Hospital Complaint For Breach Of Equality Act 2010

Fergie76

Update!!

Received a letter from the Trust's Solicitor's today, or should I say the wife did.

We are instructed by the London Northwest Healthcare NHS Trust and write further to your letter dated 15 April 2015. Please note our interest in this matter and address all future correspondence to us, quoting the above reference.

We are reviewing the contents of your letter dated 15 April 2015 and will provide you with a substantive response shortly. However, it will not be possible to do so by the deadline specified in your letter.

We trust that you will await our client's formal response before taking any further steps in this matter. However, should you fail to do so, we will draw this letter to the Court's attention on the issue of costs.

keepitlegal

Welcome to the world of the LiP (Litigent in Person) there are strict protocols which must be followed, on that point the trust solicitors have the upper hand as they know the 'rules', here is a link to the advice I gave this morning, http://swarblaw.co.uk/index.php?sid=740db824e7af1eff74a9ad9fa9cb6027
You need to ask your questions under 'Ligation Practice' the expert help is free.
Best of luck.

Keepitlegal
Edit. If you decide to ask for help on swarblaw, I would mention that the trust solicitors won't meet your deadline.
Get a box file ASAP, I've got a feeling there is going to be a lot of correspondence regarding this matter.

bazster

Dear Sue, Grabbitt and Runne,

I consider that the 21 days I have specified for a response should be more than adequate and it exceeds the 14 days stipulated in the CPR.

I note that you have not countered with a date by which you will respond. In the absence of such a proposal by you my stipulated 21 days stands and if by then I do not receive a substantive response or an acceptable date for such a response I reserve the right to initiate proceedings without further recourse to you, and I will draw this correspondence to the Court's attention on the issue of costs.

Otherwise they've left you in limbo land and awarded themselves months or years to get around to it!

Whilst it's sad to see a health trust wasting public money on solicitors over this nonsense, the fact that you are now putting them to real expense is hopefully another nail in APCOA's coffin at this site.

Fergie76

Now that the my wife has issued the LBCCC and can she now write to the Solicitors giving authority for me to deal with them, until such a time she raises the CC action?

She's in hospital again at the moment and I am working away, so it will be a real pain for me to write the letters and getting her to sign them, before then sending them off.

keepitlegal

bazster wrote: »

Dear Sue, Grabbitt and Runne,

I consider that the 21 days I have specified for a response should be more than adequate and it exceeds the 14 days stipulated in the CPR.

I note that you have not countered with a date by which you will respond. In the absence of such a proposal by you my stipulated 21 days stands and if by then I do not receive a substantive response or an acceptable date for such a response I reserve the right to initiate proceedings without further recourse to you, and I will draw this correspondence to the Court's attention on the issue of costs.

Otherwise they've left you in limbo land and awarded themselves months or years to get around to it!

Whilst it's sad to see a health trust wasting public money on solicitors over this nonsense, the fact that you are now putting them to real expense is hopefully another nail in APCOA's coffin at this site.

CPR states, ' the defendant responding within a reasonable time,
14 days in a straightforward case and no more than 3 months in a very complex one.....'
I would allow them time to formulate their response, if it gets to court it will look better for you as you can show the judge you have done everything possible to reach an amicable settlement.
As I have already said, they know the rules, don't allow them to get this thrown out before you even get started.

Keepitlegal

Cygnus_Alpha

Fergie76 wrote: »

Update!!

Received a letter from the Trust's Solicitor's today, or should I say the wife did.

Be careful about their "costs threat" at the end of their letter. You need to respond to it by indicating that their client has had x months already to respond on what is a simple matter. State that your deadline stands and point out their unreasonableness in their not abiding by a reasonable deadline and not indicating a timescale by which they will give a substantive response.

EDiT - Bazster's suggested draft does the trick.

bazster

keepitlegal wrote: »

CPR states, ' the defendant responding within a reasonable time,
14 days in a straightforward case and no more than 3 months in a very complex one.....'
I would allow them time to formulate their response, if it gets to court it will look better for you as you can show the judge you have done everything possible to reach an amicable settlement.
As I have already said, they know the rules, don't allow them to get this thrown out before you even get started.

Keepitlegal

You just quoted the rules, which I too have read. Not too difficult to understand. By no stretch of the imagination is this very complex. In any case I didn't suggest sticking to the 21 days come what may, I have suggested inviting them to name an alternative date. Allowing them to leave it completely open-ended is unreasonable and unacceptable IMO.

keepitlegal

bazster wrote: »

You just quoted the rules, which I too have read. Not too difficult to understand. By no stretch of the imagination is this very complex. In any case I didn't suggest sticking to the 21 days come what may, I have suggested inviting them to name an alternative date. Allowing them to leave it completely open-ended is unreasonable and unacceptable IMO.

When we took a company to court we gave them 21 days to reply, they replied saying they would take 28 days because that was the rules (not sure where they got 28 days from?), we reminded the judge of this point, he was impressed that we allowed the company extra time, which in the judges view made us appear very nice people.
I too don't think it should be completely open ended, but the OP needs to be wary that the solicitor may be trying to goad him into making a mistake which the court could hold against him.

Keepitlegal

Fergie76

I will write to them next week, giving a new deadline.

I think it might actually help me, by showing that I have been more than reasonable trying to find an amicable solution, but it has been the Trust that has been unreasonable missing deadlines at every turn, even those they set themselves.

bazster

keepitlegal wrote: »

When we took a company to court we gave them 21 days to reply, they replied saying they would take 28 days because that was the rules (not sure where they got 28 days from?), we reminded the judge of this point, he was impressed that we allowed the company extra time, which in the judges view made us appear very nice people.
I too don't think it should be completely open ended, but the OP needs to be wary that the solicitor may be trying to goad him into making a mistake which the court could hold against him.

Keepitlegal

It's my opinion that most lawyers have their testicles surgically removed on the day they qualify. It sounds like the same may have happened to you.


Ironically it seems you are actually in 100% agreement with me and are trying to appear contrarian for no good reason I can discern.