12 May 2020
Important Notice - County Court Appeals - Queen’s Bench Division
For the urgent attention of all practitioners with Personal Injury actions and County Court Appeals listed in the Queen’s Bench Division
Further to the updated Guidance issued
by the Lord Chief Justice on Friday 24 April 2020 which can be accessed at https://judiciaryni.uk/sites/judiciary/files/media-files/Covid-19%20-%20Guidance%20for%20Courts%20-%2024.04.20.pdf,
further details have been issued by his Office with regard to arrangements for
the review of Personal Injury actions and County Court
Appeals in the Queen’s Bench Division. Details are as follows:-
Cases listed in w/c 4 May 2020 have been
adjourned for four weeks. The judge will undertake an administrative
review of QBD cases listed in weeks commencing 11 and 18 May 2020.
Representatives should collaboratively complete and lodge form QBCI1 by email
with the Central Office (centraloffice@courtsni.gov.uk)
by 21 May 2020. Where a party is not represented or is a litigant
in person, the Central Office will advise them to complete and lodge form
LIPCI1. Where no form is received from either party the case will be
adjourned for 4 weeks. Where the judge determines a review hearing is
required the parties will be notified and the hearing will take place
remotely. This process will be repeated on a two week basis to the end of
Trinity Term (30 June 2020).
The names of the first set of cases
which are to be reviewed have now been furnished to the Society with a request
that we circulate same – see attached List.
Form
QBCI1 can be accessed in the Forms Section of the Corona Virus page of the
JudiciaryNI website – see https://judiciaryni.uk/coronavirus-covid-19
As it may be that the solicitor in
a firm with carriage of one of the listed cases is unavailable given the
difficulties presented by the current pandemic, partners and principals should
ensure that the appropriate action required internally within your firm and
externally with the legal representatives of other parties is urgently attended
to.
With regard to Court Business,
colleagues are advised to regularly monitor the Coronavirus section of the
website of Judiciary NI and the Society's e-Newsletter - E-nformer.