Lady Smith discussed the limits of case management powers when it came to persuading the parties to settle: ‘There are, of course, occasions when a judge or tribunal can quite properly explore difficulties that have become apparent from the evidence in a case, prior to the point at which all evidence has been led and submissions made, whether with a view to encouraging parties to consider settlement or narrowing the issues between them, or otherwise. There must, though, be few occasions when that can properly be done at a point prior to the leading of any evidence in the case since, at that stage, there is, by definition, no evidence before the court or tribunal on which it can comment. Moreover, if minded to make such a comment, it is plain that the risk of giving an impression of prejudgment will arise if it is not made clear to the parties that any views expressed are but provisional, that the tribunal’s mind is not yet made up and that it remains open to persuasion.’
Judges:
Lady Smith
Citations:
[2006] UKEAT 0065 – 05 – 0604, (2006) UKEAT S/0065/05/RN
Links:
Cited by:
Approved – Steadman-Byrne v Amjad and others CA 27-Jun-2007
In the course of a personal injury trial, the judge asked counsel to his room, where he said that having been conviced that the claimants were not lying, the defence had no prospect of success, and complained that ‘Insurance companies are trying to . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Employment
Updated: 06 July 2022; Ref: scu.241490