HELP!! allocation/case managment confrence hearing?

[petetheleek]

hi recieved today notice of allocation/case management confrence hearing what does this mean? any help greatly appreciated

hearing date 7/02/06

[MadMat]

What court was the Letter from?

 

Asking as if you read the general section you'll see some cases have in the past been transfered to a higher (mercantile) court.

 

Mat

[petetheleek]

its from southend county court where i applied. in the first instance the judge looked at all the cases on december the 13th then sent this its to be heard by the district judge dudley will this be it?

[e28bigalbexley]

could you please post the core of the letter her ie. District Judge Dudley ordered/requested

 

Cheers AL;)

[paddym]

Pete if you can type in the letter you received we will be at a better advantage to offer you advice !

[sausageburger]

Hi Pete and Matt, I also have allocation hearing set for 7th February at Southend! Have you had any advice yet with what this is all about and how much further we can expect to go with this (this has been ongoing for five months so far!). Perhapes we could all get together on this beforehand so we know what we are all doing? My hearing is at 12.30pm.

Anyway let me know if you have any advice.

[MadMat]

I handed my AQ into Southend court just before Xmas, and am still waiting on a date, Will let you guys know if it's the same!

 

Mat

[sausageburger]

Hi Mat,

 

Thanks for your message. I telephoned the court last Friday 5th Jan and they gave me the date over the telephone, I then received the letter Saturday. You can always try ringing the court to see if they can give you an estimate on the date or when you will hear.

Anyway when you do, let me know.

[MadMat]

Just called southend court about my case - seems my AQ is still in with the judge, but the clerk said I should expect something by the end of the week.

 

Mat

[petetheleek]

the letter states

 

Take notice that the ALLOCATION/CASE MANAGMENT CONFRENCE HEARING will take place on 7th of febuary at southend county court

 

to be heard before District judge Dudley

 

When you should attend

 

 

please note; this case may be released to another judge, possibly at a diffrent court

 

 

this is exactly what the letter says

HELP please do i have to prepare anything?

[MadMat]

I've just had a letter from the court - My Case has been stayed untill the 7th Feb, and is then to be Refered to District Judge Dudley in box work on 7th Feb.

 

Not quite sure what to make of that!

 

Mat

[e28bigalbexley]

Mat pm a mod and let them know whats happened they will guide you in the right direction.

 

AL:)

[lloopylou]

My case has been transferred to Southend to be looked at by Judge Dudley, but I don't have a date yet. This is sounding scarey......:o

 

Loopy.

[petetheleek]

can someone please help ive typed the letter out above the date is getting closer and i havent a clue what im doing

thanks

[lloopylou]

Pete, I would pm a moderator as I haven't heard of this before. I think we could all do with some guidance on this. Good luck.

 

Loopy

[petetheleek]

i telephoned barclays yesterday to confirm that a representative from barclays would attend but they cant give me a straight answer its so annoying!

[lloopylou]

I don't know if anyone has pm'd a moderator but I think I'm gonna do that now. It seems there are a few of us involved now.

 

Loopy

[pjdavies2000]

There are notes on this in the general forum about staying and about the doodaa court conference.

 

This is what I have made of it from those posts:

The DooDaa conference.

this is basically the higher judge taking a bundle of similar cases (so maybe not all the same bank) and trying to force the banks hand into turning up so a judgement can be passed in the courts. Once this is done, and they lose, then the lower judge can re-open all the stayed (suspended I suppose) cases and dismiss the defences.

 

They would want to do this because it costs them time and money, and as yet a case hasn'y made it to court - imagine their frustration as well! - so they want to push the banks into allowing a test trial to go through. Then other judges (from all over the country) can start to say 'Claimaint wins as the defence has been struck out'. Many judges seem to be of the opinion that the banks are being particularly annoying as they get to the last minute and settle, meaning wasted court time and so I would assume lots of empty voids for them, but also a backlog of cases!

 

In the DooDaa conference you will have the opportunity to put your views forward, and can lean on past cases, laws and acts as evidence - but neither is allowed a physical witness to attend. It isn't actually a hearing, but a means of trying to decide what would happen at a hearing.

 

If you have had your court claimed stayed, it is because the judge is wanting to wait on the outcome of the DooDaa conference to basically be informed as to who to find in favour of. An interesting thing that I think Bankfodder mentioned is that in the conference you can ask for the bank/s to submit standard disclosure meaning that the bank would have to explain it's charging system and costs - the thing they do not want to do!

 

from what I have read, most of the banks will submit before the hearing (knowing what could happen to them!) and so pay out as per a normal hearing date.

 

I will admit this is my own surmise of the whole doodaa conference and staying issues, so please have a read of them yourselves.

 

The main thing again is not to worry, if you go, don't rely on statements you don't understand, and be frank and honest about why you believe the charges are wrongful.

 

I would think you won't have to go - ring the bank and give them a push and a nudge...you never know!

 

Hope that helps a bit

 

Peter

[BankFodder]

First of all there is nothing to be worried about. This is not hearing. It is not a trial. It is merely a meeting to arrange the logistics of the final trial including whether there would be any witnesses if evidence will be taken and of course the judge is curious to know which banks will still be defending the case. Let me say that it is unlikely that any banks will be defending. However you must assume that the bank will be there and that you will have to argue your case when the final hearing occurs.

