Hi, For all those awaiting directions hearings at Mercantile court, here is a completed CMI sheet, read through it and at the bottom there is the plain copy with the questions. I hope it helps anybody who is stressing over the sheet.

Jenny

Part Filing: Claimants JennyBarton - case number 7LS40607

Solicitors Acting: Claimants in Person

Date 01.06.2007

Substance of case

1. The Claimant seeks repayment of unfair & unlawful bank charges and interest.

Parties.

2. Yes

3. No, although Leeds County Court may link other claims.

Statements of Case.

4. No

5. Yes. We believe CPR 18 may only become necessary if the Court directs other than to a Small Claim. However, the Defendant has insisted the Claimant complies with the Defendants CPR Part 18, the Claimant therefore seeks the Court to order full disclosure and breakdown of the administrative cost incurred in applying the said charges.

Disclosure.

6. Within 7 days of being requested by the Court.

7. No

8. Yes: List of charges made to claimants accounts and in respect of every charge, a breakdown specifying the amount of actual cost to the defendant and the amount of profit added, resulting in the total charge made to the claimant in each and every charge.

9. Yes:

10. (i) Within 7 days of Courts directions

(ii) Within 7 days of Courts directions

Admissions.

11. No

Preliminary issues.

12. No

Witnesses of fact.

13. One

14. Claimant

15. Claimant

16. Within 7 days of Courts directions

17. No

Expert Evidence.

18. No

19. No

20. No

21. None

22. N/A

23. No

24. None

25. N/A

Trial.

26. 1 hour

27. Within 4 weeks of Case Management Conference

28. Leeds County Court

29. No

A.D.R.

30. No

31. No. The banks have so far refused to attend hearings being content to take

the full period of the process before settling at the last minute.

32. No

33.No

Other applications.

34 None.

Costs.

35. Claimant in Person costs £9.25 per hour 25 hours research & preparation £231.25

36. Claimant in person costs £9.25 per hour 30 hours research & preparation

£277.50 by the end of trial.

Signed Claimant

Uncompleted sheet

[signature of party/solicitor]

Thanks Jenny. I've made this a sticky as I'm sure lots of people will need it.

Anybody who is contemplating completing a CMI sheet, please read this post and the following posts before you do so.

This sentence added to this post 8/6/07: An updated CMI sheet containing both questions and example answers is given at Post 15 on this thread.

(Original post 3):

Sorry Jenny (Barton) and Caro, but you have taken a step backwards in what you have put in this new thread [at post 1].

I have been covering the provision of the CMI sheet since February 2007. I have spent a lot of time adding to it as time has gone on, to make it as up-to-date and as meaningful as possible. Because you have now put this new thread here, people are likely to miss lots of other relevant information for completing the CMI sheet.

Please see the following threads:

1. Sticky 'Mercantile Court Guide' posts 3 and 5.

2. 'Mercantile Hearing' posts 12 to 14 (Post 12 was your one of yours Jenny which I have used as the basis for the example CMI sheet and i have added to it)

3. 'Leeds Mercantile Court Hearing 28th June 2007' post 1.

4. 'Mercantile Hearing Leeds 26 April 2007' post 1.

Jenny, I believe the CMI answer sheet that you have used at Post 1 on this new thread is the same as the one you used for your 7 February Leeds hearing, given to you by a previous claimant. One of the problems with that (your) CMI sheet is that the originator of it appears to have received a defence from the defendant and was answering items 5 and 31 in reply to the defence which is not appropriate for most claimants and the answers to items 5 and 31 that you have given are nonsensical in that respect. Experience has shown that most bank charge claimants appearing at the Leeds Mercantile will not have received a defence from the defendant and their answers therefore need to be different.

(Besides the item 5 and 31 issue, my threads contain lots of notes on other items).

Caro, as a moderator, have you any thoughts on what should be done with this new thread? Do you want to leave it as it, giving only half of the necessary information for completion of the CMI sheet?

(I have no objection to a 'Case Management Info sheet' thread, but let's get it right. Also you might like to think about putting it in the Template Library).

I'll check it all out later. I have not looked that closely at CMI completion before and this appeared a good idea and comprehensive. I will leave it for now and check the posts you have provided when I have time. Of course others reading this will be able to do the same and make their own decision. It is obviously easier to find information in a clearly titled thread than among a number of others. If you have time could you please add links to the threads you mention Calculator. (Just click on the posts, then copy the thread or post addy in the toolbar, and paste it into your post).

I am not sure why you say most claimants don't receive a defence, or do you mean that this refers to one specific banks defence?

I prefer the idea of it being in the Mercantile Forum, as it ensures that those with Mercantile cases will be brought to this forum, and the CMI is not relevant for any other claimants as far as I know.

Caro, please look into urgently. The 28th June hearing at Leeds is looming and the last thing we need is to confuse those latecomers who urgently need assistance with the CMI. Until this new thread appeared yesterday, everything was catered for and under control.

