Disadvantages of the Civil Courts

Question 1

What are the disadvantages of the civil courts?

Answer 1

• Costs
• Delays
• Unequal bargaining positions
• Adversarial process
• Lack of privary
• Precedent set - but no guarantee

Question 2

How are Costs a disadvantage of the civil courts?

Answer 2

• can sometimes be more than the claim
• Woolf - claim of £2000 with cost of £70,000
• Leigh v Random House - breach of copyright involving the Davinci code - losing side paid their own legal costs of £800,000 amd Random House’s £1.1mil
• lawyer fees expensive and appeals add to the costs
• Lord Woolf looked at how to reduce costs but still remain high
• Can enter into CFAs to cover costs but will need insurance

Question 3

How are delays a disadvantage of the civil courts?

Answer 3

• Small claiams average wait time from a claim beign made in 2023 was 55 weeks, 76 for fast and multi track
• longer cases go on - more expensive + witnesses tend to forget details
• PI claims tend to hand worst delays
• house of commons select committee set up to investigate delays in 2023 - record waiting times
• some reasons for delays - covid backlog, lack of funding, cuts to legal aid (people representing themselves slows process

Question 4

How are unequal bargaining positions a disadvantage of the civil courts?

Answer 4

• large companies + repeat players (e.g mcdonalds + tesco) against an individual (one shotter) unfair
• large companies tend to have own legal teams who are used to defending particular claims
• more emotional involvement + fear for individual
• large companies often try to make ‘out of court settlement’ below value of claim - often accepted - quicker and avoids certain costs but not full amount of claim
• for 9000 PI claims only 300 reach court
• hard to not have lawyer unless in small claims court

Question 5

How is the adversarial process a disadvantage of the civil courts?

Answer 5

• cross examination by lawyers - can be intimidating and agressive
• encourages battle between 2 parties - can work but not best when future relations need to be maintained e.g divorce or commercial disputes
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Question 6

How is lack of privacy a disadvantage of the civil courts?

Answer 6

• courts open to public and press
• sometimes disputes better solved in private e.g family matters

Question 7

How is precedent set a disadvantage of the civil courts?

Answer 7

• no guarantee of outcome until judge makes decision
• also room for appeals

Question 8

What are the advantages of civil courts?

Answer 8

• certainty
• legal knowledge
• formality and history
• appeals
• enforcement

Question 9

How is formality and history an advantage of civil courts?

Answer 9

• promote respect for law
• opensystem of justice allows public to be aware of cases and industries that they should if they pose a problem
• allows for case to be allocated early to the correct track

Question 10

How is certainty an advantage of civil courts?

Answer 10

• rules of evidencve clear and procedures formal
• judicial precedent applies so many disputes can be resolved before reaching court as the outcomes clear - like cases treated in similar matter

Question 11

How is legal knowledge an advantage of civil courts?

Answer 11

• judge oversees - knowledge and experience to deal with complex legal matters + can give reasoned decisions
• can allocate cases to correct track in the courts

Question 12

How are appeals advantages of civil courts?

Answer 12

• grounds for appeal are clear

Question 14

How is enforcement an advantage of civil courts?

Answer 14

• courts have greater powers to enforce their decisions