Halsey v Milton Keynes General NHS Trust
Parties cannot be compelled to mediate, but an unreasonable refusal to mediate may lead to costs penalties.
Facts
In two appeals heard together, successful defendants had refused the claimants' invitations to mediate. In Mrs Halsey's case, her husband had died in hospital, and she claimed damages from the NHS Trust, which refused to mediate because it considered the claim had no merit. The claim failed. In the other case, Steel v Joy, a defendant in a personal injury claim had refused to mediate a dispute about how losses should be divided between two defendants. The claimants argued that the defendants should be deprived of their costs for refusing to mediate.
Legal principle
The Court of Appeal held that the defendants were entitled to their costs, because their refusals were not unreasonable. Dyson LJ said that to oblige truly unwilling parties to refer their disputes to mediation would be to impose an unacceptable obstruction on their right of access to the court, contrary to article 6. However, the court can encourage mediation, and a party that unreasonably refuses to mediate may be penalised in costs. The burden is on the unsuccessful party to show that the refusal was unreasonable, taking into account factors such as the nature of the dispute, the merits of the case, whether other settlement methods had been tried, the costs of mediation, delay and whether mediation had a reasonable prospect of success. The view that parties cannot be compelled to mediate was later rejected in Churchill v Merthyr Tydfil County Borough Council.
Related cases on civil justice and procedure
- American Cyanamid Co v Ethicon Ltd [1975] AC 396
- Anton Piller KG v Manufacturing Processes Ltd [1976] Ch 55
- Arkin v Borchard Lines Ltd [2005] EWCA Civ 655, [2005] 1 WLR 3055
- Barton v Wright Hassall LLP [2018] UKSC 12, [2018] 1 WLR 1119
- Biguzzi v Rank Leisure plc [1999] 1 WLR 1926
- Callery v Gray [2002] UKHL 28, [2002] 1 WLR 2000
- Churchill v Merthyr Tydfil County Borough Council [2023] EWCA Civ 1416
- Denton v TH White Ltd [2014] EWCA Civ 906, [2014] 1 WLR 3926
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