With regard to my statement that claimants often do not receive the defendant's defence in the Mercantile bank charges claims. This is certainly the case at Leeds. The claimant submits the claim to the County Court and receives a copy of the defendant's acknowledgement of service (which usually states that the defendant intends to defend the case). The next thing that happens is that the claimant receives a notice from the court of transer to the Mercantile Court, followed by a notice from the Court giving a date for a case management conference/directions hearing. In between times, the defendant has more than likely filed the defence to the Court. The Court does not send the defence to the claimant, nor does the Court ask for an Allocation Questionnaire to be completed,because the case is going straight to the case management conference/directions hearing. Sometimes the Court does not even send the defendant's acknowledgement of service to the claimant.

Jenny,

I have suggestion. If you will edit your post 1 on this CMI thread in respect of the answers to items 5 and 31 on the CMI sheet, (see thread 'Mercantile Hearing 20th Feb' post 14) I will copy to this new CMI thread all of the supplementary notes that I have made on the other threads and then we will have everything on this thread. By all means give two alternative answers for items 5 and 31, one alternative where the claimant has received a defence and one where the claimant has not recieved a defence. In anycase the bit at item 31 about the banks refusing to attend other hearings seems a bit of a nonsense in most cases.

Hi calculator, If you would prefer...post your completed cmi sheet on this thread...then claimants have both copies and the reasons why...obviously each case is individual and all sheets and letters should be unique to the claimants case.

Jenny

Important notes regarding completing the CMI sheet.

(This note in brackets is added on 8/6/07: Since first writing this post 7 I have posted an updated CMI sheet containing both the questions and example answers at Post 15 of this thread. I have copied the relevant notes on this post 7 across to post 15. Therefore see Post 15 first before reading the following notes on this post 7. Much of this post 7 is now superfluous).

Original post 7 of 7/6/07:

In the interests of getting all of the relevant information on to one thread, I have copied various items here from my posts on other threads:

Copied from my post 14 on the thread 'Mercantile Hearing 20th Feb':

Reference J.Barton (Jenny's) example completed CMI sheet (see above), be careful at item 5 where it states 'However, the Defendant has insisted the Claimant complies with the Defendants CPR Part 18'. This looks as though the defendant (bank) filed a CMI sheet first and the claimant is responding to the defendant's request. If you are filing the CMI sheet and have not had any requests from the bank in repect of CPR 18, then I think you will need to tailor the wording at item 5. I suggest your answer should be 'The claimant seeks the Court to order full disclosure and breakdown of the administrative cost incurred in applying the said charges.'

The answer to item 31 of the CMI sheet also needs tailoring if there have been no previous hearings and the defendant has not refused to attend any . Answer should be a straight 'No'. (I think the answer to item 31 should probably be a straight 'No' even if you have received the defendant's defence. The answer on Jenny's sheet might have been written in the early days when not many banks had been brought to Court. Things have moved on since then).

With regard to items 35 and 36 of the CMI sheet, note that some Mercantile Courts (eg London) state in the letter of invitation to the Hearing that Small Claims rules will apply regarding costs, whereas other Mercantile Courts (eg Leeds) make no mention of Small Claims rules applying. (Mercantile cases are usually only dealt with under the multi-track, not small calims track). Therefore if you are under London Mercantile you might wish to insert at item 35 and 36 'see the Court's notice of hearing dated .......... regarding costs', but for those under Leeds you might wish to stick with the example wording given in the completed example sheet in the above mentioned thread. for those at Leeds and similar, you might like to add at the end of 35 and 36 the words 'plus the Court fees'.

Copied from my post 3 on the thread 'Mercantile Court Guide':

The Civil Procedure Rules CPR 59, CPR 18, CPR 31 etc are obtainable by clicking here Department for Constitutional Affairs - Home Page (web site dca.gov.uk). They come in the form of the actual Rule eg CPR 59 entitled 'Mercantile Courts' and a separate 'Practice Direction' document (clickable in the top right of the CPR front page). Either use the 'Search' facilty on the DCA web home page eg search for 'CPR 59' or to get straight in, forget the home page and click here PART 59 - MERCANTILE COURTS (web site justice.gov.uk/civil/procrules_fin/contents/parts/part59.htm)

Change the 59 to 18 in the www. address to get to Part 18 and change to 31 to get to Part 31 etc. (Once you get into the relevant 'Part', don't forget to click on the top right of the page to get into the 'Practice Directions' document for that Part).

(Changing the number to 27 will give you info about the Small Claims Track and changing the number to 29 will give you info about the Multi-Track).

Note: some Mercantile Courts up to now have dealt with the bank charges cases slightly differently depending on which Mercantile Court. For example Leeds Mercantile state in the letter of invitation to the Hearing that the claimant is to send a CPR 59 Case Management Information Sheet (CMI sheet) to the Court prior to the hearing. Other Mercantile Courts (eg London) do not make any mention of a requirement for a CMI sheet. If in doubt, I suggest you phone the Court to ask what they require to be sent prior to the hearing.

