Court of Appeal rules in Japanese knotweed case that courts can lawfully stay proceedings for parties to engage in ADR

The court can lawfully stay proceedings or order parties to engage in non-court-based dispute resolution processes, the Court of Appeal ruled on Wednesday in a widely awaited verdict. However in Churchill v Merthyr Tydfill County Borough Council Sir Geoffrey Vos declined an order to stay proceedings in a claim concerning Japanese knotweed. The council’s internal complaints procedure ‘may not …