Royal Bank of Canada v Secretary of State for Defence: ChD 2003

The parties had disputed the interpretation of a lease.
Held: Though a point of law had been at issue, the dispute should still have been mediated. The ADR pledge given by Government was something to which he ought to attach ‘great weight’: ‘As I have said, however, the most important feature to my mind is the formal pledge given on behalf of the government and its various departments to use ADR in appropriate cases. The government did not abide by that pledge in this case. I am not in a position to form any real view of whether a mediation would or would not have succeeded. It may well have done, but in my judgment a failure to abide by the formal pledge given on the part of government, coupled with the fact that . . justifies a decision that the defendant should not recover any further costs from the claimant.’

Judges:

Lewison J

Citations:

[2003] EWHC 1841 (Ch)

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Cited by:

CitedHalsey v Milton Keynes General NHS Trust etc CA 11-May-2004
The court considered the effect on costs orders of a refusal to take part in alternate dispute resolution procedures. The defendant Trust had refused to take the dispute to a mediation. In neither case had the court ordered or recommended ADR.
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Landlord and Tenant

Updated: 21 October 2022; Ref: scu.374393