Also Leeds Mercantile mention the Multi-Track (see CPR 29) which is the normal method in the Mercantile Court, whereas London Mercantile have specifically stated the intention that the 'Small Claims' rules will apply even though it is the Mercantile Court.

Anybody wanting the Case Management Information sheet, I have extracted the CMI sheet, see below, and you should be able to lift it from here (note added 8/6/07: or see post 15 of this CMI thread for both questions and example answers all on one sheet) . Alternatively if you have any problem doing so, you can get it from 'Practice Direction to CPR 59' at Annex A of that document.

(If you download it from Annex A, save it on your pc as a pdf file.

Then open the saved pdf file on your pc, then save it again as 'editable text' or 'save as text' (eg this will be saved on 'Notepad').

Then open Microsoft Word. Choose 'all files' and you should be able to open the Notepad file. Then save as a 'Word' document and you can fill in the answers and alter the font/layout).

Note that on the CMI sheet that CPR 18 is entitled 'Further Information' whilst CPR 31 is entitled 'Disclosure and Inspection of Documents'. Therefore if you want the bank to provide information, I assume this is under CPR 18. If you want the bank to disclose documents that it has in its possession then I assume it comes under CPR 31.

If a CMI sheet is required by the Court, you should also serve a copy on the defendant.

Party filing: The Claimant

Solicitors:

Advocate(s) for trial:

Date:

Substance of case

1.

Parties

2. Are all parties still effective? -

3. Do you intend to add any further party? –

Statements of case

4. Do you intend to amend your statement of case?

5. Do you require any “further information” - see CPR 18? -

Disclosure

6. By what date can you give standard disclosure? –

7. Do you contend that to search for any type of document falling within CPR 31.6(b) would be unreasonable within CPR 31.7(2)? -

8. Is any specific disclosure required - CPR 31.12? –

9. Is a full disclosure order appropriate? -

10. By what dates could you give:

(i) any specific disclosure referred to at 8? - .

(ii) full disclosure? -

Admissions

11. Can you make any additional admissions? –

Preliminary issues

12. Are any issues suitable for trial as preliminary issues? -

Witnesses of fact

13. On how many witnesses of fact do you intend to rely at the trial (subject to the court’s direction)? -

14. Please name them, or explain why you do not. -

15. Which of them will be called to give oral evidence? -

16. When can you serve their witness statements? -

17. Will any require an interpreter? -

Expert evidence

18. Are there issues requiring expert evidence? -

19. If yes, what issues? -

20. Might a single joint expert be suitable on any issues (see CPR 35.7)? -

21. What experts do you intend (subject to the court’s direction) to call? Please give the number, their names and expertise. -

22. By what date can you serve signed expert reports? -

23. Should there be meetings of experts of like disciplines, of all disciplines? By when? -

24. Which experts, if any, do you intend not to call at the trial? -

25. Will any require an interpreter? -

Trial

26. What are the advocates’ present estimates of the length of the trial? -

27. What is the earliest date that you think the case can be ready for trial? -

28. Where should the trial be held? -

29. Is a Pre-Trial Review advisable? -

A.D.R.

30. Might some form of Alternative Dispute Resolution assist to resolve the dispute or some part of it? -

31. Has this been considered with the client? -

32. Has this been considered with the other parties? -

33. Do you want the case to be stayed pending A.D.R. or other means of settlement - CPR 26.4; or any other directions relating to A.D.R.? -

Other applications

34. What applications, if any, not covered above, will you be making at the conference? -

Costs

35. What, do you estimate, are your costs to date? -

36. What, do you estimate, will be your costs to end of trial? -

Signed:

(Claimant)

Copied from my post 5 on the thread 'Mercantile Court Guide':

Additional notes that I have compiled for completing the CPR59 Case Management Information Sheet (CMI sheet):

Item 4. The ‘statement of case’ can also be taken as being the ‘Particulars of Claim’ on the N1 claim form. If you have made any error in your claim, here is a good place and opportunity to correct matters. If you want to fundamentally change your claim, eg the amount of the claim or the items claimed for, then you can say so here, but you will also need to complete the N244 court form and send to the court.

Item 13. If the claim were to be dealt with on the Small Claims Track, the claimant would be able to take a ‘lay representative’ (e.g. a friend or a relative) to any hearing/trial to speak on the claimant’s behalf if the claimant did not feel confident enough to speak him/herself (HMCS Booklet EX307 ‘The Small Claims Track’ page 9 states so). The Mercantile Court normally only deals with cases on the Multi-Track and as such normally only recognises the claimant (ie 'the litigant in person') and the claimant's professional legal representative if the claimant has one. The fact that your case has been transferred to the Mercantile Court, not the County Court Small Claims Track, should not preclude you from taking a lay representative with you, but you will need to write to the Mercantile Court to ask the Court's permission for you to take a ‘lay representative’ with you stating the reason as being that the Small Claims Track would have allowed you to do so and through no fault of your own the case has been transferred to the Mercantile Court. You should give the Court the name and address of your intended lay representative. If you are taking a lay representaive with you, the anser to item 13 should be 'two' and the answer to item 14 should be 'the claimant and his/her representative', and then answer 15 accordingly.

