Today’s Case Management Conference

Morning secret email friends.

It’s case management conference day today. At which the forthcoming Horizon trial will be argued about and the Common Issues judgment date will be “addressed”.

I am hoping we will finish (or better start) today with a clear judgment date. I’m trying to juggle work commitments to ensure I can be at court when it is handed down and there are a few other news organisations who are trying to make plans. There is also the small matter of 550+ claimants who have had an agonising January waiting for news.

I am going to be active on twitter today, so by all means keep me company if you can, but I am not intending to give blow-by-blow accounts of every exchange. I’ll tweet key moments as and when they arise and if I understand them, then I will leap on a bus, leap on a train, leap on a bike, wolf down some tea, leap into a car to take my daughter to air cadets and whilst she is there I will sit in the bar of the London Irish training complex and write up my thoughts on the day.

After sending out my secret email yesterday I got a rather plaintive response from one correspondent who asked: “What exactly is a case management conference?”

I am indebted to inbrief.co.uk for the following:

“The case management conference (CMC) is an important hearing, and is held for the purposes of deciding what further steps should be taken in a case allocated to the multi-track. The CMC is needed to identify the issues in dispute, and for the judge to actively manage the case and make appropriate directions to the parties.

The court has extensive case management powers. A timetable for the steps which need to be taken will be fixed in order to deal with the case expeditiously.

CMC can occur at different stages of the proceedings including when the directions as to how the case is to progress; and later in proceedings when it is necessary to review the progress of the case, when further directions may be appropriate.

In accordance with Practice Direction 29 to the Civil Procedure Rules, the court may consider several issues at the CMC, including whether:

– any amendments to the claim are required;

– any (and what) disclosure of documents is necessary;

– any expert evidence is required;

– any factual evidence should be disclosed;

– any arrangements are necessary for further clarification of the issues arising;

The court will also review the steps taken by the parties in the preparation of the case, particularly their compliance with any directions that the court has already given.”

The above is cribbed from inbrief’s fact sheet, which has more information on it.

There isn’t much more I can say other than it’s a lovely frosty morning down here (or at least, it was in Surrey. London is its usual grimy self) and I was working on the News at Ten last night and didn’t get home till midnight, so if I fall asleep in court and my communication tails off, please send loud tweets or caffeine to wake me up.

You can read all today’s tweets here. You don’t need a login or anything.

Enjoy your day!

N