Last month the Council published a paper on “Research on the cost caps used in practice”. That initial research report listed the 28 cases were a motion for a PEO had been sought by litigants; in order to gain reasonable protection against having to pay an adverse award of expenses if they were to lose their case.

A follow-up paper has now been published that covers “Research on the type of cases seeking a Protective Expenses Order”.  That second report provides further analysis of those 28 cases to highlight: the type of subject matter that gave rise to each case; the type of legislation being challenged; and the range of primary legislation that could give rise to such litigation in future.  That additional information was sought to better understand the likely caseload that may be involved if the PEO Rules were extended to other civil court proceedings. 

The conclusions of that second research report was that the Council should now consider extending the availability of PEO’s to the sheriff courts. At their meeting on 30 September 2024 the Cost and Funding Committee agreed with the conclusions reached and instructed the preparation of draft rules to extend the availability of PEOs to relevant cases initiated in the sheriff courts.  The Committee when then look to consulting on those detailed rules later in 2024-25.

Notes for Editors

1. PEO is an acronym for Protective Expenses Order.

2. This research paper can be viewed online via the publications page of the SCJC website:

 https://www.scottishciviljusticecouncil.gov.uk/publications/scjc-and-other-organisations'-publications

3. This additional research will be of interest to the Aarhus Convention Compliance Committee (ACCC) in their role of monitoring compliance with the Aarhus Convention.