Horizon/Gladstones claim - court this week

Fruitcake

Oh, if the scammers complain about your WS arriving late, point out that they sent the original docs to the wrong address, and whereas you are an untrained litigant in person, they are a *chokes* professional company with legally qualified representatives.

victorian12

THE COURT ORDERS THAT

Hearing

1. The hearing on 27 August 2020 at 14:00 shall take place by way of remote hearing pursuant to Civil Procedure

Rule 3.1(2) (d).

2. All subsequent hearings shall be conducted remotely unless the Court orders otherwise.

3. The parties and/or their legal representatives shall attend the remote hearing by telephone.

(See below for who is responsible for arranging the telephone conference and the number for the approved

telephone conference provider to call through to)

4. No party or legal representative shall physically attend the Court building.

5. If any party fails to attend the remote hearing, the Court may proceed to make orders in the absence of that party.

6. The remote hearing conference call shall be recorded by the approved telephone conference provider, and that

is the only recording that is permitted to be made (apart from the court’s own recording).

WARNING: No party is permitted to record the remote hearing unless the Court has given its express

prior permission. IT IS A CONTEMPT OF COURT PUNISHABLE BY IMPRISONMENT TO RECORD

OR PUBLISH RECORDINGS OF COURT PROCEEDINGS.

No unauthorised person may be present at the remote hearing. When asked, each party and legal representative

must be able to confirm that no unauthorised person is in attendance or able to listen to the hearing.

7. The Defendant’s legal representative shall be responsible for arranging for an approved telephone conference

provider to conduct and record the remote hearing. The notes to this order provides further details of providers.

8. The designated legal representative is responsible for arranging the remote telephone hearing for precisely the

time fixed by the court in this order. No party is to ring the court as the operator from the approved telephone

hearing provider will make all the calls, firstly to all the parties and legal representative(s) and then to the court.

9. The designated legal representative must tell the operator of the approved telephone conference provider the

telephone numbers of all those participating in the remote telephone hearing and the sequence in which they are to

be called. It is the responsibility of the designated legal representative to ascertain from all the other parties whether

they have instructed an advocate and, if so, the identity of the advocate, and whether the legal representative and

advocate will be on the same or different telephone numbers. The sequence in which they are to be called will be –

(a) the designated legal representative and/or counsel, and party they represent (if participating);

(b) the other parties and/or their legal representative and/or counsel;

(c) any person directed by the court to be joined to the hearing (e.g. social worker, Cafcass officer, interpreter; and

(c) the judge.

Each speaker is to remain on the line after being called by the operator setting up the conference call. The call

shall be connected at least ten minutes before the time fixed for the hearing.

The contact number for the conference provider to call through to connect with the allocated Judge is: xxxxx

10. The designated legal representative must confirm the details of the arrangements for the hearing to the other

parties by no later than 24 hours prior to the remote hearing taking place.

11. The costs of arranging the facilities to conduce the remote hearing shall be borne by the party responsible

for making the arrangements, such costs shall be deemed a reasonable and necessary disbursement on their legal

aid certificate.

(With regard to the above, it should be noted that updated information from the Legal Aid Agency dated 15

April 2020 (Version 2) as to how the Family Advocacy Scheme (FAS) will operate in relation to Remote Family

Hearings confirms that if an advocate incurs costs in setting up a remote hearing, such costs relating to the

individual case can be claimed as a disbursement)

Delivering Documents

(the Judge may not have access to the Court file)

12. The Claimant shall no later than 4pm on the day before the hearing deliver to the Court and to each party

electronically a bundle in PDF format, which must include:

(a) a case summary and chronology;

(b) the parties’ position statements;

(c) the previous orders that are relevant to the remote hearing;

(d) the application relevant to the remote hearing;

(d) all essential documents that the court requires to determine the issues that fall for determination at the remote

hearing;

(e) a draft order.

