New listing system for personal injury actions

Practitioners are advised that, following discussions between the Society's Litigation Committee and the President of the High Court, a new system for listing of personal injury actions will commence forthwith. The new system will operate as follows:

Cases will be listed upon request of the parties for a given date in accordance with the current practice but, in addition, any shortfall in the number of cases will be made up from cases at the top of the list so as to ensure that there will be a full list for each day.

Side by side with this there will be a 'live call-over' of cases at intervals of approximately one month so as to ensure that the list contains no cases which have already been settled. Practitioners must ensure that one of the parties involved attends this call-over to advise the court as to whether the listed matter is ready to proceed to trial. Save in exceptional circumstances, cases appearing in the list which are not ready to go to trial will be struck out and may only be reactivated by service of a fresh notice of trial and setting down.

Arrangements have been put in place for the Central Office to identify assessment cases when defences are delivered and from that point on they will be identified by the letter 'A' appearing after the name of the case when it is listed.

Where cases are for assessment only, solicitors must clearly mark the letter 'A' on the pleadings. Where liability is subsequently withdrawn after a full defence has been delivered, that information should be communicated to the Central Office by letter addressed to the 'Personal Injuries Listing Registrar'.