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Review of English Civil Litigation Costs – Could It Get Any Easier?

Client Alert | 1 min read | 01.15.10

Lord Justice Jackson's Review of Civil Litigation Costs: Final Report was published on 14 January 2010. It represents the biggest review of civil litigation in England and Wales since Lord Woolf’s report, Access to Justice, in July 1996. Many of the recommendations are bold and, if adopted, would affect the insurance industry, such as:

  • Ending the recoverability of success fees and insurance premiums under conditional fee agreements.
  • Introducing one-way costs shifting in some types of claim.
  • The abolition of the indemnity principle.
  • Making contingency fee agreements available for contentious work.
  • Repealing large parts of the Practice Direction on Pre-action Conduct.
  • Replacing standard disclosure with a "menu" of disclosure options in some cases.
  • Stronger use of judges' case management powers, including costs management.
  • Increasing the damages awarded to a claimant where a defendant has failed to beat the claimant's Part 36 offer at trial.
  • Extending electronic working to the High Court, county courts and district registries.
  • The creation of a Costs Council, which will decide on guideline hourly rates and fast track fixed costs.

The extent to which these recommendations will be brought into force remains to be seen. With a general election taking place later this year, the reformation of civil litigation procedure is unlikely to be high on the government's agenda, so it may be some time before any necessary changes to primary legislation are enacted (if at all).

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Client Alert | 6 min read | 03.26.24

California Office of Health Care Affordability Notice Requirement for Material Change Transactions Closing on or After April 1, 2024

Starting next week, on April 1st, health care entities in California closing “material change transactions” will be required to notify California’s new Office of Health Care Affordability (“OHCA”) and potentially undergo an extensive review process prior to closing. The new review process will impact a broad range of providers, payers, delivery systems, and pharmacy benefit managers with either a current California footprint or a plan to expand into the California market. While health care service plans in California are already subject to an extensive transaction approval process by the Department of Managed Health Care, other health care entities in California have not been required to file notices of transactions historically, and so the notice requirement will have a significant impact on how health care entities need to structure and close deals in California, and the timing on which closing is permitted to occur....