Case management

[MarkMoore]

Hi,
I am currently involved in a case where a party have brought a claim against me, and I have issued a counter claim. Neither side is represented.

We have both agreed to mediation and now have a case management conference scheduled.

I have a few questions that I am hoping you can help me with.

1) Is it normal for there to be a case management conference before mediation, or does it indicate that the mediation is not going ahead?

2) The other party has acknolwedged the existence of, but refused to provide me with, some documents which are very central to the case. Will I be able to ask the judge, during the case management conference, to order their release to me? Also, can I request that they are sent to the court? I ask because the other party has previously claimed to have sent me evidence, when he has not. If he has to send them to the court, that would obviously prevent him from doing so.

3) If the documents are not released to me, does that potentially prevent the mediation process going ahead?

4) I understand that both sides will be asked which parts of the case are accepted and which are disputed, but might the judge also make a determination on any aspect of the claim at this point (for example, striking out part or all of a claim)?

5) I have made an attempt to settle with the other party, marked as without prejudice. The other party has referred to this in his submissions, claiming that it is proof of liability. Is there any point in me raising this at the conference, if only to clarify to the other party that it is not admissable?

Any thoughts on the above would be much appreciated.

[pt2537]

Hi,
I am currently involved in a case where a party have brought a claim against me, and I have issued a counter claim. Neither side is represented.

We have both agreed to mediation and now have a case management conference scheduled.

I have a few questions that I am hoping you can help me with.

1) Is it normal for there to be a case management conference before mediation, or does it indicate that the mediation is not going ahead? Yes, perfectly normal, the judge may order a stay to allow mediation at the CMC

2) The other party has acknolwedged the existence of, but refused to provide me with, some documents which are very central to the case. Will I be able to ask the judge, during the case management conference, to order their release to me? Also, can I request that they are sent to the court? I ask because the other party has previously claimed to have sent me evidence, when he has not. If he has to send them to the court, that would obviously prevent him from doing so. Yes, the Court can be asked at t he CMC although you would normally lodge your proposed directions before the CMC and if i were you id look at including disclosure of the docs you want.

3) If the documents are not released to me, does that potentially prevent the mediation process going ahead? It will hinder mediation but wont stop it although one problem you may have is that without these documents you may have a problem assessing your case and its merits

4) I understand that both sides will be asked which parts of the case are accepted and which are disputed, but might the judge also make a determination on any aspect of the claim at this point (for example, striking out part or all of a claim)? possible but judges dont like to strike out cases unless they are obviously crap

5) I have made an attempt to settle with the other party, marked as without prejudice. The other party has referred to this in his submissions, claiming that it is proof of liability. Is there any point in me raising this at the conference, if only to clarify to the other party that it is not admissable? WP letters are not admissible in proceedings, only on costs

Any thoughts on the above would be much appreciated.

Hi there

See my answers above

[2222]

On the WP letter, I would raise that issue at the cmc. The judge will probably explain to the other party that he cannot do this. Don't expect fireworks, though!

[MarkMoore]

Hi there

See my answers above

Hi. Thank you. Much appreciated. As you say, without the documents it is pretty much impossible to assess a large part of the claim, and I have asked for them on multiple occassions.

When I ask the judge to order the disclosure, is it possible to ask that they are disclosed to the court, rather than just to me, or is that what happens anyway? If I have to specifically asked for them to be dislosed to the court, is there any specific language that I need to use?

The other party is not represented and is playing pretty fast and loose on various issues, so I want to make sure that he doesn't just claim to have disclosed them to me.

On the WP letter, I would raise that issue at the cmc. The judge will probably explain to the other party that he cannot do this. Don't expect fireworks, though!

Thank you. All I was really after was a clear message to the other party that he cannot rely upon them.

There are marked as WP rather than "WP except as to costs". Would a judge be likely to admit them at the costs stage?



Finally, the other party's claim is in two parts. The first part depends upon the documents mentioned above, the second part doesn't.

However, he stated in his original claim that he had suffered a loss due to X. In my defence I pointed out that I had very strong evidence that X was untrue (evidence that he was not previously aware of).

In his reply to my defence, he did not address X and instead stated that he had suffered the same loss, but this time due to Y.

As he is unrepresented, is it likely that a judge would be flexible enough to allow him to succeed on the basis of Y, even though it was not mentioned in his claim?

Is this something that should be raised at the CMC?