A district judge has urged lawyers to plan ahead to take account of the ‘overwhelmed’ centre processing civil claims. District Judge Hennessy, who sits at Birkenhead County Court, urged litigators to make adjustments if they wanted to avoid the worry about missing the limitation period because of delays.

The Civil National Business Centre opened earlier this year in Northampton, replacing the previous arrangement where work was shared between the site in Northampton and another in Salford.

Speaking at the Motor Accident Solicitors Society in Manchester last week, Hennessy said the creation of a single centre for handling claims had put the service under ‘enormous pressure’.

‘People have been very diligent and hard-working and they are trying their best, but they have been so overwhelmed by Salford closing,’ she said.

‘If you are in that limitation situation and you are in difficulties please think about it in advance.'

The reorganisation of the courts administration has already prompted concerns to be raised by practitioner groups.

Matthew Maxwell Scott, executive director of the claimant-facing Association of Consumer Support Organisations, wrote to justice secretary Alex Chalk in September reporting that the centralisation in Northampton was having a ‘substantial impact’ on overall county court timelines. He pointed out that the longest period for the start of a processing time is from receipt of an application to an order or comment being typed had reached 82 working days, or around four months.

The MoJ’s latest figures show it takes 29 working days for the centre to begin the process of acknowledging a paper service. The centre is taking 38 days to begin processing a directions questionnaire.

Meanwhile, the MASS conference also heard cross-sector concerns about the Damages Claims Portal – the digital service allowing lawyers to issue a claim on behalf of clients through an online portal.

Counter-fraud specialist Jonathan Head, a director with defendant firm DWF, said both sides of the industry believed it was a good concept but the system itself was ‘beset with practical, technological problems’.

He added: ‘There are also broader, project-management issues - in particular lack of a clear roadmap or timetable for change and insufficient notice of changes (including any changes to the practice direction – for example when the ability to apply for default judgment was introduced in spring, users became aware on the day it went live).’

The MASS conference heard that a Supreme Court hearing into the Rabot case, to decide the tariff damages payable for mixed injury claims in the whiplash portal, is likely to be in February.

 

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