allocation directions

These directions are made by the court at the allocation stage of litigation and depend on which track the case is allocated to, and the circumstances of the case. The criterion are set out in the Civil Procedures Rules, and usually made at the discretion of a procedural judge following receipt of allocation questionnaires. These directions allow the justice system to assign the most appropriate court resources to the dispute, having regard to the size of the financial claim and other material considerations.

Usually, a court will not issue allocations questionnaires until all of the Defences in the litigation are filed. It is these documents, which are filed and served by each party that the court relies on to allocate the case. The time for allocation may be delayed where a stay of proceedings has been ordered, or where the proceedings have been transferred to another court.  The court is at liberty to require the parties to attend an allocation hearing if it thinks fit.

Typically, a court will make standard directions in small claims track cases. In fast track and multi-track cases a court will consider making directions that set out the timetable up to the hearing, which includes disclosure, exchange of witness statements, filing and serving of experts' reports (narrowing the issues for expert evidence), pre-trial checklists and listing the claim for trial.

Before deciding the most appropriate track and making allocation directions, it will have regard to:

1. the value of the claim
2. the nature of the remedy sought by the claimant
3. the likely complexity of the facts, law and evidence that it likely to be involved in the litigation
4. the number of parties involved
5. the value of a crossclaim or counterclaim made or likely to be made
6. the oral evidence to be presented by the parties
7. the importance of the dispute to persons who are not party to the proceedings
8. submissions put by the parties for allocation

Where the claim does not  include a claim for money, the court will allocate it to the track that it thinks most appropriate having regard to the foregoing considerations. Once the case has been allocated to a track, the court may in its discretion re-allocate the litigation to a more appropriate track, and may be the subject of an application by the parties.

Usage: The judge made allocation directions at the allocation hearing.

Related Words: small claims track; fast track; multi-track; disclosure; pre-trial checklists; case management conference; evidence; expert evidence; allocation questionnaire; litigation; application notice; locus standi.