Act of Sederunt (Rules of the Court of Session 1994 and Sheriff Court Rules Amendment) (No. 2) (Personal Injury and Remits) 2015

Amendment of the Summary Cause Rules 2002: remits

9.—(1) The Summary Cause Rules 2002(1) are amended in accordance with this paragraph.

(2) For rule 16.2 (remit between procedures), substitute—

“Remit from summary cause to ordinary cause

16.2.— (1) If the sheriff makes a direction that an action is to be treated as an ordinary cause, the sheriff must, at the time of making that direction—

(a) direct the pursuer to lodge an initial writ and intimate it to every other party, within 14 days of the date of this direction;

(b) direct the defender to lodge defences within 28 days of the date of the direction; and

(c) fix a date and time for an Options Hearing and that date is to be the first suitable court day occurring not sooner than ten weeks, or such lesser period as the sheriff considers appropriate, after the last date for lodging the initial writ.

(2) Where a direction is made under paragraph (1) in relation to a personal injuries action within the meaning of Chapter 34 (action of damages for, or arising from, personal injuries)—

(a) the action is to proceed as a personal injuries action within the meaning of Part A1 of Chapter 36 of the Ordinary Cause Rules 1993 in Schedule 1 to the 1907 Act and in particular—

(i) the initial writ is to be lodged in the form specified by rule 36.B1 (form of initial writ);

(ii) the defences are to be lodged in accordance with rule 9.6 (defences) as modified by rule 36.E1(5) (no note of pleas-in-law);

(b) paragraph (1)(c) does not apply.

Remit from summary cause to all-Scotland sheriff court

16.2A.— (1) This rule applies where a party applies for an action to be treated as an ordinary cause and transferred to the all-Scotland sheriff court.

(2) Where the sheriff—

(a) directs that the action is to be treated as an ordinary cause; and

(b) certifies that the importance or difficulty of the proceedings makes it appropriate to transfer the action to the all-Scotland sheriff court,

the sheriff must make an order transferring the action to that court.

(3) In this rule—

(a) “all-Scotland sheriff court” means the sheriff court specified in the All-Scotland Sheriff Court (Sheriff Personal Injury Court) Order 2015(2) so far as the court is constituted by a sheriff sitting in the exercise of the sheriff’s all-Scotland jurisdiction for the purpose of dealing with civil proceedings of a type specified in that Order;

(b) the reference to a sheriff’s all-Scotland jurisdiction is to be construed in accordance with section 42(3) of the Courts Reform (Scotland) Act 2014.

Remits from ordinary cause or small claim to summary cause

16.2B.   — If the sheriff directs that an ordinary cause or small claim is to be treated as an action under these Rules—

(a) in the case of an ordinary cause, the initial writ is to be deemed to be a summary cause summons;

(b) the sheriff must specify the next step of procedure to be followed in the action.”.

(3) In rule 16.3 (remit from Court of Session), for “section 14 of the Law Reform (Miscellaneous Provisions) (Scotland) Act 1985 (remit of cases from the Court of Session)” substitute “section 93 of the Courts Reform (Scotland) Act 2014 (remit of cases from the Court of Session)”.

(1)

The Summary Cause Rules 2002 are in Schedule 1 to the Act of Sederunt (Summary Cause Rules) 2002 (S.S.I. 2002/132, last amended by S.S.I. 2014/291).

(2)

S.S.I. 2015/213.