Statement of truth in defence/application

[ULA]

Sorry as I am only coming in part way through your ET process so it is a bit difficult to pick up.

Your "particulars of claim" would have been in your ET1 form, or are you meaning your Schedule of Loss, again which should have been in your ET1 but if it was not would have been required to be sent separately? What you then need to do is consider all the documents that you need to disclose, that are in your possession or control, which t are relevant to your claim not just those that support your claim. The other side need to do this as well. The other document you need to produce is your witness statement which needs to be signed and dated and in which at the relevant points, you need to refer to the disclosed documents. In addition you need to comply with any further requirements as laid out in the case management order.

If you believe that a document/s disclosed by the respondent is not complete then firstly you should write to them as ask them to provide the additional details and give them a deadline in which to do so - 7 days. If this does not happen then you can write to the Tribunal and make an application to get the full document disclosed, you will need to state that you have asked for this directly and it has not been forthcoming (provide a copy of the request), together with the reason why it is relevant to the case.

Make sure that when you make the request you add in at the end that "In accordance with rules 30(2) and 92 of the Employment Tribunals Rules of Procedure 2013, I have sent a copy of this application to the Respondent and hereby notify that any objections to the application should be sent to the Tribunal, with a copy sent to the me, as soon as possible." Then send a copy to the respondent/their representative.

[ecalid]

Sorry Ula what I was asking is that my ET1 was not signed by a statement of truth.

My statement of loss has been given as per my case management but does require amending as I am now back in full time employment.

Ok thank you Ula that makes much more sense to me. How much is the application, is this free?

Also I would like to amend my list of documents to incorporate the full facebook conversation so that i can use it in my witness statement. However the respondent would like to delay sharing our witness statements untill late september to reflect the arrival of additional evidence. Is this reasonable?

[ecalid]

I have the full conversation in my posession. I need to convey to the court that the respondent is withholding this information to bolster their defence.

If the full conversation was disclosed in court, it would have damaging consequences on their defence.

Can I ask the court to accept this additional evidence during the tribunal?

[ULA]

As far as I am aware a statement of truth is not needed with an ET1 claim but you do have the witness statement.

Yes your statement of loss will need updating to reflect your change in financial situation.

There is no application fee.

If I understand you correctly you have the full Facebook conversation and the Respondent has disclosed only part of the conversation?

The duty of disclosure is an ongoing process throughout the proceedings so you disclosing the full Facebook conversation is fine even if the Respondent does not in their disclosure documents. My point in #16 is well made here about disclosing documents that "

are relevant to your claim not just those that support your claim".

Disclose this now as the Tribunal is not obliged to accept any new evidence at the hearing, unless possibily if it has only just come to light, that could have been disclosed earlier.

If you have a strong argument/s that you wish to present to the Tribunal, which they should consider when making their decision to agree or not to an extension to the exchanging of witness statements, then you would write to the Tribunal, again with copy to the Respondents. If not then the Tribunal will make a decision on the matter and notify both parties.

[ecalid]

Thank you Ula.

How do I disclose the full conversation? Do I just send the full document to the respondent or do I give the documents to the courts??

The respondent has suggested delaying the witness statement.

Sorry, I am confused, I have already provided the respondent with my documents and the deadline had expired weeks ago and the witness statements are due in friday.

[ecalid]

I have only disclosed a few sentences to the respondent, from the full conversation as the other party did not wish to be involved.

The respondent has then produced most of the conversation but with omitted parts.

[ULA]

If you had the full document and it was relevant to the case why did you only disclose part it? Did you believe the respondent would and now you know they have not you want to make the full document is disclosed.

If documents come to light that are relevant to the case after the case management order requirement for exchange then you still have an obligation to disclose them.

[ecalid]

Thank you Ula I didn't really know what to disclose at the time because I am a novice so just disclosed what was relevant to the case.

Now they have disclosed the full conversation (almost) they have omitted parts that would put parts of their defence into contention.

