Lost an employment tribunal case & have to pay £35,000

[DianaK]

I'm new here & sorry if I'm posting this in the wrong section.

 

I lost an employment tribunal case and I was ordered to pay £35,000 for an organisation and a union, I'm an individual (employee) and I do not have legal representation. In addition, I do not have the ability to pay as I have been out of job for 1.5 years and I have no assets

 

I wonder what should I do? I know that I can declare myself bankrupt but I want to avoid it if it is possible as it will have significant impact on my career.

 

I have no previous experience or knowledge of what can I do and I would really appreciate your help.

[i hate bailiffs]

There is no blood in a stone

If you don't have the money they can't have it

 

Bankrupt may be the way but you need to get advice on that

It is not as bad as it sounds to do so

[Sidewinder]

On what basis were costs awarded? Was the case without merit?

 

Care to give a few more details?

[unclebulgaria67]

I'm new here & sorry if I'm posting this in the wrong section.

 

I lost an employment tribunal case and I was ordered to pay £35,000 for an organisation and a union, I'm an individual (employee) and I do not have legal representation. In addition, I do not have the ability to pay as I have been out of job for 1.5 years and I have no assets

 

I wonder what should I do? I know that I can declare myself bankrupt but I want to avoid it if it is possible as it will have significant impact on my career.

 

I have no previous experience or knowledge of what can I do and I would really appreciate your help.

 

So why not do some form of sworn declaration of your Financial position and provide this to the people you owe the money to. Then see how they reply. It must be possible to do a statutory declaration of your financial situation. Or there is a court procedure to declare your ability to pay, where they can see that you cannot pay what has been awarded.

[DianaK]

On what basis were costs awarded? Was the case without merit?

 

Care to give a few more details?

 

The case was struck out as per article 37 of the Employment tribunal (ET) rules

 

(1) At any stage of the proceedings, either on its own initiative or on the application of a party,

a Tribunal may strike out all or part of a claim or response on any of the following grounds—

(a) that it is scandalous or vexatious or has no reasonable prospect of success;

(b) that the manner in which the proceedings have been conducted by or on behalf of the claimant or the respondent (as the case may be) has been scandalous, unreasonable or vexatious

 

The parties and the Employment Tribunal know that I can not afford to pay but the judge said that the rules say:

 

The Employment Tribunal "MAY" have regard to the paying party’s ability to pay. So he decided not to take that in consideration.

 

It is not clear from the judgement on what basis the costs were awarded

Edited November 28, 2015 by DianaK

[honeybee13]

Hi.

 

I've merged your threads on the same topic. Please continue to post on this thread.

 

HB

[citizenB]

 

How many days do I have to pay the amount in England before it get defaulted? and at what stage can they make enforcement ?

 

I am not sure about tribunals, however if this were a County Court Judgment then you would have 28 days in which to pay the judgement debt - at which point the claimant would be able to use other enforcement methods - such as attachment of earnings. However, you have the opportunity to request an instalment repayment.

 

Have you received any paperwork from the tribunal that advises how / when / where you have to make payment

[DianaK]

Thank you for your reply. No I didn't receive any paperwork from the tribunal that advises how / when / where I have to make payment. Do you have any idea how to request an instalment repayment?

[DianaK]

I'm an employee .. I lost an Employment Tribunal case and I was ordered to pay for the employer .. Can they enforce it if I submit an appeal ?

[Sidewinder]

I have merged your existing and new threads together and have moved to the Employment forum

[unclebulgaria67]

If you get your appeal registered, it should stop enforcement. But you need to act within the timescales the ET allows. It would not be wise to enter into appeal without a Solicitor who specialises in such cases.

[Derwent]

I'm an employee .. I lost an Employment Tribunal case and I was ordered to pay for the employer .. Can they enforce it if I submit an appeal ?

