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National jurisdiction
The All-Scotland Sheriff Personal Injury Court was established on 22nd September 2015 out of the recommendations of the Report of the Scottish Civil Courts Review, led by Lord Gill. A key element of the new Court is the quick and efficient disposal of motions by electronic means, allowing for email intimation and submission of motions and interlocutors. It also provides clerks of court with a quasi-judicial function to consider and grant motions of a common and straightforward nature. Regular practitioners of the Court of Session will recognise this approach as nearly identical to the highly successful scheme established with the formation of the Court of Session Court Motions Team in 2010.
The procedures of the All-Scotland Sheriff Personal Injury Court are available to legal practitioners throughout Scotland, including individuals acting on their own behalf. Where every party to a cause is represented by a solicitor, the electronic motions procedure will apply unless a solicitor declares to the Sheriff Clerk that they do not have suitable facilities for transacting motion business by email.
The sheriffs appointed to hear cases in the All-Scotland Sheriff Personal Injury Court are:
In line with the current procedure of the local Sheriff Court at Edinburgh, when an action has settled, agents (usually the pursuers' agents) should lodge a completed Personal Injury Action Settled (PIAS) form with the Personal Injury Clerk, preferably by e-mail to nationalpicourt@scotcourts.gov.uk. Guidance Notes relating to the form are attached. Use of the form should reduce the need for unnecessary 'by order' hearings when actions have settled and should avoid agents having to appear to discharge proofs. In order to join the electronic motions procedure please refer to the following guidance.
Please note that all motions must be sent to national.motions@scotcourts.gov.uk.
Download a copy of the form of motion (G6A) or form of opposition (G9A).
Minutes PIUG Meeting - 21 November 2023
Minutes PIUG Meeting - 22 August 2023
Minutes PIUG Meeting - 23 May 23
Minutes PIUG Meeting - 24 January 23
Minutes PIUG Meeting - 27 September 22
Minutes PIUG Meeting - 14 June 22
Minutes PIUG Meeting - 15 March 22
Minutes PIUG Meeting - 14 December 21
Minutes PIUG Meeting - 14 September 21
Every message received by either email address associated to the All-Scotland Sheriff Personal Injury Court will be acknowledged by an automatic response confirming receipt.
In the first instance, confirm that the email has indeed been sent and has left your server. If all is in order with your IT setup, please contact the Court by telephone to firstly confirm that your email has been received, and to advise that you have not received an automatic response. The Court team will be able to confirm receipt, and will investigate whether there is an issue within the SCTS IT system.
Documents other than PI Settlement forms cannot be submitted by email unless they are directly related to a motion which has been enrolled at the same time. Additionally, if attaching an inventory of productions, please only attach the inventory, and provide hard copy productions in person or by post once the interlocutor has been issued to parties.
Please also note that attachments cannot exceed 1.9 megabytes in order to be received onto the SCTS server. Emails over this size will not be received by the recipient inbox.
As per Practice Note 2 of 2015, documents may be submitted in either word (.doc or .docx) or pdf format. In the case of documents which require a signature, this can either be an electronic or scanned signature, and the emailed documents will be held in place of the original document. The principal document does NOT require to be lodged if you have provided a scanned copy along with the motion.
In the first instance, it falls to the pursuer’s agent to instruct a short-hand writer to attend at any proof or jury trial to make a record of proceedings. The facility to record evidence electronically is also available, and may be allowed by a sheriff following a motion having been made by either or both parties.
As you may be aware, the sheriffs in ASSPIC and court administration have been looking at additional resources (a) in response to the increasing business and (b) to improve the efficiency of the court, particularly hearings for opposed motions. This is an ongoing process.
As a first stage, I am delighted to inform you that ASSPIC is to commence a second weekly PI Procedural Court (WebEx) from Thursday 13 June 2024 (1000 and 1400). This is to be a permanent second PI Procedural Court every week.
The present intention is that the second court will have a mix of procedural business and opposed motions as for the current PI Procedural Court. PG case management hearings will continue to be allocated primarily to the Monday court, unless otherwise requested by parties.
The next PIUG meeting is on 28 May 2024, prior to the commencement of the additional procedural court, and ASSPIC users may wish to approach a member of the group with any concerns queries which they can raise on their behalf at the meeting or indeed any subsequent meetings.
Sheriff Robert Fife