One message that I have disclosed, is not in the respondents documents so have very reasonable grounds to pursue full disclosure.

How do I disclose the full conversation?? Who do i sent this to?.

I have asked the respondent to amend their documents list with the full conversation I am willing to provide. But they insist on delaying the witness statement.

I have said that this is impossible as the client should have given their representative the full conversation and I would only provide it out of courtesy., I

[ULA]

I appreciate this.

You have to disclose what is relevant to the case not just those documents that support your claim so if the whole document was relevant then you should have disclosed it at the time.

In terms of the CMO was the first requirement just to exchange a list of documents by a certain date and then to provide full copies to each other by a further later date? If that was the order of events did you both disclose on the initial list this document but then when you exchanged it neither of you sent the full document to the other?

It is often the case that each side does disclose the same document and it is not about courtesy in providing it, the requirement for relevant documents to be exchanged is set out by the Tribunal.

If the document was in your initial list and then when you needed to exchange the document you only "revealed" part of it then it will be hard to argue that it is a new document and that you are now disclosing it as part of the ongoing duty to disclose.

It is normal that in the CMO the witness statements are to be exchanged after the date of exchange of documents. They can say to you they insist on a delay to this but if the CMO has set Fri as the date then they will need to apply to the Tribunal for an extension.

[ecalid]

Hi Thank you Ula

The document is in the list but I gave a brief description of the wording in the conversation, ie;

Some of my documents listed are, ie;

Document 1: Facebook Conversation with XYZ - 01/01/2019

and some are

Document 2: Facebook Conversation with XYZ saying "XYZ" 02/02/2019


I have only sent screenshots of the conversations on dates, do you think I will be able to send the rest and segment them up into the dates?


We was required to give a list of documents and then give each other copies when asked to do so.

The respondent would then prepare copies of the documents at a later date.

[ULA]

When was the list of documents to be exchanged and when was the exchange of the actual documents due.

Did you put the rest of them in the list?

It is normal if the respondent is represented that they will put together the paginated bundles of documents from both sides for the hearing.

[ecalid]

Hi Ula

The documents list was due to 26th of july and I sent the documents to the respondent on 9th Aug.

They did not send me their documents untill last week when their application to strike out had failed.

I have not submitted the whole conversation though.

I have the PDF's ready to send and I asked the respondent if I could send the additional documents and accept the change of documents but they want to extend the witness statement deadline.

I have asked that the respondent disclose the full conversation and they are ignoring my emails.

[ULA]

The document issue and the request to extend the deadline for the witness statements being exchanged are two separate issues.

The best suggestion I have is sent the PDF's to the respondent with a note saying that you "missed" sending them in with the rest of your documents to include in the bundle they are preparing and can they add these in. Keep a copy of what you send so you have the evidence that you have made this request.

In regard to your concern over the witness statement exchange date being extended my comments towards the end of post #19 cover that point.

[ecalid]

Hi Ula

Please can i refer you to an email that I sent upon realising the situation.


I will in this instance point out that your client has opted to omit particular sentences from this conversation whilst I have only submitted a couple of sentences. I would be providing the full conversation only out of courtesy and as per the expectations of the tribunal.


I respect that your litigation relies on the information that is provided to you by the client but in this instance will have to deny any delay of the witness statements as it is the onus of your client to have informed you correctly and not myself.


Please acknowledge that you accept the change in documents - with the tribunal CC'd into the email - specifically the conversation between myself and XYZ on Facebook and I will send the full conversation via email by the end of play tomorrow.


Sorry Ula I think I may have shot myself in the foot.

Could I possibly apply to the tribunal to force disclosure from the other side?

‐

[ULA]

When did you send this email? As I have said earlier I am very in the dark here as to the substance of your case and what has gone on up until now.

If you are disclosing the document then it is disclosed. All you can make an application to the Tribunal for is disclosure of document/s that have a reasonable expectation are in the possession or control of the respondent that are relevant to the case and have not yet been disclosed.