Money claims defendent didn't attend mediation

pbhb

I have been in a battle with a surgeon since September to get my deposit back, I won't bore you with the details.

In the end I made a money claim against him (small claims). I claimed the deposit (£1000), plus £2000 in damages for inconvenience and loss of work due to their schedule changes and cancellations of surgery (this is the private sector).

The truth is, I calculated what I missed out on in work and it was £21,000. This was due to clearing my schedule (I freelance) for the first surgery, then the surgeon rescheduling so I had to clear another month of work. The surgeon rescheduled again so I cancelled surgery and he has since been refusing to refund my deposit.

All I asked him for originally was a deposit refund.

I have been going round in circles, first him refusing to pay me my deposit (he said its because the contract states its non refundable, but in UK law a deposit is not legally ever non refundable unless money has been spent), then twice offering me my deposit back and never paying,

He took the full four weeks to respond to the money claim, responding only 1 hour before the deadline, which makes me think he thinks this is some sort of game. Mediation was set for today. I have generalised anxiety and I have been feeling sick over mediation (i dont know why) and have been taking diazepam daily because its stressing me out.

Well guess what, he and his lawyer did not turn up to mediation. The mediator rang me and said this will now proceed to court, I guess I sit and wait now.

Can anyone advise what happens when someone doesn't turn up to mediation? seeing as he had put down a lawyer to represent him, as well as him knowing about the date and time, I can;t think why they wouldn't turn up.

When I initially made my money claim I said yes to the option that i would be happy for a judge to read through evidence and rule without it going to court. In his defending claim he said the same. 

I really don't want to go to court, this could be dragged out for ages. Due to the nature of my work (I travel abroad 1-2 times per month), i don't want to miss out on more work by cancelling things or turning down jobs for a date in court. Perhaps he knows this and that's why he is doing this.

I really don't know what to do anymore. £1000 deposit is a lot to lose when I was messed around by them so much. I cant even think of the work i missed out on, it makes me feel sick

Turns out i bored you with the details - sorry

DullGreyGuy

Have you complete the N150 allocation and had it confirmed it's going to Small Track (aka small claims)? 

If it is then by definition its only a couple of hours tops but if your diary is hard to plan far out then you make sustain more losses trying to attend than you are hoping to recoup. 

pbhb

DullGreyGuy said:

Have you complete the N150 allocation and had it confirmed it's going to Small Track (aka small claims)? 

If it is then by definition its only a couple of hours tops but if your diary is hard to plan far out then you make sustain more losses trying to attend than you are hoping to recoup. 

No I haven't - I just filled out the money claims stuff. It asked me my ideal court so I picked the one local to me, it also asked if i would be willing to do a video court hearing which I said yes to, as did the surgeon.

When the mediator rang me today he apologised that the other side were not engaging, he said they will be offered mediation one more time (this just wastes more of my time!). If he says no, it will go to court.

When I sign into my money claim, it says 'waiting court date' - so I'm unsure if I need to do anything else at the moment

GDB2222

The mediation is optional, effectively, because even if the surgeon had dialled in for the mediation he would not have to be reasonable. 

The first thing that I would need to know is whether you are suing the surgeon personally, or whether he operates through a limited company? If you have sued him personally, then the case will likely be allocated to a court near him, and you will have to do the travelling. If it’s a company, then it is vice versa.

Most Private surgeons I know can earn much more than £1000 from a day’s work, so my guess is that he won’t actually be keen to turn up at the hearing, but you know what he is like. 

 I am not convinced that the court will allow you anything for disruption to your work schedule, but it is worth a try. 

You are perfectly within your rights to leave him terrible reviews on Google and other websites. I assume you researched him before handing over money, so these reviews do have some effect. Also, if he was recommended by your GP say, feed back how you have been treated.