Court Of Appeal Orders Early Neutral Evaluation Despite Party Objection

The Court of Appeal has held that the court has power to order an early neutral evaluation (ENE) by a judge even where one or more parties do not consent to that course. There was no reason to imply into the relevant rule giving the court power to order ENE any limitation based on the parties' consent: Lomax v Lomax [2019] EWCA Civ 1467.

Early neutral evaluation (ENE) is a form of alternative dispute resolution in which a neutral third party (often a judge) provides the disputing parties with a non-binding assessment of the merits of the dispute. The aim of the process is to assist the parties' bilateral settlement discussions by encouraging them to appraise their cases realistically and step away from deadlocked positions.

The use of ENE in the UK has been very limited to date and the decision has the potential to prompt an increase in its use. Although it is unlikely to result in a large number of cases where judges order such a hearing over the parties' objections, particularly in commercial disputes, the increased prominence of the process through the Court of Appeal's strong endorsement of it could feasibly lead to it being more frequently suggested by judges and/or proposed by parties.

Perhaps more importantly, the decision is arguably of wider significance in the context of the ongoing debate as to the extent to which the court's encouragement of ADR should extend into compulsion. Since the Court of Appeal's 2004 decision in Halsey v Milton Keynes General NHS Trust [2004] 1 WLR 3002, the established position in the UK has been that, while the court may strongly encourage parties to engage in ADR (including imposing costs sanctions for unreasonable refusal to mediate), this power stops short of compelling unwilling parties to do so. Amongst other reasons, it was held in Halsey that such compulsion would amount to an unacceptable obstruction of the parties right of access to the court, in breach of Article 6 of the European Convention on Human Rights.

However, as efforts to increase the use of ADR have failed to meet expectations, and with the increased focus on the efficient use of the courts' resources, there have been increasingly prominent voices calling for a reconsideration of this position, at least for particular categories of disputes. These voices include that of Lord Justice Ward in Wright v Michael Wright Supplies Ltd & Anor [2013] EWCA Civ 234 (see our post here), in which Ward LJ (who was himself on the panel in Halsey)...