Lawyers association contests mediation directive in civil trials

THE Personal Injury Lawyers Association (Pipla), which represents the interests of lawyers, as well as five claimants against the Road Accident Fund, has lodged a legal challenge against the directive introducing mandatory mediation in the Gauteng Division of the High Court.

- ZELDA VENTER

They will ask the court to declare the directive unconstitutional and invalid.

The applicants want an order provisionally interdicting Gauteng Judge President Dunstan Mlambo from further implementing the directive until the Constitutional Court has spoken the last word on the subject.

Advocate Justin Erasmus, the chairperson of Pipla, said in an affidavit filed with the application that the practice notice is unworkable. In terms of the directive issued by Judge Mlambo from mid-April this year, no trial dates are allocated for civil trials (where evidence is led) without the issues first going to arbitration. Only if arbitration fails, and a certificate in this regard is issued, will the court accept these cases.