Help - advice needed "aggressive" lawyer mailed me seeking a Costs Order

Nassy

Hi

I am currently fighting an unfair dismissal case and having seen my former employer's "voluntary disclosure", I have made a counter request seeking to see further documents.

I have requested documents that are referred to in the bundle, or show examples of the role I carried out and in my opinion are relevant to the case.

The lawyer from the other side has now got back to me threatening me with a Costs order!! Personally I find this very unreasonable since the following is true:

1. I have not yet made an order for the documents - started off by asking politely but still got an aggressive reply. Why do I bother trying to be polite when she is just so nasty.

2. I accepted judicial mediation, which the other side turned down. Earlier it was me that did all the talking to ACAS. So far I
see that I have tried to show that I want to resolve these issues, whereas the lawyers tone has always been argumentative and rude!

I understand they have the right to turn down mediation - but now they are asking for a costs order, I feel this is a cheek! :eek:
3. I gave birth just over a week ago and earlier than expected. I apologised that this did cause a delay in getting back to them over the issue of documents. She has still been aggressive;

4. The documents they sent me "voluntarily" contain many anomalies - some of which I believe may mean they are fabricated - or best case show incompetence ie incorrect salutations on letters, placeholder text where dates should be etc... Very odd.

If they think my case is so weak and think that I am wrong to ask for more evidence then my understandibng is that they could have asked for a Pre-hearing review - but this case has already had a Case Management Review, I have got an initial view of solicitors/people working in HR and this case has been now listed for 4 or possibly 5 days already.

I am thinking I refer the lawyers comments to the tribunal, explain my situation and why I think the document requests are appropriate and then ask for a pre-hearing review.

Is this a good idea?

jazzyman01

The lawyer in question is trying to put you off. If they see that you are representing yourself, it is not a surprise. After all, if you do back off their clients wont have any further costs.

I take it that you did not make request for further information in the timescale set by ET? Did you advise ET that you were due to have a baby and would need extra time?

Even if you did not, as you have evidence to show you have been fair and reasonable to date, asking for information on documents the wish to rely on should not be an issue.

I would reiterate your request, remind them that you have just had a baby and were therefore slightly preoccupied and copy in the Tribunal.

Nassy

Thanks. No case management orders were broken. Voluntary disclosure for documents was made by mid May deadline. As a result of what was disclosed (which was definitely a small fraction of what they could have disclosed) I decided to make more requests. My understanding is this is part of the process. Hearings are not taking place for 4 months.

Not only this, but some of the documents the other side have revealed are of such poor quality - missing signatures, saluation not matching address (suggesting potential fabrication), supposed CV that contains a line of question marks...

It did take me a little while to give my feedback and make requests (4 weeks) but this is due to the baby being born early. The tribunal are aware of the baby's due date (but not the fact she arrived early).

Having done a bit of research I am not worried. Cost rewards are aware and I cannot see any basis for an award of one here.
If my conduct had been terrible throughout then may be, but I am confident that my tone and conduct has been a lot more polite than the lawyers.

Agree that this is probably just a tactic to get me to withdraw the case. So I will ignore it. I appreciate that it is because I am unrepresented but if anything her annoying, argumentative tone simply strengthens my resolve.

SarEl

You need to understand that whilst this may be unpleasant for you, the lawyer for the employer doesn't care - they are doing their job. That's all it is - a job. What you see as aggressive will be well within the rules of conduct, and the tribunals will not get involved. Simply keep your cool and continue to request disclosure of the documents that you want. Also remember that the conversations that a lawyer has with their client is not likley to be reflected in their dealings with you. If the evidence isn't good evidence, they may well be pointing this out to the client, but they are hardly going to discuss that with you or comment on such matters with you - that is for a tribunal if it gets to one. Don't worry about it - just keep pressing for the documents you want.

As jazzyman says, the lawyer isn't interested in anything but doing their job, which is to represent the employer. They don't get to pick and choose their client, and if the employer wants to proceed then the lawyer simply has to do the best they can with what they have - it doesn't mean that they have to like it!

Nassy

Thanks. I know that it is just a tactic. Appreciate it is not personal and that lawyers can take on an aggressive stance. I will definitely grit my teeth and be polite, do as they ask but also continue pressing ahead with it. :cool:

thorsoak

Remember - they are working to the old adage "attack is the best form of defence". You don't have to - just look at their evidence, provide the proof that what they say is incorrect, work on the little details!

Good luck!

Nassy

Thanks. Lawyer has got back to me declining nearly all of the documents requests saying they aren't relevant to the issues and that I need to provide further justification for wanting these documents. Since these documents would help prove the role I carried out, and the core issue being fought is related to selection pool criteria, I will once more make this very clear and then if ask for orders on some of the documents.

Secondly lawyer is claiming that no notes were taken at any of the management decision meetings that took place in the lead up/ during the redundancy process. I am hugely skeptical of this. But I will not dispute this as I see that this is information that may help me as much as them. I would hope that this does not help them prove some of their arguments and also doesn't really demonstrate that they took that much care with decision making.

Finally I am being told that 3 more witnesses will now attend (doubled from number mentioned in CMD) and also that my former employer plans to make new allegations on reasons why they behaved the way they did but they plan to reveal this information at the hearing! I am not happy with this as it is quite late for new allegations that may mean I need to change the way I try to defend my case (nearly 1 year after case has been active) and it seems to me very unfair that they plan to only reveal this information at the hearing ?? (surely if they are aware of new arguments they wish to make at this stage they should make this clear). :eek:

SarEl

The first two points seem fine - you have this as in hand as you can. The third one - no. They cannot introduce something at the hearing unless they do not know about it before the hearing. They have said they know, therefore they must disclose and it must be relevant to their existing defence because that was the basis on which they made the original decision. You need to protest this to the Tribunal Office and ask for another CMD to discuss this refusal to disclose.

Nassy

Thanks I will write to the tribunal and request a CMD. Thanks again for your help.