Items 35 and 36.

The rate of £9.25 per hour is the allowable charge for ‘claimant in person’ (also often referred to as ‘litigant in person’) on the Multi-Track in the Mercantile Court. If the matter gets as far as the Court hearing, you will have to justify the hours claimed and the expenses. (Where possible keep a log of your time spent and receipts for expenses e.g. photocopying, special delivery postage etc.). I suggest that you be sensible about the hours claimed - do not go 'over the top' if, as a novice, you wasted an exorbitant/unreasonable/unjustifiable amount of time getting nowhere before you eventually found what you were looking for.

Up to now, some Mercantile Courts have dealt with the bank charges claims different to other Mercantile Courts. For example, the Leeds Mercantile Court’s notice of case management conference/ directions hearing refers to allocation of cases to the Multi-Track, not the Small Claims Track. (Under the Multi-track, the winning party can request that the losing party pays the winning party’s costs). However, the London Mercantile Court’s notice of hearing refers to a Small Claims Hearing and the intention that the Small Claims rules for costs will apply. Therefore in respect of the London type of hearing you might wish to delete the answers given at items 35 and 36 on the example answer sheet and insert ‘See the Court’s notice of hearing dated ………… regarding costs’.

Sorry for repetition in the above caused by copying from different threads where I have covered the same topic. I will edit when I have time.

PS 8/6/07: See Post 15 of this CMI thread for updated CMI sheet containing both the questions and example answers.

Hi Calculator...

I have edited my original incase people want to use it...

Part Filing: Claimants Jenny Barton - case number 7LS40607

Solicitors Acting: Claimants in Person

Date 01.06.2007

Substance of case

1. The Claimant seeks repayment of unfair & unlawful bank charges and interest.

Parties.

2. Yes

3. No, although Leeds County Court may link other claims.

Statements of Case.

4. No

5. Yes. We believe CPR 18 may only become necessary if the Court directs other than to a Small Claim. The Claimant therefore seeks the Court to order full disclosure and breakdown of the administrative cost incurred in applying the said charges.

Disclosure.

6. Within 7 days of being requested by the Court.

7. No

8. Yes: List of charges made to claimants accounts and in respect of every charge, a breakdown specifying the amount of actual cost to the defendant and the amount of profit added, resulting in the total charge made to the claimant in each and every charge.

9. Yes:

10. (i) Within 7 days of Courts directions

(ii) Within 7 days of Courts directions

Admissions.

11. No

Preliminary issues.

12. No

Witnesses of fact.

13. One

14. Claimant

15. Claimant

16. Within 7 days of Courts directions

17. No

Expert Evidence.

18. No

19. No

20. No

21. None

22. N/A

23. No

24. None

25. N/A

Trial.

26. 1 hour

27. Within 4 weeks of Case Management Conference

28. Leeds County Court

29. No

A.D.R.

30. No

31. No.

32. No

33. No

Other applications.

34 None.

Costs.

35. Claimant in Person costs £9.25 per hour 25 hours research & preparation £231.25

36. Claimant in person costs £9.25 per hour 30 hours research & preparation

£277.50 by the end of trial.

Signed Claimant

Thanks Jenny. I think we have got everything covered now.

PS 8/6/07: Anybody reading this post, please see Post 13 and Post 15 which gives an updated CMI sheet containing both the questions and example answers.

Hi Calculator, Thanks, I'm glad its sorted.

Jen

Might be a silly question but in the date section at the top am I putting the hearing date or todays date???

Todays date.

Jenny

Jenny (Barton),

Sorry, but on reflection I still have a couple of concerns about your example CMI sheet. I would not have bothered pursuing these, but I think it is important that we clarify for the benefit of other claimants who intend to use the example.

Item 5.

You have stated 'We (I?) believe CPR 18 may only become necessary if the Court directs other than to a Small Claim. The Claimant therefore seeks .............'.

I do not see why you need to state the first sentence (which I have outlined in bold text). The case has been transferred to the Mercantile Court under CPR 59 rules, part of which is this CMI sheet which specifically brings in CPR 18 (request for 'Further information'). Therfore I do not see why you should be doubting that CPR 18 is necessary. In any case, I assume you would still want the further information that you have requested in the 2nd sentence even if your case was on the Small Claims Track.

Also, your first sentence could be taken as implying that the Small Claims Track is still a possibilty. Is this what you intended? You may have seen that at the Mercantile Hearing Leeds 26th April, a ploy of one of the banks was to try to get their case transferred back to the County Court Small Claims Track but the Judge was having none of it (ZsaZsa's thread also refers).

Item 28.

You have stated that you want the trial to be at Leeds County Court (which I assume would be on the Small Claims Track). Your case has been transferred to the Mercantile Court (High Court). If your case gets as far as the 28th June hearing, do you really want it transferring back to the County Court? See my comment above about the bank's ploy to get their case back to the County Court. Also at item 35 you have claimed costs on the basis that your case has been transferred to the Multi-Track in the Mercantile Court, away from the County Court small claims track where costs would not have been recoverable. Are you 'shooting yourself in the foot' by saying at item 28 that you want the case transferring back to the County Court? I suggest that the answer to item 28 should be just 'Leeds' and omit the words 'County Court'.

