CG vs Citi - Mercantile Court

[marcopolo]

I thought that I would start a new thread as my case has now been transferred to the Mercantile Court in London. I am just in the process of writing to the Court to request a case management conference as I am required to do. Will keep you posted and updated

[zootscoot]

Best of luck Marcopolo!

There will be many wishing you well for this one.

All the best

Zoot

[marcopolo]

Here is a letter which I have drafted and sent to the Mercantile Court to expedite my Case Management conference, hope it may be of help to others

I am writing as required to apply for a case management conference in relation to my case. I would respectfully ask the court to note that I am a litigant in person and have limited knowledge of the procedural rules and requirements. I have obtained a copy of “the Admiralty and Commercial Courts Guide” which I am using to inform me of the relevant processes. I would request that it be so ordered that the Defendant in this case, being a large multinational organisation with access to substantial legal resources, draw up the required memorandum. With this in mind I would also request that the Court so orders that in this case the bundle be drawn up by the solicitor’s for the Defendants.

I would kindly request that the court please forward any correspondence from the Defendant which it receives in relation to my case. Additionally I would request that standard disclosure be ordered in this case in particular the actual costs of the Defendant in managing the penalty charges in question. I would also bring to the courts attention that the defendant is routinely asking for their evidence to be received secretly and in private. They have done this in over a dozen cases of which I am aware although I know of only one case so far where this was granted. I am concerned that they will request the same at the mercantile court.

If this is the case then I wish respectfully to make my objections known now:
If the Defendants ask that their evidence be received in secret without any opportunity for myself or any other person to have an opportunity to examine it in advance of the hearing. Furthermore I understand that it would not be possible to carry out any cross-examination in respect of that evidence and that I would have no opportunity to have the evidence scrutinised by my own expert or an independent expert, despite the fact that the defendant's evidence is likely to be of a technical nature.

I wish to object to the defendant’s request if so made. It cannot be in the interests of the Overriding Objective to allow secret evidence to be taken. Furthermore the question we are deciding is the lawfulness of the defendant's penalty charge system. The defendant claims that their evidence is" commercially sensitive". However the question of the defendant's penalty charge regime does not refer to their core business. This is confirmed in the report of the Office of Fair Trading's report to which the defendant often refers in their defences. Whilst it could well be the case that information relating to the defendants core business could indeed be commercially sensitive, the question of penalty charges relates to an incidental aspect of the defendant's business -- and which if the defendant is to be believed, produces no profit at all as according to the defendant, their penalty charges merely cover their administrative costs. It is also true to say that the defendant has in the past claimed that their costs are merely in line with those of other similar organisations. Clearly then, the defendant's penalty charge regime is not a competitive matter, according to the defendant it brings them no profit and therefore there can be no grounds for saying that the information is commercially sensitive.

Can I please request that the following dates be avoided for any proposed Case Management conference:

I am grateful to the Court for their patience and indulgence in view of my status as litigant in person. Thank you for your time and assistance.

[zootscoot]

Hi Marcopolo,

A good letter apart from the part about court bundle. You are required to do your own bundle. See here for guidance:

http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk...rt-bundle.html

Have you been in touch with Bankfodder yet?

[pj41]

Hi Marcopolo,

Good luck and keep us posted.


Cheers

Pj41

[marcopolo]

My letter to the CMC, copied to David Travis was sent a week ago, still no word from either court or Citi? BF is this normal. What else apart from reading threads and the CMC rules should I be doing to prepare?

[marcopolo]

Sorry Zoot, been reallybusy so have not answered yes took some advice from BF. Just a waiting game I guess

[marcopolo]

Have now had a date through 5th of December 2006 at the London Mercantile Court.

[gizmo111]

Is this a full hearing marco?

[marcopolo]

Listed as 30 minute small claims hearing, I am assuming it is a case management conference.

[marcopolo]

Well Citi have not replied to my last letter to attempt to agree directions so looks like the case management hearing will be going ahead on Tuesday.

