Case management

President’s Guidance (Case Management Decisions and Appeals there from) [2011] All ER (D) 36 (Jan)

The Court of Appeal has repeated the guidance given in Re P & P (children) (care proceedings) [2009] 3FCR65, as follows: ‘Case management decisions are not to be challenged on a whim or because one party simply happens to disagree with them. They are discretionary decisions in which the allocated judge enjoys a very wide discretion to deal with the case within the confines of the overriding objective and taking into account the best interest of the child. There must be a point of substance which requires an urgent challenge and speedy resolution. In the overwhelming majority of cases no such point will arise. Where it does, however, speed is of the essence. Delay, as the Children Act 1989 makes clear, is usually contrary to the interest of the children, as well as being the enemy of justice in most child cases.’