Jenny,

To clear things up and make things easier for all future readers of this thread, I will post a slightly amended CMI answer sheet and I will show both the questions and the answers on the same sheet.

Here is an Updated Example CMI Sheet (see below).

Further to the previous posts on this thread, to make matters clearer and hopefully easier, I have put the questions and answers together on one sheet as an example of a completed CPR59 CMI sheet. I have taken the opportunity of refining some of the answers using the previous example sheet and example sheets from other threads and my views on the subject.

(If you have already completed your CMI sheet and sent it to the Court using the example from previous threads/posts, don't worry that you have not used the latest sheet from this post. What you have used will serve its purpose. However it may be useful to you to make yourself aware of the changes).

It is stressed that the example sheet given below represents the views of lay persons only. The answers are not ‘cast in stone’. It is up to the user to decide what best suits them and to amend the answers if they so wish.

The example and notes are provided primarily to assist those claimants who have been thrust into the 'Mercantile arena' and do not know where else to turn for assistance, possibly never having heard of the Mercantile Court until receiving their Court notice of transfer and hearing.

The CMI Sheet is not as daunting as it may first seem. I hope the example and explanations given below will ease any doubts you may have. Also keep the matter in perspective – you will have been requested by the Court to submit a CMI sheet as the current stage in the process leading up to the case management conference / directions hearing. The submission of the CMI sheet is a means to an end and hopefully your case will get settled either before or at the case management conference / directions hearing without the case proceeding to trial.

Some Mercantile Courts up to now have dealt with the bank charges cases slightly differently depending on which Mercantile Court. For example Leeds Mercantile state in the letter of invitation to the Hearing that the claimant is to send a CPR 59 Case Management Information Sheet (CMI sheet) to the Court prior to the hearing. Other Mercantile Courts (eg London) have not made any mention of a requirement for a CMI sheet. If in doubt, I suggest you phone the Court to ask what they require to be sent prior to the hearing.

Also Leeds Mercantile mention the Multi-Track (see CPR 29) which is the normal method in the Mercantile Court, whereas London Mercantile mentions the Multi-Track but has specifically stated the intention that the 'Small Claims' rules for costs will apply even though it is the Mercantile Court. (See further notes at the bottom of this post regarding items 35 and 36 of the CMI sheet)

If a CMI sheet is required by the Court, you should also serve a copy on the defendant. (For the defendant’s address to which documents should be served, (a) look at the Acknowledgement of Service form returned by the defendant to the Court and copied by the Court to you, or (b) if you do not have that, send the copy of the CMI sheet to the defendant's address that you put on the original claim form. (If the defendant's solicitor has already contacted you to make an offer of settlement which you have not yet accepted, you might wish to send a copy of the CMI to that solicitor providing you have their address).

(If you are not intending to take the the CMI sheet to the Court by hand, you may wish to consider Royal Mail 'Special Delivery' (£4.30 for guaranteed next day delivery) or Royal Mail 'Recorded Signed For' delivery (£1.04 for normal 1st Class timescales, but not guaranteed next day delivery). That way by either method you will be able to track it to make sure it gets to its intended destination with a signature of recipient as proof if necessary. Also similarly consider for sending the copy to the defendant).

On the example CMI sheet shown below, the text in bold italics in square brackets are notes that I have made for use in completing the sheet and should be deleted from the finished sheet.

It is OK to refer to yourself as ‘the Claimant’ and the bank as ‘the defendant’ when answering the questions.

See also the additional notes at the bottom of this example sheet.

Copying the CMI sheet:

You should be able to lift this example sheet from here by clicking and outlining all of the CMI sheet text and using the ‘copy’ function in the ‘Edit’ icon in the tool bar at the top of the page. Open Microsoft Word (or whatever you have) on your PC and paste the CMI sheet there and you can then amend it as you wish.

Party filing: Claimant

Solicitors: Claimant in person

Advocate(s) for trial: ––

Date: ............... [insert date of completing this CMI sheet]

Substance of case

1. The Claimant seeks repayment of unfair and unlawful bank charges and interest.

Parties

2. Are all parties still effective? - Yes.

3. Do you intend to add any further party? - No.

Statements of case

4. Do you intend to amend your statement of case? - No.

5. Do you require any “further information” - see CPR 18? -Yes. The Claimant seeks the Court to order the defendant to provide a full breakdown of the actual cost incurred by the defendant in respect of each of the said bank charges.

Disclosure

6. By what date can you give standard disclosure? - Within 7 days of being requested by the Court.

7. Do you contend that to search for any type of document falling within CPR 31.6(b) would be unreasonable within CPR 31.7(2)? - No.

