Civil Court looks online

Proposed Civil Court Changes – Shifts to online court

An online court would provide the opportunity to use modern IT to create a court which will enable civil disputes of low value to be justly resolved. Essentially it would digitise the entire court system accessed by way of a common online portal which would be available on the Ministry of Justice website. In respect of civil matters, it is envisaged that there will be three stages of litigation with the initial stage being purely automated. This would involve a litigant identifying the claim and uploading evidence and documentation. The second stage would involve conciliation and case management by a case officer which would be conducted over the telephone and in person. The final stage would involve determination of the claim by a district or deputy district judge which could either take place by telephone, video link or in person at a hearing. Should the claim be founded, there will be a further stage that deal with enforcement of the judgment.

There is no doubt that the option to issue proceedings by way of an online method would provide an efficient and cost effective method to justice for individuals and small businesses. It would most definitely be suited to claims that are classified as low value and straightforward for example recovery of a debt in relation to an unpaid invoice. Further, an online court method would provide for an electronic file for the parties and for the court. This should indicate that it would be impossible for the courts to loose documents as this has been a huge reoccurring issue in the past especially with the County Courts.

It is argued by LJ Briggs who is driving the shift to an online platform that litigants in person would be competent to issue these types of straightforward proceedings and that lawyers would not be needed as there would be guidance and help available. The type of help available is currently unclear and whether court staff would be trained to take telephone calls to assist with online queries is a matter that has yet to be addressed.

LJ Briggs’ intention is to cut out the disproportionality of costs in relation to claims that are worth up £25,000.00 which can be achieved by litigating without lawyers. As 70% of claims that are heard before the county courts are up to the value of £10,000.00, LJ Briggs considers that these claims can be shifted online and the procedure for complex and high value claims would continue to be dealt with the traditional way. This would most definitely help to free up a court system that has recently been subjected to considerable budget cuts.

However I am sceptical of an online court approach because lawyers are trained peruse documents relating to a case in order to interpret law accordingly to ensure that a favourable judgment is ordered irrespective of the type of claim it is that is being brought before the courts. It may delay proceedings due to errors in the way the proceedings have been particularised. I do consider that a prospective client should still obtain advice from a litigation solicitor in relation to their claim and be advised accordingly as to whether to issue proceedings, offer ADR or drop the claim altogether.

I would suspect that prior to any implementation of an online court system the HMCTS design team would undertake vigorous testing in order to ensure that this method is a reliable and user friendly way to issue proceedings and if successful, I envisage that it would not be until the year 2020 when we see the courts of England and Wales adopting an online approach. Further, such implementation and maintenance would likely be very costly and there has been no information to date as to how this would be funded.