 

 

What is the basis of your appeal ? ET appeals are notoriously difficult as they can only be made on points of law or procedural errors. You can't appeal on the basis of "I can't afford it", you have to be able to demonstrate where the Tribunal has made an error under the law.

[DianaK]

I'm an employee .. I lost an employment tribunal case and I was ordered to pay £35,000 to the Employer & a UNION ..

 

Does anyone have a useful article, review article or a case about successful appeals in regard to costs ?

[DianaK]

I'm sorry for asking too many questions but I really need your help. I'm an employee .. I lost an employment tribunal case and I was ordered to pay £35,000 to the Employer & a union ..

 

Before the payment order get defaulted .. I was thinking of making an offer to pay £10 per a month (the maximum that I can afford) but at the same time I do not want to compromise my appeal .. or admit liability which might affect my appeal

 

Do you have a letter sample which can give me an idea .. or a paragraph that can sort this out?

[Emmzzi]

Is it necessary to start yet another thread?

[citizenB]

threads merged - DianaK, please keep all posts for this issue in the one thread please

[Emmzzi]

http://www.addleshawgoddard.com/view.asp?content_id=6832&parent_id=6819

 

http://www.employmentlawwatch.com/2014/02/articles/employment-uk/costs-in-tribunals-what-employers-should-know/

[Sidewinder]

It would also help if you could give a brief background of how this came about as per previous questions. Why did the Judge award costs against you? What warnings were given pre-trial regarding costs or the merits of the case?

 

This would give an indication of the likely success of an appeal against the award

[DianaK]

Before the payment order get defaulted .. I was thinking of making an offer to pay £10 per a month (the maximum that I can afford) but at the same time I do not want to compromise my appeal .. or admit liability which might affect my appeal

 

Do you have a letter sample which can give me an idea .. or a paragraph that can sort this out?

 

Anyone can help in the above question, please ?

[labrat]

http://www.thelawforum.co.uk/employment-tribunal-2

 

related?

[steampowered]

My understanding is that the maximum amount of costs which may be awarded by an Employment Tribunal is £20,000. Anything more than that would normally be sent to the country court for an assessment.

 

If you want more advice I think we need to know whether this happened? If so, you must have received a bill of costs? Did you contest the bill of costs, or did you end up with a default costs certificate?

 

It is absolutely possible to appeal costs orders from the employment tribunal. You should also have had an opportunity to challenge the amount of the order. But we'd need to know more details about the case. Plus you would need to remember there are strict deadlines for appealing.

[Derwent]

My understanding is that the maximum amount of costs which may be awarded by an Employment Tribunal is £20,000. Anything more than that would normally be sent to the country court for an assessment.

 

 

The £20k cap doesn't apply to wasted costs orders where the claimant has behaved vexatiously or conducted themselves inappropriately, which appears to be the case here. Under those circumstances the ET can award the whole amount of wasted costs.

[steampowered]

The £20k cap doesn't apply to wasted costs orders where the claimant has behaved vexatiously or conducted themselves inappropriately, which appears to be the case here. Under those circumstances the ET can award the whole amount of wasted costs.

 

An order made in respect of vexatious conduct against would be a preparation costs or time costs order, rather than a wasted costs order.

 

A wasted costs order can only be made against a 'representative' who must be acting 'in the pursuit of profit' - see paragraph 80 of the Employment Tribunal rules of procedure (https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/429633/employment-tribunal-procedure-rules.pdf). It is usually used against solicitors/barristers who have caused extra costs by screwing up.

 

I could be wrong, but it doesn't sound like the op was legally represented, so I'm not sure we are looking at a wasted costs here.

 

Perhaps the op could clarify the situation if he or she still needs help.

[Sidewinder]

My understanding is that the maximum amount of costs which may be awarded by an Employment Tribunal is £20,000. Anything more than that would normally be sent to the country court for an assessment.

 

My understanding was that under the 2013 changes the Employment Judge can himself make the detailed assessment without the need to refer this to the County Court?