Access To The Court General Approach

Access to the court General Approach in relation to the Technology and Construction Court

[rtbs name=”technology-and-construction-court”]There may be a number of stages during the case management phase when the parties will make applications to the Technology and Construction Court for particular orders: see Section 6 below. There will also be the need for the Technology and Construction Court to give or vary directions, so as to enable the case to progress to trial. The Technology and Construction Court is acutely aware of the costs that may be incurred when both parties prepare for an oral hearing in respect of such interlocutory matters and is always prepared to consider alternative, and less expensive, ways in which the parties may seek the court’s assistance. There are certain stages in the case management phase when it will generally be better for the parties to appear before the assigned judge. Those are identified at Section 4.2 below. But there are other stages, and/or particular applications which a party may wish to make, which could conveniently be dealt with by way of a telephone hearing (Section 4.3 below) or by way of a paper application (Section 4.4 below). Access prior to the issue of proceedings. Under paragraph 4.1 of the Practice Direction supplementing Civil Procedure Rules Part 60 it is provided that a party who intends to issue a Technology and Construction Court claim must make any application before the claim form is issued to a Technology and Construction Court judge. This provision allows a party, for instance, to issue an application for pre-action disclosure. As a party will have issued a Technology and Construction Court claim in circumstances where paragraph 6 of the Pre-Action Protocol for Construction and Engineering Disputes applies (limitation or time bar by complying with the pre-action protocol), this provision does not apply to that situation. The Technology and Construction Court might however be persuaded to deal with an application concerned with the pre-action protocol process under this provision although it may be necessary to insist on a claim form being issued. Sometimes parties wish to use the Technology and Construction Court procedures for Early Neutral Evaluation (see section 7.5) or the Technology and Construction Court Settlement Process (see section 7.6) prior to issuing a Technology and Construction Court claim, often as part of the pre-action protocol. The Technology and Construction Court will seek to accommodate the parties’ wishes but again may have to insist on a claim form being issued.