Multi Track Claims – (£25,000+)
Is your claim over £25,000?
If so there is no standard procedure for these cases, affording the court all the flexibility to deal with each case on its own merits.
With multi-track cases, informal hearings called case management conferences are scheduled for all parties and the judge to review progress, by:
- Reviewing steps already taken to progress the claim
- Ensuring parties are complying with directions given
- Giving further directions
- Noting any agreements reached
- Setting the timetable for next steps
- Monitoring costs
Once the parties have filed pre-trial checklists, the judge will list the case for a pre-trial review, which decides:
- Trial timetable
- Who and in what order will give evidence
- Preparation and filing of trial bundle
- Time estimate for trial
- Prepare for case management conference
- Arrange for an advocate to attend case management conference with you
- File and serve pre-trial checklist
- Arrange for an advocate to attend pre-trial review
- Ensure compliance with trial timetable
- Prepare and file trial bundle
- Disclosure documents
All documents relevant to the dispute, including those that support your case, those that undermine your case and those that support the other sides case. If you fail to disclose a document, you will not be allowed to rely upon it at the final hearing.
A non-exhaustive list of the type of documents that the judge is likely to want to see are:
- Any written contract or agreement & details of any breaches
- Photographs
- List of items complained about
- List of any outstanding items
- Any relevant estimate, order, invoice or receipt
- Calculation or amount outstanding including any amounts received with any supporting documents
- Witness Statements
It is important that any statements provided by witnesses of fact are detailed and comprehensive. They will only be able to give evidence on what they have in their statement. They will not be able to talk about anything new or additional. There are also rules about how a witness statement should be set out and have within it. They will need to describe:
- The background to the claim
- How they know the parties
- What was agreed and what went wrong
- A chronology of what happened and when
- The impact of what went wrong
- What was done to solve the problem if anything
Instructing Mercian Law to assist with preparing your case for final hearing will ensure your witness statements are as comprehensive as possible to support your claim.
