Commerical Court 'speeding up resolution of disputes': Report

Ireland's new Commercial Court has had a major impact on increasing the speed at which commercial disputes are resolved since its introduction in January of this year, according to a new report from McCann FitzGerald Solicitors.

The McCann FitzGerald report confirms that cases in the Commercial Court have taken on average just five weeks from entry into the Court's list to allocation of a date for trial.

The report also confirms that of the 21 cases that have been granted admission to the Court's list between January and July of this year, 14 have either been disposed of through settlement or court order, following trial or the early hearing of a key issue in the proceedings.

In addition, during the same period, the Commercial Court has dealt with six significant preliminary issues, seven written judgments have been delivered, and 21 of the 23 applications for admission to the Commercial List have been granted.

According to Roddy Bourke, litigation partner in McCann FitzGerald, the Commercial Court has already demonstrated its benefit to businesses, both domestic and foreign, in its approach to commercial cases.

"With such quick turnaround, it is clear that the Court offers high speed, high quality litigation that focuses on moving cases on to trial or settlement. And the Court focuses on solutions - such as getting parties to identify the issues dividing them - and does not permit the parties to use strategies to delay cases. This means that businesses can get a better assessment earlier of whether they may win or lose, and cases will settle or go to trial earlier," he said.

Mr. Bourke also said that a noticeable feature of the Court to date has been its willingness to strike out claims at an early stage and to impose costs sanctions, particularly if the deadlines for serving documents have been missed.

The report also notes that the Court has so far dealt with a wide variety of commercial cases including a challenge to the awarding to a national infrastructure PPP/PFI contract, a case that was dealt with within eleven weeks of the issue of proceedings.

However, the report raises the question as to whether the Commercial Court will be able to maintain its rapid pace in dealing with cases. "With no backlog of cases on its list, the Commercial Court has been able to determine cases in very short time frames. Only time will tell whether the Court will continue to have this ability if it becomes an increasingly popular forum in which to litigate," said Mr Bourke.