8. Is any specific disclosure required - CPR 31.12? - Yes. Disclosure of documents by the defendant showing the defendant’s costs incurred and its profit on bank charges relative to the claim.

9. Is a full disclosure order appropriate? - Yes.

10. By what dates could you give:

(i) any specific disclosure referred to at 8? - Within 7 days of the Court’s directions.

(ii) full disclosure? - Within 7 days of the Court’s directions.

Admissions

11. Can you make any additional admissions? - No.

Preliminary issues

12. Are any issues suitable for trial as preliminary issues? - No.

Witnesses of fact

13. On how many witnesses of fact do you intend to rely at the trial (subject to the court’s direction)? - One.

14. Please name them, or explain why you do not. - The Claimant.

15. Which of them will be called to give oral evidence? - The Claimant.

16. When can you serve their witness statements? - Within 7 days of the Court’s directions.

17. Will any require an interpreter? - No.

Expert evidence

18. Are there issues requiring expert evidence? - No.

19. If yes, what issues? - N/A.

20. Might a single joint expert be suitable on any issues (see CPR 35.7)? – N/A.

21. What experts do you intend (subject to the court’s direction) to call? Please give the number, their names and expertise. - N/A.

22. By what date can you serve signed expert reports? - N/A.

23. Should there be meetings of experts of like disciplines, of all disciplines? By when? - N/A.

24. Which experts, if any, do you intend not to call at the trial? - N/A.

25. Will any require an interpreter? - N/A.

Trial

26. What are the advocates’ present estimates of the length of the trial? - 2 hours.

27. What is the earliest date that you think the case can be ready for trial? - 4 weeks from the Case Management Conference / Directions Hearing.

28. Where should the trial be held? - ………….....…. [state the city/town where your Mercantile Court is located, ie probably where the court documents were sent from, as long as you are happy with that location. Mercantile courts are only located at Birmingham, Bristol, Cardiff, Chester, Leeds, Liverpool, London, Manchester and Newcastle].

29. Is a Pre-Trial Review advisable? - No.

A.D.R.

30. Might some form of Alternative Dispute Resolution assist to resolve the dispute or some part of it? - No

31. Has this been considered with the client? - No.

32. Has this been considered with the other parties? - No

33. Do you want the case to be stayed pending A.D.R. or other means of settlement - CPR 26.4; or any other directions relating to A.D.R.? - No.

Other applications

34. What applications, if any, not covered above, will you be making at the conference? - None.

Costs

35. What, do you estimate, are your costs to date? - Claimant in Person costs £9.25 per hour plus expenses. ..*.. hours research and preparation plus sundry expenses, total £..**.. .

[ *Insert your own number of hours for your time researching, preparing and submitting your Claim, Allocation Questionnaire (if you submitted one) and CMI sheet, calculate at £9.25 per hour and add sundry expenses eg printing, postage etc and insert the total amount at .. **.. . The court fee for submitting the Claim will already have been included in your original claim value. If you subsequently paid a court fee to submit an Allocation Questionnaire, then add an extra sentence on to this item stating the amount of that court fee.. Also see the notes below}.

36. What, do you estimate, will be your costs to end of trial? - Claimant in Person costs £9.25 per hour plus expenses. .***. hours research and preparation plus sundry expenses, total £..****.. from now to the end of the trial.

[ *** Insert your own estimated number of hours for your time researching, preparing and submitting the Court Bundle, attending the hearing(s) and the trial, calculate at £9.25 per hour and add sundry expenses eg printing, postage, travel expenses etc and insert the total amount at ****. Also see the notes below].

Signed (Claimant):

Don't forget to delete the text in bold italics in square brackets from the finished sheet!

My additional notes/suggestions for completing the CMI sheet:

Item 1. You may wish to tailor the answer to tie in with what you entered on the ‘Brief details of claim’ on your claim form.

Item 4. The ‘statement of case’ can also be taken as being the ‘Particulars of Claim’ on the N1 claim form. If you have made any error in your claim, here is a good place and opportunity to correct matters. If you want to fundamentally change your claim, eg the amount of the claim or the items claimed for, then you can say so here at item 4 (and enclose a revised schedule of charges if you have altered those), but I think you may also need to complete the N244 court form and send to the court click here http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/bank-templates-library/41901-form-n244-application-notice.html . I suggest you check with the Court as to whether an N244 is needed in those situations or whether the CMI Sheet will suffice.

Items 5, 8 and 9. Note that CPR 18 is entitled 'Further Information' whilst CPR 31 is entitled 'Disclosure and Inspection of Documents'. Therefore if you want the bank to provide information, I assume this is under CPR 18. If you want the bank to disclose documents that it has in its possession then I assume it comes under CPR 31. For those wanting to read the CPRs, for CPR 18 click here www.justice.gov.uk/civil/procrules_fin/contents/parts/part18.htm

(web site justice.gov.uk/civil/procrules_fin/contents/parts/part18.htm) and for CPR 31 click here www.justice.gov.uk/civil/procrules_fin/contents/parts/part31.htm

(web site justice.gov.uk/civil/procrules_fin/contents/parts/part31.htm).

