Law Reform
(Disclosure and Conduct before Action) (Jersey) Law 1999
A LAW to enable the Royal Court,
before any proceedings are commenced, to order the production of documents
relevant to certain claims which are likely to be the subject of proceedings in
the Royal Court; to enable the Superior Number of the Royal Court to issue
practice guides as to the conduct of such claims before action; and to enable
the Royal Court to take into account in proceedings the extent to which a party
has acted in accordance with a practice guide
Commencement
[see endnotes]
1 Interpretation
In this Law –
“Court” means the Royal Court;
“party”, in relation to any proceedings, includes any person
who, pursuant to or by virtue of Rules of Court or any other enactment, is
served with notice of, or intervenes in, those proceedings;
“personal injuries” includes any disease and any
impairment of a person’s physical or mental condition;
“prescribed” means prescribed in Rules of Court;
“proceedings” means any proceedings in the Court
howsoever commenced.
2 Power to order disclosure
(1) On the application of a
person who appears to the Court to be likely to be a party to subsequent
proceedings in that Court in which a claim in respect of personal injuries to a
person, or in respect of a person’s death, is likely to be made, the
Court shall, in such circumstances as may be prescribed, have power to order a person
who appears to the Court to be likely to be a party to the proceedings and to
be likely to have or to have had in the person’s possession, custody or
power any documents which are relevant to an issue arising or likely to arise
out of that claim –
(a) to
disclose whether those documents are in the person’s possession, custody
or power; and
(b) to produce
such of those documents as are in the person’s possession, custody or
power to the applicant or, on such conditions as may be stated in the
order –
(i) to the
applicant’s legal advisers,
(ii) to
the applicant’s legal advisers and any medical or other professional
adviser of the applicant, or
(iii) if
the applicant has no legal adviser, to any medical or other professional
adviser of the applicant.
(2) The Court shall not
make an order under paragraph (1) if it considers that compliance with the
order, if made, would be likely to be injurious to the public interest.
(3) The costs of and
incidental to proceedings for an order under paragraph (1) incurred by the
person against whom the order is sought shall be awarded to that person unless
the Court otherwise directs.
3 Practice guides as to conduct
(1) The Superior Number of
the Court may issue practice guides as to the conduct, before the commencement
of proceedings, of any description of claim mentioned in Article 2(1).
(2) Where proceedings are
subsequently commenced before the Court in which a claim is made of a
description for which a practice guide has been issued, the Court may, when
deciding whether to make an order as to the procedure in the proceedings or as
to costs, take into account the extent to which, before the commencement of
proceedings, any party did not act in accordance with the practice guide.
4 Regulations
The States may make Regulations amending Article 2(1) so as to
extend its provisions –
(a) to circumstances where
other claims may be made; or
(b) generally.
5 Rules of Court
(1) The power to make Rules
of Court under the Royal Court (Jersey)
Law 1948, shall include the power to prescribe anything to be prescribed by
virtue of this Law.
(2) [1]
6 Citation
This Law may be cited as the Law Reform (Disclosure and Conduct
before Action) (Jersey) Law 1999.