According to the Chancery Division, in 2011, 982 claims were issued, compared to 683 the year before – representing a rise of 44 per cent. Breach of contract and debt were the main causes of action.
Difficult situations
The annual court statistics – published by Britain’s Ministry of Justice – revealed similar trends across other courts. There was a 44 per cent increase in contract claims in the Queen’s Bench Division and a 49 per cent rise in contract, agreement and debt claims in the Commercial Court.
Nick Rowles-Davies, of leading third-party litigation funder Vannin Capital, said: ‘Our own experience – from the ever-growing number of approaches for funding we receive – matches the trends identified by these statistics. The kinds of disputes the courts are seeing are often caused by the difficult situations people find themselves in during a recession; this is compounded by the fact that, by definition, they struggle to get the money together to take their case to court.’
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