Don't forget to click on the top right of the front page of each of the CPR documents to get into the 'Practice Directions' document for that particular CPR. You might also find the HMCS guidance booklet EX305 for the Multi-Track useful, click here www.hmcourts-service.gov.uk/courtfinder/forms/ex305_0806.pdf

Items 6, 10, 16 and 27. If you are not happy with the example time periods stated, you may wish to amend them to suit your particular circumstances.

Item 13, 14 and 15. If the claim were to be dealt with on the Small Claims Track, the claimant would be able to take a ‘lay representative’ (e.g. a friend or a relative) to any hearing/trial to speak on the claimant’s behalf if the claimant did not feel confident enough to speak him/herself (HMCS Booklet EX307 ‘The Small Claims Track’ page 9 states so). The Mercantile Court normally only deals with cases on the Multi-Track and as such normally only recognises the claimant (ie 'the litigant in person') and the claimant's professional legal representative if the claimant has one. The fact that your case has been transferred to the Mercantile Court, not the County Court Small Claims Track, should not preclude you from taking a lay representative with you, but you will need to write to the Mercantile Court to ask the Court's permission for you to take a ‘lay representative’ with you stating the reason as being that the Small Claims Track would have allowed you to do so and through no fault of your own the case has been transferred to the Mercantile Court. You should give the Court the name and address of your intended lay representative. If you are taking a lay representative with you, the answer to item 13 should be 'two' and the answer to item 14 should be 'the claimant and his/her representative', and then answer 15 accordingly.

Item 26. Amend the estimate of the length of trial if you wish to suit the size/complexity of your case.

Items 35 and 36.

Up to now, some Mercantile Courts have dealt with the bank charges claims differently to other Mercantile Courts. For example, the Leeds Mercantile Court’s notice of case management conference/ directions hearing has referred to allocation of cases to the Multi-Track (which is usually the only track used in the Mercantile), not the Small Claims Track which is particular to the County Court. Under the Multi-track, the winning party can request that the losing party pays the winning party’s costs.

However, up to now, the London Mercantile Court’s notice of hearing has referred to a Small Claims Hearing (even though it is the Mercantile Court) and the intention that the Small Claims rules for costs will apply.

For those on the Multi-Track in the Mercantile Court, the rate of £9.25 per hour is the allowable charge for ‘claimant in person’ (also often referred to as ‘litigant in person’). If the matter gets as far as the Court hearing, you may have to justify the hours claimed and the expenses. (Where possible keep a log of your time spent and receipts for expenses e.g. photocopying, Special Delivery postage etc.). I suggest that you be sensible about the hours claimed - do not go 'over the top' if, as a novice, you wasted an unreasonable/unjustifiable amount of time getting nowhere before you eventually found what you were looking for.

For those at the London type of hearing you might wish to delete the answers given at items 35 and 36 on the example answer sheet and insert ‘See the Court’s notice of hearing dated ………… regarding costs’.

Also see the PS 15/6/07 at the bottom of this post regarding costs.

Other useful links:

CAG Mercantile Court Guide click here http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/mercantile-court-cases-stays/34297-mercantile-court-guide.html

CPR 27: The Small Claims Track click here www.justice.gov.uk/civil/procrules_fin/contents/parts/part27.htm

HMCS guidance booklet EX305 for the Multi-Track, click here www.hmcourts-service.gov.uk/courtfinder/forms/ex305_0806.pdf

CPR 29: The Multi-Track click here www.justice.gov.uk/civil/procrules_fin/contents/parts/part29.htm

CPR 48: Costs - Special Cases click here www.justice.gov.uk/civil/procrules_fin/contents/parts/part48.htm see section 'Litigant in Person'

CAG thread click here http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/mercantile-court-cases-stays/34289-barclays-settling-these-claim.html

I am not an expert and if anybody feels that the answers on the example CMI sheet do not suit their particular circumstances you are free to amend for your own CMI sheet. It would be useful to know of any items which you feel need amendment (please post on this thread). I am particularly interested in items 5, 8 and 9. Item 5 relates to provision of 'further information' CPR 18 and items 8 and 9 relate to 'Disclosure of Documents' CPR 31. I have given details in my notes as to how to access those CPRs. If you wish to comment on those particular items, it is important that you read CPR 18, CPR 31 and HMCS booklet EX305 before you do so.

Also, if you have received a 'defence' from the bank, you might like to consider whether there is anything in it that requires you to make a specific reply on your CMI sheet. If there is, then by all means insert an appropriate response at the relevant place on the CMI sheet.

PS 9/6/07: (If you have already completed your CMI sheet and sent it to the Court using the example from previous threads/posts, don't worry that you have not used the latest sheet from this post. What you have used will serve its purpose. However it may be useful to you to make yourself aware of the changes).

PS 15/6/07: See posts 18 and 19 for more discussion on costs for item 35 and 36 of the CMI Sheet

All claimants try to remember, you have to rely on your cmi sheet if you get to court.

If anyone is unsure of any question on it, search either this site or hmcs.

