The number of cases launched in the Chancery and Queen's Bench Divisions of the High Court shot up by almost a quarter in 2006, the Gazette has learned.


Proceedings started rose by 27% in the Chancery Division to 43,327 and by 19.9% in the Queen's Bench Division to 18,364, despite fee increases brought in by the government in 2005.



Jonathan Wyles, senior solicitor at City firm Reynolds Porter Chamberlain, said the figures backed his experience that litigants are not being deterred from bringing cases - indeed, the current economic climate will continue to drive litigation back up. 'People are finding it a bit tougher to get their bills paid, so people are therefore more inclined to sue for it,' he told the Gazette.



Worse, because the new Companies Act allows for derivative action by shareholders, the High Court should 'certainly expect more claims', he said. The number of proceedings in the Companies Court is now back up above the 2002 level at 23,215, 54% higher than last year.



'There will be an increase [at the Companies Court], but how big an increase remains to be seen,' Mr Wyles said. 'The government has created another source of work for the Companies Court to do, so unless there's a downturn in the winding-up applications, the figures will go up again.'



Increasing High Court fees in 2005 may have pushed cases from the High Court to the county court, said Mr Wyles. But parties and litigants have lived with increased fees since 2005, he added, 'so any disincentives are no longer there because parties have got used to them'. Either way, he said, the fee changes 'won't prevent people from starting litigation if that's what they want to do'.



Rupert White