[marcopolo]

Spoke with the court today and it is just me and Citi only for directions, the hearing is in Court 1 and scheduled to last 30 mins at 10:30am

[mcuth]

Good luck for tomorrow then - will look forward to your update!

Cheers

Michael

[zootscoot]

Best of luck marco!

[marcopolo]

Update, had my Case Management Conference today in front of His Honour Judge Mackie QC, (very pleaseant man). Citi did not turn up!!! The judge appeared less than impressed with this and even asked for their telephone number not sure if he was going to call them or not. The judge made a directions order which I am quite happy with and I will be sending this off to Citi today, do not want to put the full details on here as this would not be fair to Citi. No trialbefore Christmas though

[mcuth]

Originally Posted by marcopolo

Update, had my Case Management Conference today in front of His Honour Judge Mackie QC, (very pleaseant man). Citi did not turn up!!! The judge appeared less than impressed with this and even asked for their telephone number not sure if he was going to call them or not. The judge made a directions order which I am quite happy with and I will be sending this off to Citi today, do not want to put the full details on here as this would not be fair to Citi. No trialbefore Christmas though

Sounds promising marcopolo, specially if you're happy with it.
Keep us updated (def. when you post the directions )

Cheers

Michael

[TideTurner]

Good luck marcopolo, is there not a time schedule which must be adhered to in this Court as in a multi track etc?

[marcopolo]

This has been listed as a small claim, however some of the rules are different, for example I have had to serve on City the directions. If you see below the full directions are detailed as showing them now has no bearing on Citi as Brian should has received his copy today (wave eveyone)

The directions are as follows:-
IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUSTICE
QUEENS BENCH DIVISION
THE LONDON MERCANTILE COURT
HIS HONOUR JUDGE MACKIE QC
Between

Claimant

- and -

Citi Cards Citi Financial Europe Plc

Defendant

ORDER

1. The Claimants “Statement of claim” will be treated as the Reply and be served on the Defendant within 7 days.

2. The Defendant will provide copies of the terms and conditions referred to in the Defence to the Claimant within 14 days

3. The Defendant will within 28 days of this order file and serve a response to the Claimants schedule dated the 20th of September 2006 stating in respect of each item claimed;
a. Pursuant to what contractual provision such charge was made
b. If such charge is alleged to be a pre-estimate of the Defendants loss incurred by the Claimants actions, all facts and matters intended to be relied upon as showing such proper estimate of such loss.

4. The Claimant having indicated that he will be the only witness at trial the Defendant will within 28 days notify the Claimant of the number and names of any witnesses it proposes to call.

5. Each party shall at least 21 days before the date fixed for trial serve on the other copies of all further documents on which they propose to rely and short witness statements form those to be called as witnesses

6. The Defendant is to prepare a trial bundle for use at the hearing (and may, should it succeed in the action, apply for the cost of so doing).

7. The Parties are to apply for the Commercial Court Listing for a half day trial date, such application to be made not less than 35 days and not more than 49 days from the date of this order.

Dated 5 December 2006

I would be interested in any comments, especially those form our friendly legal eagles on the contents. If they are legal comments please PM them to me so that Citi is not pre warned.

Cheers

[veb13274]

Originally Posted by mcuth

Sounds promising marcopolo, specially if you're happy with it.
Keep us updated (def. when you post the directions )

Cheers

Michael

This is the first time I have tried to reply. Wonder if you will get this.
Anyway I have just received a letter from my local court that: upon the judge considering the allocation it is ordered tht the claim be transferred to the Admiralty & Commercial Registry, Royal Court of Justice, Strand.
There is no date so I guess this comes later. I have contacted my court to find out why it is being transferred. I don't want to go up there! ~Should I write the court and send a similar copy of yours? I am lost at the moment. Don't know why it has been transferred.

[Calculator]

Veb,

Suggest you look at the threads 'Mercantile Hearing 20th Feb' and 'Vs Barclays in the Mercantile'. You should find them interesting and informative in relation to your case.