HC127

Non Jury List: Hearing of Witness Actions in the Non Jury List

NON JURY LIST: HEARING OF WITNESS ACTIONS IN THE NON JURY LIST
PRACTICE DIRECTION HC 127

I, David Barniville, President of the High Court, hereby issue the following Practice Direction in accordance with the general authority of the President of the High Court and s.11(12) and (13) of the Civil Law and Criminal Law (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2020.

  1. This Practice Direction applies to the hearing of actions in the Non Jury List.
  2. Where a party, having filed a certificate of readiness in accordance with the Rules of the Superior Courts, seeks a date for the hearing of any proceedings that will be tried wholly or in part by oral evidence, the following requirements must be observed in advance of any such application for a hearing date.
  3. The application for a hearing date shall be treated as a case management hearing and scheduled for a Wednesday hearing in the non-jury list.
  4. The case management hearing shall be attended, either in person or remotely, by the legal representative(s) appearing for each of the parties or, where a party, not being a body corporate, is not represented by a legal representative, by the party herself or himself . 
  5. Each legal representative attending the case management hearing shall ensure that she or he is sufficiently familiar with the proceedings and has authority from the party he or she represents to deal with any matters that are likely to be raised at the hearing.
  6. The purpose of the case management hearing shall be to ensure that the proceedings are prepared for trial in a manner which is just, expeditious and likely to minimise the costs of the proceedings, and to ensure that the trial finishes within the allotted time. To that end, the solicitors for the parties (where legally represented) are required to jointly complete the Form appended to this Practice Direction (the “Trial Summary Form”). If one or more parties, not being a body corporate, are not represented, the unrepresented parties are required to jointly complete the Trial Summary Form with the representatives of the parties or with other unrepresented parties on the other side of the case.
  7. The solicitor for each party is required to sign the Trial Summary Form. Where a party, not being a body corporate, is not represented by a solicitor, the party himself or herself is required to sign the Trial Summary Form. 
  8. The party certifying the case as ready for hearing must provide a completed version of those parts of the Trial Summary Form from information within her or his own knowledge to the other party or parties within 2 weeks from the date the certificate of readiness is lodged in the Central Office.
  9. The parties will thereafter have 4 weeks to agree the Trial Summary Form.
  10. Any failure to observe any part of this Practice Direction by one party should be brought to the attention of the case management judge at the case management hearing. 
  11. A copy of the Trial Summary Form should be available in court for the case management judge on the day of the case management hearing, along with a copy of the pleadings.
  12. The judge presiding over the case management hearing may make directions regarding the matters identified in the Trial Summary Form or otherwise, as the judge deems necessary for the allocation of a hearing date. Any directions issued must be complied with to ensure the matter can proceed on the allocated date.
  13. The judge presiding over the case management hearing will assign a hearing date only if satisfied it is appropriate to do so.
  14. Where the proceedings have been allocated a hearing date and are later compromised/settled, the parties must inform the non-jury registrar at nonjuryjudicialreview@courts.ie forthwith and make an application to the case management judge as soon as possible to vacate the date.
  15. The parties are required to provide a copy of the completed Trial Summary Form to the judge assigned to hear the case. A copy of the Form should be lodged with in the List Room together with the pleadings.
  16. This Practice Direction applies to all cases where a certificate of readiness has been filed on the date of the coming into force of the Practice Direction but has not yet been allocated a date, as well as cases where a certificate of readiness has been filed on or before the date of the Practice Direction.
  17. This Practice Direction will come into force on 24 June 2024

 

19 June 2024

David Barniville
President of the High Court

 

Click the folowing link to download:

Trial Summary Form

High court