I had a letter today from the Respondents demanding £800 by Monday for the bundle cost.

The Employment Judge agreed to my request there be a £500 cap on the cost, although it is not in the Order from the Preliminary Hearing.

I believe the Respondent has deliberately made it as expensive as possible. The are a quasi-legal firm and produce hundreds of bundles every year in the normal course of work. They have a photocopier machine contract which makes the cost a fraction of a pound for each copy, plus teams of administrators who routinely collate them.

They have already turned up on my door extorting £2,000. This was from a costs order at the EAT from a previous case where the panel said I did not have to pay it until I could afford it.

I paid it as they threatened to bankrupt me.

They are saying they will apply to have my hearing struck out if not paid by Monday.

What should I do?

Can you give us more info? Sounds like something definitely isnt right and the respondent in your case is trying to ignore the panels decision.

I believe it is victimisation because I could not agree their COT3 proposal over the issue of a reference.

I was hounded out of my job last year with no pay or notice after 8 years as I was awarded compensation by the ET for victimisation in being suspended for submitting a grievance.

One of the women then conducted a victimisation campaign, they brought in an HR consultant to falsely accuse me of being a bully towards this woman. Apparently because I asked her to leave a document on my desk and looked at her with a blank expression, etc.

A hearing for victimisation, PIDA, unfair dismissal and unlawful deduction of salary is listed for October.

Hi BlindVision

You double posted the same thread so I have merged them and unapproved one as they are exactly the same, its best to keep to one thread to get the best advice for your issue.

It administrative so not to worry the caggers will be along to assist you.

why are you paying them things when the court has said you don't have to? If it is truly threatening, call the police!

Emmzzi, police are not interested in civil matters. Problem is, they are threatening to withhold the bundle.

I need it to cross reference to the witness statement I need to start writing up.

the police are interested in menacing people on your doorstep using extortion, which your first post suggested

refer the problem back to the court.

Emmzzi is correct you need to inform the court of these actions immediately.

As for the police if you have it in writing that the ET Judge said £500 and they turn up demanding £2000 call the police and show them that paperwork I am sure they would suddenly be interested and at the same time you complain to the police and get a crime reference number and pass this onto the courts.

Also if they try the doorstep again be prepare and record it even if you have a mobile phone that can do it record it, call the police.

As they are quasi-legal, they turned up with a court order demanding the £2K within 3 weeks. The onkly thing I could do was to "apply to set it aside within 8(?) days" to a High Court Judge. I just forked up as they would have then got an order to bankrupt me, as they threatened.

Unfortunately, although the EJ said the cost of the bundle for the forthcoming hearing should be shared and agree a £500 cap, he omitted to actually put the cap in writing.

I will write to the tribunal tomorrow as there is nothing in the Directions that say I had to pay by Monday.

As a result of their actions last year, I had to go on JSA and use payday lenders to cover my bills. I have just had urgent dental treatment not available on the NHS so I simply haven't got a £800 cash flow, as the £900 hearing costs will need to be paid soon, too.

They are using the fact they know I am brassic as a result of their actions in dismissing me with no pay last year to intimidate me.

Let's be clear here; you CHOSE to give them 2k instead of going to court to agree a payment plan.

If you are not prepared to use the correct routes in place to help you, there is little any advice will do for you!

Emmzzi, it was a Statutory Demand, as it is part of their profession. There is no payment plan.

I had to cash one of my pension plans.

Can anybody comment as to whether £1,700 is a reasonable cost for printing a bundle (the collation of the pages, index and pagination already having been done)? About 12 files up to 2K pages.

Emmzzi, it was a Statutory Demand, as it is part of their profession. There is no payment plan.

 

I had to cash one of my pension plans.

and "the panel said I did not have to pay it until I could afford it."

ergo, payment plan possible.

Not these people, Emmzzi, they were going for bankruptcy.

I've removed my post. I'm frustrated and it wasn't helpful.

In short; talk to the court.

I'm incredibly confused.

Why are you being required to pay anything for the bundle? Unless the ET ordered you to produce it and you shifted the responsibility to the Respondent (in which case they can charge reasonable photocopying costs) then I can't see any circumstances where a bundle fee would be payable!

What am I missing?