If you understand the questions you can give your own answers and just use these as a guide, we are here to help get each other through this.

Jenny

Reference Post 15 on this thread.

Since writing the original post 15 on 8/6/07, I have added various notes regarding the CMI sheet and shortcuts to other relevant threads and sites. This brings together all of my previous posts from this and other threads and hopefully post 15 now provides one comprehensive post.

If anybody has used the info at post 15 between my first writing it on 8/6/07 and now, you may like to have another read so that you have everything.

PS: also see post 19

Hi all,

Just completing my CMI and will be delivering today hopefully to Leeds for 28th hearing.

Quick question - what is the standard time for the claimant in person costs for questions 35 and 36 ??

I have spoken to Court today and they suggested I sent a latest schedule of charges, updated from my original claim way back in January - would you add to the bottom line either the court fee and the claimant in person costs or both ??

Thanks

Fair

Apd.

There are no standard times for items 35 & 36.

Times should include:

Item 35 (This is stated as an estimated time on the CMI sheet, but you will know the actual time):

Research and complete the N1 claim form (or MCOL money claim on line) including updating your schedule of charges that you previously sent to the bank including adding the interest calculation.

Research and complete the CMI sheet.

Also add research and submit an Allocation Questionnaire (if you did one).

The time that you insert should be the time that you have spent, a time that you are able to justify.

(Without wishing to sway you, 25 hours seems to have been an average sort of 'ball park' figure for anybody making a bank charges claim for the first time from what I have seen on past examples, most of which originate from the early days when there was little information to hand to help newcomers to the Mercantile. (The 25 hours also ties in with my own experience of the process).

In those early days, there was not this CMI sheet thread and there was not as much info on the 'Mercantile Court Guide' thread as there is now, i.e. claimants were 'thrown in cold' and had to do a lot more research and consequently spend a lot more time. Therefore with the enhanced information that is now available on this and other web sites it may be that newcomers don't spend as much as 25 hours these days.

Also bear in mind that if you have made more than one claim, the second claim will involve much less cost because you will not have as much research/preparation to do. You will already have the knowledge and the claim wording and the draft CMI sheet from your previous claim(s). I reckon in those circumstances on your second claim you could do everything in about 6 or 7 hours, or even less!).

Item 36 (This is only an estimate of what you anticipate is going to happen, ie it is not fact at this stage so not too critical at this stage):

I would have thought:

Attending the hearing on 28th June is going to be nearly a full day including travel. say 7hrs.

Preparing for the trial (not that it is going to happen) and submitting further documents could be say 1 or 2 days, say 2 days = 15 hours.

Attending the trial could be say 1 day including travel = 8 hours

Total 30 hours (my view only).

It will also be influenced by whether it continues as a group hearing or whether you are hived off as a single case. (Group hearings by their nature will take longer).

There could even be be a second hearing before the trial. On the other hand if yours is a small claim it could be straight to a 1 or 2 hours single trial only, and the total hours could be a lot less.

You just don't know at this stage, so the hours could be up or down. It is just an estimate.

Apd, If you are submitting a revised schedule of charges at with the CMI sheet, stick to the charges and interest only on that schedule. (Its the first I have heard of the Court asking for a revised schedule. it may be worth double checking with them). The costs are shown on the CMI sheet and no need to state them anywhere else. I do not think you need to restate the Court fee unless you are claiming the AQ fee not previously claimed.

Thank you very much for this! I was worrying so much about filling it in and you have made it much simpler.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Thank god for this......... talk about brown trousers! :o

If I received a defence from the bank would i use the example at post 1 or would I use the latest example.

my case was transferred from the county court to the mercantile court.

still very confused even after reading everything.

when's the best time to return a cmis - asap or nearer the hearing.

my hearing date is 29 august

Hi CMIsheet needs to be in 14 days before,

Regarding which one...i have used post 1..with Barclays originally, and no 8 with A&L. I have not had any issues with and i have sent. The cmisheet at post 8 is fine for you to use.

HTH Jenny

Lozza,

I suggest that you don't just opt to use the CMI sheet answers from post 1 because you have received a defence, but make sure that those example answers suit the actual defence that you have received. Don't copy the answers without understanding what they mean. They were particular to one individual claimant in answer to one particular bank's defence which may not be the same defence that your bank has given to you. Also the originator of those example answers at post 1 (not Jenny Barton) was not at the Leeds Mercantile Court and it appears that the originator was still aiming for the small claims track, which is not the case at Leeds which specifically states multi-track, not small claims track. I have already mentioned inconsistencies in the answers at post 1 when looked at in the light of the Leeds Mercantile, see earlier posts (post 13 and earlier), and that is why I gave an updated example CMI sheet at post 15.

In considering your bank's defence, you might like to consider whether there is anything in it that requires you to make a specific reply on your CMI sheet. If there is, then by all means insert an appropriate response at the relevant place on the CMI sheet.

But at Leeds, if the bank was not settling, the judge was passing them to small claims as per the cmi sheets?