Small claims final hearing and defendant's lawyer's demands

[HeyPesto55]

Does anyone know whether a lawyer can submit a bundle of documentation to the court a day before the hearing?

I have a small claims hearing next Tuesday and the lawyer is claiming they will serve a bundle to me and the court on Monday. I am going away so won't have any time to review it.

Seems a bit unfair?

A bundle is simply all the pleadings, statements and previously disclosed evidence in paginated form. Nothing to worry about.

Ah ok, I'm just a bit concerned that they will reorder everything in a way that makes it clearer for their argument and puts me at a disadvantage if I haven't had a chance to review it. Maybe I'm just being a bit cynical.

Thanks for responding though, Collaborate. It's clear I'm nervous! I just don't understand why you decide to do that the day before. We've known about the date for 6 months.

Check the Court Order listing the matter for the SCT Hearing. That will tell you when all documents must be filed/served by and what the sanction is if not. Have you lodged/served your documents?

We have. This is the final hearing so all documents served. And there are quite a few of them. The other party's solicitor contacted me to say the judge had not allowed enough time and they felt the case was likely to be adjourned. So they were sending in a bundle.

Clearly I have no idea what that is so I was worried that it would be a summary document and I would need to review it before hand. And I wouldn't have enough time to.

A case summary is very brief so would only take 10 mins to read and check. It basically sets out your position, their position and areas of agreement /dispute. The Hearing Bundle is usually prepared by the Claimant, are you a litigant in person? How much time had been allowed? It's usually 2 hours, is that not enough?

Thanks for the reply. I'm the claimant and so it's the defendant preparing the bundle in this case. Had no idea I was supposed to do this. I feel like maybe I should have for myself a solicitor but thought the whole point of small claims was that you didn't ned one

We've been allotted 1.5 hours. We had a interim hearing bout once part of the case that he didn't turn up to. So I wonder if that's why it's slightly shorter?

How does it work if you run over? Or do you have to stick to time?

I too thought the whole point of small claimes was to sort the dispute out simply and without ending up thousands in debt to the legal profession ?
I was assured legal representation wasn't needed when I took someone to the Small Claims Court many years ago.

Yes, me too Backforgood. Though when I turned up to the interim hearing they asked if I had representation and looked surprised when I said no. But I suppose they must be seeing all manner of cases.

I'm so nervous about it! The solicitor that mailed me was pretty harsh so I'm expecting a bit of a hard time... oh well, it's an experience I guess.

Court bundles are very common and will follow a set pattern of how they are laid out. Basically it’s all the documents indexed.

As Quartz says above, bundles are very common.
They are basically copies of the documents that they will refer to in court. You, as applicant will have one, as will the judge. It means that everyone can turn, for example, to page 12 and all look at the same document that is being discussed for ease and clarity.

Don't be put off, or allow the other side to swamp you with legal jargon. Have copies of any documentation you wish to refer to and the clerk of the court can always pass these copies to the Judge if he requires it.

Thanks, Claudia. I hope I'll be ok once I get there and get started.

Thanks everyone for putting my mind at rest about the bundle. I see now that it's nothing to be worried about so feel a bit more relieved.

Fingers crossed for tomorrow!

How did you get on?

Adjourned! So annoying. Not enough time allocated apparently