JERSEY Law and Practice Contributed by: Marcus Pallot, Eleanor Davies and Christopher Tan, Carey Olsen
the delivery of judgment, such further evidence as justice may require. In advance of the hearing, the court may limit the number of expert witnesses that may be called. The court will not generally allow expert evi- dence from more than two different disciplines to be called. 7.6 Extent to Which Hearings Are Open to the Public Please see 1.3 Court Filings and Proceedings . 7.7 Level of Intervention by a Judge Jersey procedure is adversarial, and the con- duct of the hearing, presentation of evidence and submission of legal argument are for the parties. However, the judge presiding over the proceedings may (and generally will) intervene to ask questions of the parties, witnesses and advocates. Invariably, in all but the most straightforward matters, the court will reserve judgment from the date of the trial, and will subsequently produce a reasoned judgment in writing within a number of weeks. 7.8 General Timeframes for Proceedings There is an expectation that actions should gen- erally be concluded within 12 months, with the most complex cases being concluded within 24 months.
are to be incorporated into an act of court then the parties will file a consent order including them, and the court will issue an act of court. Typically, this can be done simply by filing a consent order dismissing the action pursuant to the settlement agreement, which will contain the fuller terms. 8.2 Settlement of Lawsuits and Confidentiality The existence of the action will be public unless the court has ordered that either all or any part of it shall be private. The terms of the settlement can be kept private using a confidential settle- ment agreement. 8.3 Enforcement of Settlement Agreements The settlement agreement is a contract between the parties. If one party breaches its terms then the other party will have an action for breach of contract. This will usually be pursued by way of a separate action. However, where the terms of the settlement agreement have been incorpo- rated into the act of court, it may be possible for the aggrieved party to apply to court within the same proceedings for enforcement. This will depend on the terms of the order and the set- tlement agreement that the aggrieved party is seeking to enforce. 8.4 Setting Aside Settlement Agreements A settlement agreement may be set aside under the same circumstances as a contract. These include: • that the contract has not been properly formed; and/or • that there has been a
8. Settlement 8.1 Court Approval
The parties may enter into a settlement agree- ment between themselves, but they will have to obtain an order formally disposing of any pro- ceedings that are on foot. If the settlement terms
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