Two new mechanisms for amicable dispute resolution

For several years, the government has been encouraging the amicable settlement of disputes to relieve the congestion in the courts. To that end, several measures have been taken, including allowing the judge to appoint a mediator at the request of the parties to the conflict, to order the latter to meet one and even to, in some cases, oblige them to have recourse to mediation or conciliation before going to court.

As such, two new methods of amicable settlement of disputes before the high court (which may be used for proceedings initiated as of November 1st) have just been introduced: the amicable settlement hearing and the trial break.

Amicable settlement hearing

As of November 1st, 2023, the high court judge hearing a dispute may summon the parties, at their request or on his/her own initiative, to an amicable settlement hearing. Chaired by a judge who will not sit on the panel of judges, the purpose of this hearing will be to resolve the dispute amicably through a balanced confrontation of the points of view of the parties, the assessment of their respective needs, positions, and interests, as well as the understanding of the legal principles applicable to the dispute.

At the end of this hearing, an agreement, partial or total, may, if necessary, be concluded and recorded in a report.

Trial break

Another mechanism that may be implemented from November 1st, 2023, is that the conflicting parties will be able to request “trial break”, i.e., ask the Pre-Trial Judge to partially close the proceedings and therefore request a partial judgment, i.e., on a portion of the dispute.

In practice, if the Pre-Trial Judge finds that the application is well-founded, he or she will order partial termination. The panel of judges will then be seized of only the claims that will be the subject of the trial break and will rule by a partial judgment, which will be subject to appeal.

Pre-trial proceedings will continue with respect to claims that have not been partially terminated. The parties will then be able to draw the consequences of the partial court decision on their other claims, mainly by resorting to mediation or judicial conciliation.

Example: The Minister of Justice gave an example with civil liability: the judge rules on which party is liable and refers the parties to mediation for the determination of the amount of the compensation.