Introduction of Court ADR Fees for District Court Cases with effect from 1 May 2015 New
The State Courts Centre for Dispute Resolution was launched by The Honourable the Chief Justice Sundaresh Menon on 4 March 2015. The Centre has consolidated the different Court ADR services which used to be offered through discrete departments, with the view to providing an integrated and holistic approach to resolve each conflict. The Centre now provides ADR services for civil claims, Magistrate’s Complaints lodged in relation to minor criminal offences in the Crime Registry, as well as other relational disputes such as applications under the Protection from Harassment Act. The previous Primary Dispute Resolution Centre, that provided ADR services for civil claims, has been subsumed within this new Centre.
At the launch of the Centre, The Honourable the Chief Justice highlighted that the State Courts had been studying a possible charging structure for ADR services. His Honour announced that ADR fees would be introduced for higher value civil claims in the District Courts, with the exclusion of non-injury motor accident claims, personal injury claims as well as cases under the Protection from Harassment Act. The Rules of Court (Amendment) Rules 2015 have been passed to introduce Court ADR fees of $250 per party under Order 90A rule 5A and will take effect from 1 May 2015 onwards.