The Commercial Court report (2023-2024) was published on 20 March, giving a detailed overview of the work of the court. In his introduction, Mr Justice Henshaw, who became Judge in Charge of the Commercial Court in September last year, notes that it was another year of high activity, marked by a tendency for trials to settle less frequently, greater numbers of non-trial hearings and substantive judgments, a rise in arbitration applications and a large number of paper applications.
Some highlights from the report are summarised below.
The work of the Commercial Court
The court's caseload remained highly international, with international cases accounting for about 75% of the court's business overall (a similar level to previous years).
743 new claims were issued. This is higher than in 2021-22, when 723 claims were issued, but lower than the total of 885 for 2022-23 (which included 111 individual Covid business interruption claims issued in that year).
Claims categorised as "general commercial contracts and arrangements", comprising a wide range of business disputes, made up the most common type of claim issued in the Commercial Court, with arbitration-related matters, insurance/reinsurance, aviation and commercial fraud also well-represented.
Of the cases listed for trial in the Commercial Court over the year (95, compared to 123 in the previous year), 41 were heard, giving a settlement rate of around 57% for cases that got to that stage. This represents a decrease from 70% in the previous year. The settlement rate in the London Circuit Commercial Court was also significantly lower, at 42%, down from 78% in the previous year.
Financial List
The Financial List is a specialist list for financial claims exceeding £50 million, claims that require particular expertise in the financial markets and claims that raise issues of general importance to the financial markets. 18 new claims were issued in 2023-24, representing a 50% decrease from 2022-2023 (36 claims issued) and a 55% decrease from 2021-2022 (40 claims issued).
Arbitration
Arbitration applications amounted to about 20% of claims issued, reflecting London's status as a leading arbitration centre. However, the hurdles for such applications are high and, as in previous years, the majority of applications heard were refused. For more information and an analysis of the applications made, see this post on our International Arbitration blog.
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