 

The bank may be represented at the case management conference but it is entirely possible that it will not bother to be there.

 

However you must assume that the bank will be there and it will want to represent its own interests and that it will try to introduce suggestions for the final conduct of the trial.

 

One question that you need to know is whether the court is sitting as a county court or as the mercantile court. I suggest that the court is telephoned or even written to in order to ascertain this. If the court is sitting as a mercantile court then this brings us into a completely new dimension because then you are dealing with a branch of a High Court. In that case I would recommend that you all start posting in the mercantile court Forum which is off General.

 

I would suggest that you attend the conference if you at all can. It will be useful for the experience and also to meet other people. Also very importantly I would recommend very strongly that you ask the judge to make an order for standard disclosure. If the bank is there they will try to object to this.

 

If you ask one of the mods they will tell you where we have a draft proposed directions template which has already been put forward to several judges in the country and accepted as a set of directions. It is well drafted and at the mercantile court in London, the judge even remarked that it was an extremely intelligently structured document. I suggest that you get a copy of this make sure that is adapted to your own particular needs and that you offer it to the judge as a set of proposed directions. You should do this almost at the outset of the conference. Maybe even better, you should send it to the judge with a note that you will be asking for him to adopt the proposal as a direction. You must take a separate copy to the court as well and check that he has already received it.

 

You will not need to go into the conference armed with arguments and cases and ready to make your point. This is not a trial

 

You will need to ask for standard disclosure or at least disclosure according to our proposed directions. You will need to make sure that the time limits arelong enough to give you an opportunity to consider any documents that might be revealed by the bank.

 

You also need to try and keep the cases allocated to the small claims track. So you will be arguing to the judge that the matter is uncomplicated involves no difficult or unusual question of law and that it is really just a question of fact. You will be arguing that the case has a relatively small value and that it is suitable for the small claims track. You will have to argue that on the other hand, despite it being a small claims matter, that they should be standard disclosure or something approaching standard disclosure (see our proposed directions). Point out to the judge that disclosure orders have been made against banks around the country even though cases have been allocated to small claims tracks.

It will help you to go to our litigation concluded section and to make a complete listing on spreadsheet of or league claims which have been settled giving defendant bank, claim number, amount settled,. This should impress upon the judge -- in case he is not already aware of it -- the abusive nature of the bank's litigation technique. This will also be a good argument to support your application for disclosure.

 

Finally if you look in the Lloyd's Forum you will notice that a judge in Lincoln has now started making orders threatening to strike out defences because he believes that the banks are simply litigating in an abusive fashion.

 

Get hold of a copy of this order, turn it into a proposed direction and offer that also to the judge in Southend.

 

If you can come after the hearing with the order for disclosure and an order threatening striking out of defence for abusive litigation then you will have done extremely well and I think that both of these orders are within your grasp if you want.

 

A final suggestion is that you should start posting around the Forum and fined up who else is involved in this south end hearing.

If anybody can compile a list of users for me together with the banks that they are suing, I would be very grateful. I'm sure that we can find a good use for it.

 

If anyone goes to the conference in Southend, I would be very grateful if you could get the contact details of any other litigants there including their userid if they belong to The Consumer Action Group. If they are not one of our group then I would recommend that you suggest to them that they register with us immediately.

[lloopylou]

Well guys, I'm glad I pm'd Bankfodder now. It has certainly put my mind at rest. I already enclosed a disclosure request with my AQ, so just have to wait to see if I have one of these conference hearings or whether the Judge will just give direction. Its getting very interesting. I'm not as worried as I was before. How about you other guys who are at southend on the 7th? If mines on a different day I'd be willing to accompany someone who needs a bit of moral support if its needed. It would be interesting to see what happens.

 

Loopy.

[petetheleek]

hi as you all no i am at southend on the 7th at 11.00am and having read all the replies you have kindly left i am poooping myself have never done anything like this before and havent a clue how to go about it!

help help help:o

thanks

clare

[lloopylou]

I think your nerves are getting the better of you.....you poor thing. Print off what Bankfodder has posted and read it through several times until you understand it. From what I can make out, from the several times I've read it, you won't have to do much. Just follow his direction and I don't think you can go far wrong. You have 3 and a half weeks so get reading.......x

 

 

Loopy

[petetheleek]

thanks so much for your kind words i need all the ecouragment hopefully there will be a lot of us there soi can get chatting to them too

[sausageburger]

Hi Petetheleek, I am with you at Southend on this date if you wish to discuss with me on the phone i think we could probably support each other as i am c**ping myself too. if not i will see you down there! anyway let me know!

[lloopylou]

I, too, am there on the 7th feb. I haven't been told a time. Just that it is being dealt with in the boxwork for Judge Dudley. I'm assuming that as I enclosed a disclosure thingy that its just gonna be for direction in my absence. But I'm coming anyway to support you guys. Will post a bit closer to the time and maybe we could set up a meeting point.

 

Loopy