efficient process than litigation in general

E Whether the claimant issued proceedings before or after first proposing mediation to the defendant informally

Whether an outright refusal to engage in mediation was unreasonable is assessed against the circumstances known at the time of the refusal, including whether the refusing party’s belief in the strength of its case was objectively reasonable, not simply genuinely held. A party’s own solicitors’ recommendations, a judge’s personal enthusiasm for mediation, and the sequence in which proceedings were issued are not, on their own, the test the court applies to the refusal itself.

Authority: Halsey v Milton Keynes General NHS Trust [2004] EWCA Civ 576, CPR r.44.2.

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Where Dispute Resolution connects

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