Civil Justice Reforms Aim to Increase Cost-Effectiveness of Court Practice
19 November 2012
Hong Kong ushered in a new era of civil justice reform earlier this month, closely modelled on the Woolf Reforms to the UK Civil Procedure Rules of 1998, according to Peter Bullock, a Hong Kong-based partner at Pinsent Masons. Bullock says Hong Kong’s civil justice reform aims to aims to increase the cost effectiveness of court practice and procedures, reduce complexity and delay in court proceedings and facilitate early settlement between the parties.
The new rules provide that pleadings, witness statements and expert reports must be verified by statements of truth, says Bullock. “A statement of truth is a statement that the maker of the document believes the facts stated in it are true,” he says. “The new requirement aims at deterring defective and speculative pleadings. Failure to file a statement of truth may result in a pleading being struck out or a witness statement or expert report rendered inadmissible as evidence. Signing a statement of truth without honest belief of its content can be cited for contempt of court.”
Another important change is the abolition of bare denials in the defence. Under the new rules, Bullock says a defendant will no longer be allowed to respond to the plaintiff’s allegations by a bare denial. It has to state the reasons for denial and to put forward a different version of events.
“This new rule will expose the strengths and weaknesses of the defence at the early stage of the proceedings, thus enhancing the prospect of early settlement,” said Bullock.
The reform brings about changes to sanctioned settlement offers and payment and extends the availability of pre-action and non-party discovery. The reforms are also expected to reduce the number of expert witnesses. Under the new rules, says Bullock, the Court has power to order the parties to appoint a single joint witness at or before the trial. The single joint expert is to be selected by the parties and not appointed by the Court. Only when the parties fail to reach an agreement will the Court intervene and make the necessary directions.
“Although civil justice reform will rewrite the civil procedure in Hong Kong and take a period of time for judges, legal practitioners and litigants to digest and follow, the changes it brings are expected to be beneficial to litigants in the long run,” Bullock said. “The greater case management power of the Court will exact a level of co-operation between the parties not seen previously, even if the impetus for this is the threat of cost sanctions rather than friendly relations.”
Since the UK’s civil procedure reform in 1998, Bullock says, interlocutory applications are far fewer than before the Woolf Reforms took effect, and the mediation industry has flourished.