At hte Preliminary Hearing the judge ordered the respondnet to prepare the bundle. As I recall the Respondnet brought up the issue of cost and asked to share. I asked if this could be capped at £500 and the judge asked for their comment.

However, all that is in the Order for Directions (hearing timetable) are dates by which things have to be done.

Are the Respondent entitled to withhold the bundle and apply for a strike out of my case if I do not pay >£800 literally "by Monday"?

I've removed my post. I'm frustrated and it wasn't helpful.

 

In short; talk to the court.

Thanks, emmzzi, I have taken your comment on board and will ask the tribunal for clarification. I have offered the respondent an initial sum for now.

They could have applied for bankruptcy. But that takes time. If they are not complying with orders made by the Tribunal, the appropriate course of action is to write to the Tribunal seeking an appropriate order.

Regarding the bundle, please can you post the exact wording of the relevant Tribunal order. What does it say about photocopying costs?

You should, in any event, ask for a detailed breakdown of the costs they are claiming.

I have doubled checked the wording just now, and it reads:

"The Rs' solicitors are to produce a single paginated bundle containing all of the documents which it has been agreed (or directed) are to be included in the trial bundle. ....etc...etc... by (around about now) ....etc....This is on the basis that the parties have agreed that the reasonable printing or copying costs of the copies of the bundles will be bourne equally between them."

Whilst they have added on VAT for my share, they can reclaim the VAT on theirs. All I have had is a letter from the solicitors saying this is how much it costs. No evidence of being sent to tender. In their profession they can do it very economically as they have the contacts, who have the software to paginate automatically and run off the labels and index .

The directions do not state I have to pay it by the above date.

Is the cost reasonable do you think?

It states print costs not desktop publishing. So no. Tell them to give you a copy and nip down to Staples to run off another couple.

Whilst they have added on VAT for my share, they can reclaim the VAT on theirs.

They won't have any VAT on their share to reclaim. I'm not sure this is relevant.

All I have had is a letter from the solicitors saying this is how much it costs. No evidence of being sent to tender. In their profession they can do it very economically as they have the contacts, who have the software to paginate automatically and run off the labels and index .

 

The directions do not state I have to pay it by the above date.

 

Is the cost reasonable do you think?

Tender is not required.

Many of the larger law firms have outsourced copying teams on premises, whose job it is to copy things. Even that can be surprisingly pricy as a few pence is charged for each page. You will be looking at a fair chunk of cash but 2k is too much. I imagine they have included an hourly charge for someone to do the photocopying.

Steampowered: thanks that is most informative. I will ask for a breakdown and whether hourly charges are included.

In the meantime, I have paid them a deposit, so it will look incredibly mean-spirited if they refuse to do the bundle and apply to strike out my case.

Emmzzi, I cannot consider allowing bankruptcy as I am a chartered accountant and it would be against the professional code.

I paid up because nothing the R's do, will put me off from bringing them to justice.

From reading your posts I believe that the SD was probably a bluff - they wouldn't have stood a chance of obtaining bankruptcy, but they knew that in your professional capacity it would probably work. In order to obtain any sort of order they would have to demonstrate an obligation to pay, and from what you have said they simply couldn't!

I'm with the others. This needs to be referred back to the ET as unreasonable behaviour and contrary to what was agreed at the hearing. I too have never heard of an order for the Claimant to pay for the preparation of the bundle - that would normally be within any order for costs if the claim was unsuccessful. Or was it put at the prelim that your claim was vexatious or misguided? If so, then the Judge should surely have indicated that there might be problems in bringing the claim? Even in the event that the Judge ordered costs to be shared, surely the Respondent would need to go back to the Judge to pursue those costs rather than simply turn up demanding them?

Sounds completely bizarre to me...

No problems at all. The first judge at a Preliminary Hearing (as CMD's are now called) said she was anxious to bring my case to a hearing as soon as possible. The Respondent has not argued it is vexatious or has little prospect of success.

I did actually complain of unreasonable behaviour regarding the £2K demand on my doorstep. All the judge says is "bring it up at the hearing". The guy who turned up at my door was bristling with menace.

I think it is because it is usually the claimant's responsibility to prepare the bundle that they made the request for me to contribute.