[1] Prior to the introduction of the Civil Procedure Rules the courts of England and Wales had used a number of techniques to manage multiple claims.
The final Access to Justice Report, published in July 1996, concluded that these methods were not sufficiently flexible and recommended that a system for group litigation be introduced.
All claims that from part of a GLO will be automatically allocated to the multi-track and will be moved to the management court.
There is great flexibility in how group litigation may be managed and directions should be tailored to the specific needs of a particular set of claims.
[4] Notable cases in which such an order has been issued include the McDonald's hot drinks litigation in the High Court of Justice Queen's Bench Division,[5] proceedings against the Royal Liverpool Children's Hospital over the removal of organs,[6] and the case brought by subpostmasters against the Post Office in the British Post Office scandal.