13. Documents delivered to the Court electronically shall be delivered to one of the following address, recording

the case number in the subject heading of the email:

Civil & Family cases: enquiries.xxx

14. No document other than a document specified in an Order or filed in accordance with the Rules of any Practice

Direction shall be delivered to the Court without the Court’s permission.

Variation of Orders

15. This Order having been made without the parties attending, any party may apply no later than 7 days after the

date of service of this Order to set aside or vary the terms of the Order.

Note on Remote hearing providers: The telecommunications service provider used to facilitate a telephone hearing

should be an approved service provider. In civil proceedings, pursuant to para 6.10(1) of Practice Direction 23A,

the following providers have demonstrated the capability to facilitate hearings:

• British Telecoms Plc (BT Legal Hearings) – 0800 028 4194 | E-mail: telephonehearings@bt.com

• LegalConnect – 0800 953 0405 | E-mail: support@legalconnect.co.uk

• Kidatu – 0800 279 4595 | E-mail: info@kidatu.co.uk

• Arkadin – 0800 279 5596 | E-mail: legalevents@arkadin.co.uk

Please Note: This case may be released to another Judge, possibly at a different Court

victorian12

Fruitcake said:

Oh, if the scammers complain about your WS arriving late, point out that they sent the original docs to the wrong address, and whereas you are an untrained litigant in person, they are a *chokes* professional company with legally qualified representatives.

Big thanks for the last ditch help!! And the others too. 

victorian12

@Coupon-mad apologies for not making use of the statement you kindly sent, I just didn't have time.

Fruitcake

I can't see anything in that draft order giving the dates the dates by which your WS had to be provided. It might have said on a previous order, but if asked, refer to the one above. 

You now need to produce and fire off your costs assessment. That should be in the telephone hearing thread, but be warned that you might not get anything because it is intended for people who attend a face to face hearing. If however you have to take time off work I think you can claim for that or a half day of holiday. 

KeithP

7. The Defendant’s legal representative shall be responsible for arranging for an approved telephone conference provider to conduct and record the remote hearing.

Perhaps the court needs to be reminded that the Defendant is a Litigant in Person and therefore there is no 'Defendant’s legal representative'.

The detailed procedure seems to me to be more than can be expected of a Litigant in Person. Perhaps the Court meant to state that "The Claimant’s legal representative shall be responsible...".

Fruitcake

KeithP said:

7. The Defendant’s legal representative shall be responsible for arranging for an approved telephone conference provider to conduct and record the remote hearing.

Perhaps the court needs to be reminded that the Defendant is a Litigant in Person and therefore there is no 'Defendant’s legal representative'.

The detailed procedure seems to me to be more than can be expected of a Litigant in Person. Perhaps the Court meant to state that "The Claimant’s legal representative shall be responsible...".

Good point. Victorian, I think you should contact the court asap and query point 7 of the order as you have no idea as a defendant how to do this.

victorian12

Will do. I am completely confused by those instructions and at such late notice too. 

victorian12

I found this on justice.gov (below) re. conference call responsibility. I have emailed the court asking them to confirm who is responsible and saying I don't have sufficient experience to organise this within 24h. 

Arrangements for the conference call

In the case of interim applications the responsibility for the conference call shall be the applicant’s (providing the applicant is represented)

In all other cases responsibility for the conference call shall normally be with the claimant’s representatives. If the claimant is unrepresented the first named defendant who is represented shall be responsible for all arrangements. The court may on occasions direct another party to be responsible for making arrangements if it sees fit to do so.

All other arrangements shall be in accordance with those set out in paragraphs 6.9 and 6.10 of the Practice Direction. (References to the designated legal representative should be read as the applicant’s legal representative (if any), or the legal representative of such other party as the court directs to arrange the telephone hearing).

KeithP

victorian12 said:

I have emailed the court asking them to confirm who is responsible and saying I don't have sufficient experience to organise this within 24h. 

Follow that up with a phone call in the morning.