High Court: 4% drop in claims in 2024
A “logjam” of old cases at the High Court, with more than a quarter of cases taking up to three years to resolve, could be the reason for a “slight drop-off” in new actions last year, a report has found.
Meanwhile, although the number of active group action cases reached “an all-time high” by the end of 2024, almost doubling from 2020, the surge led to “challenges for litigation funders as unresolved cases slow funding for new claims”.
According to the annual review produced by litigation data and analytics platform Solomonic, claims issued at the High Court fell by 4% in 2024, “with none of the significant peaks or troughs we have seen in previous years”.
Unlike previous years, 2024 was not “marked by a major seam of new cases centred around a national or international crisis, scandal or event”.
Major events dominating the news included the ongoing Russo-Ukraine war, the Post Office scandal inquiry and the final report of the Grenfell inquiry, all of them “holding the potential for further claims to emerge”.
However, when it came to active cases, 2024 was “busier than in any year since 2020”.
While the total number of claims fell to under 7,500 in 2024, the number of ongoing claims rose by 6.7% to just under 19,000.
A “meaningful chunk” of these case were from 19 months to three years old, making up over 27% of active claims, almost double the proportion in 2020, and suggesting a “logjam of cases between one year and three years old”.
Solomonic went on: “Given that the litigation sector is limited by availability of qualified human resource, this could suggest that the slight drop-off in new disputes is in part the consequence of resources tied up in ongoing cases.”
The number of insolvency applications rose by 6.3% to over 13,200, with insolvency volumes continuing to “reflect challenging economic conditions, with no respite in sight”.
Despite fewer new filings of group action claims last year, active cases hit an all-time high, almost double the 2020 levels.
“This reveals something of a challenge for litigation funders – with plenty of claims unresolved, funding for new claims is harder to come by and the pace of resolution reduces the performance of the investment.”
The majority of group actions (58%) were “automotive related”, up from only 30% the previous year.
“This rise reflects a new wave of motor-related claims, as well as more claimant law firms who, having built large groups of claimants, entered the fray. Rulings on motor finance ‘secret’ commission payments could trigger further claims in 2025.”
Leaving aside the truck cartel and merchant interchange claims, 2022 and 2023 were “more active years for competition litigation” compared to 2024, which saw a slight dip in claim volumes.
The report: “This slowdown appears to be a post-PACCAR effect, following the July 2023 ruling that invalidated the most common type of litigation funding arrangement. As a result, there seems to be less appetite for new claims.”
However, “several significant collective proceedings were still issued” with ‘Big Tech’ remaining a major target in 2024, and Apple, Amazon, Microsoft and Google (Alphabet) all facing new disputes.
The top five law firms in terms of High Court litigation activity was unchanged last year from 2023 – Clyde & Co, DAC Beachcroft, DWF, RPC and Kennedys.
After them, all moving up in the rankings, came Weightmans, CMS, Eversheds Sutherland, Mills & Reeve and Hill Dickinson.
Together the top 30 law firms accounted for just under a quarter (24%) of claims issued in 2024.
For the first time, the review included the top five law firms for new personal injury, clinical negligence and asbestos-related claims in the High Court, working for claimants and defendants. These were Keoghs, DWF, Clyde & Co, Irwin Mitchell and Kennedys Law.
The number of published judgments rose to over 1,000, though this was the result of an increase in the proportion of interlocutory decisions, with trial judgments making up only a third of the total.
Researchers said this suggested a “slight reallocation of court capacity in 2024”, with more emphasis on progressing cases through interim decisions.
“This could indicate a court system prioritising efficiency, ensuring claims move forward rather than being bottlenecked in lengthy trials.
“Whether this results in faster overall case resolution remains to be seen, but it does suggest a more proactive judicial approach to case management.”
Solomonic observed that, as litigation risks evolved, lawyers were increasingly concerned about class actions, ESG (environmental, social and governance), regulatory issues and artificial intelligence.
“Yet our data consistently shows that commercial contract disputes remain the most common dispute type year after year.”
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