Particulars of Claim rejected

LauraM1968

Hi all,

I'm making a claim against an employer as they have breached the Equality Act 2010 by discriminating against me on the basis of my particular expression of a protected characteristic. After a long period of fruitless "investigations", being stonewalled, not getting any engagement from them etc, I decided to take them to small claims court. I sent off the N1 form which included a detailed particulars of claim statement (two pages, around 1,400 words) which I attached as a separate piece of paper. I also included a large number of additional documents which I referred to within the particulars of claim (eg "as seen in XX's email to YY of [DD/MM/YY], document 11). On Thursday I received a standard letter from the court advising that the claim would be struck out unless I re-submitted my particulars of claim, using the following wording:

"Unless the Claimant do file and serve Particulars of claim setting out the legal basis of his claim, in particulars quoting any law or statutes with relevant clauses he relies upon and alleged breaches therefore by the Defendant by 4pm on 21 February 2018, the claim do stand struck out."

I'd be very grateful for any advice forum members could provide. Do I need to reference more explicitly the particular parts of the legislation (in this case the Equality Act 2010)? I literally just referenced it once at the beginning of the particulars and didn't mention any sections or provide any wording. Also, should I not have included the evidence? I provided a copy of the whole thing to the defendant too. Finally, can I just reply to the court with an amended particulars (and provide a copy to the defendant) or do I need to apply for permission to do so? I found an older thread on here from 2007 where a member had a similar issue and they were advised they'd need first to get permission from the court (and perhaps the defendant?) to amend their particulars. This seems like a bit of a faff when the court has requested that I do so, but I completely understand if that is the legal process.

The claim is for two counts of direct discrimination - £4,000 per count, £8,000 in total.

Many thanks.

BorisThomson

Why are you not going to an employment tribunal? The small claims court would not be appropriate for what you describe.

dj1471

Where have you got the financial figures from? You can't just make up a figure and expect a court to award it.

As above small claims is not appropriate for this type of claim, you need an employment tribunal - do it fast, because there are very strict time limits.

LauraM1968

Thanks both for your replies.

It's actually a professional body I'm a member of - not an employer. I began the process with an employment tribunal but was advised that they couldn't take on the case as the professional body doesn't employ me. With regard to the claim amount, it's based on the Vento scale dealing with compensation for hurt to feelings caused by direct discrimination.

It's mandatory for licensed professionals in my field to be a member of this association so my argument is that there's a pre-existing relationship and duty of care there similar to that between an employer and an employee.

Diamandis

Could you maybe give us some details on the way you were discriminated against? It would make it easier for people to advise.

LauraM1968

I would like to, but I'm worried that giving more details would make the case identifiable. I'm already worried that it's quite a singular case and anyone familiar with it would be able to identify me based on these posts. Essentially I was denied a professional opportunity, twice, on the basis of being female.

DoaM

Short cut any BS ... phone the court and talk to someone to find out what this means. Have you filed the PoC with the court as well and not just the defendant?

SCC claims now need to have the PoC clearly expressed either when filing the claim or within 14 days of filing. A call to the court should make things clear. Bear in mind that the defendant's legal team will be looking for any way at all to discredit your claim.

LauraM1968

DoaM wrote: »

Short cut any BS ... phone the court and talk to someone to find out what this means. Have you filed the PoC with the court as well and not just the defendant?

SCC claims now need to have the PoC clearly expressed either when filing the claim or within 14 days of filing. A call to the court should make things clear. Bear in mind that the defendant's legal team will be looking for any way at all to discredit your claim.

Thanks for the response. The PoCs have been filed with both the court and the defendant. Yes, I'll call the court tomorrow and see what they say. I'll update the thread. Thanks all.

KeithP

When you phone the court they will most likely say they are cannot give legal advice.

The PoC should be a simple statement of your claim.

It should not contain legal arguments - that is for your DEFENCE statement.

Your PoC should not include your 'large number of additional documents' which should be appended to your WITNESS STATEMENT which is submitted to the court a couple of weeks before the hearing.

You need to read up on this urgently.

This might be a good starting point:

Money Claim Online(MCOL)–User Guide for Claimants

steampowered

The court has read your PoC and does not understand it.

The order is pretty self-explanatory. As it says you need to produce a much clearer POC and file it with the court, and serve it on the Defendant, by the deadline.

You should state the specific sections of the Act which have been breached, and (in a sentence) how they have been breached.

What are the amounts you are claiming for? You need to clearly specify. Otherwise you may well find that the case gets allocated to the fast track rather than the small claims track, and if that happens, you'll be liable for the defendant's legal costs if you lose.

Have a read of https://www.judiciary.gov.uk/wp-content/uploads/JCO/Documents/CJC/Publications/Other+papers/Small+Claims+Guide+for+web+FINAL.pdf

Your particulars of claim needs to be very short and concise,
and make very clear what the legal basis of your claim is.

Don't go into reams of factual detail. The factual details go into your witness statement, which comes later.

Don't attach documents. Save that for exchange of evidence, which comes later in the process.

LauraM1968

Thanks both for some great advice.