A Court of Appeal judge has criticised a defendant for rejecting mediation offered at a previous hearing – warning it will be a costly decision.
Lord Justice Longmore said it was a ‘great pity’ that appliance supplier Indesit, instructed by Plexus Solicitors, had not pursued the option of mediation as advised by Lord Justice Toulson in a personal injury case. Indesit had successfully defended a personal injury claim by employee Ali Ghaith, but Ghaith was subsequently given permission to appeal.
It was then that the appeal judge encouraged Indesit to pursue the option of mediation.
The company opted not to follow that advice on the grounds that costs had already exceeded the likely amount at issue. In a judgment given today, LJ Longmore said this was an ‘inadequate response’ that will ‘inevitably result in a substantial increase in costs’.
He added: ‘Indesit’s reaction is all too frequent and the court has, since April of this year, decided that any claim for less than £100,000 will be the subject of compulsory mediation.
‘It is devoutly to be hoped that such mediation will mean that these comparatively small claims will not have to be adjudicated by this court so frequently in future.’