scott schedule? small claims court

[ScarletA]

My friend (plumber/builder) is being taken to court by (now ex) friends who he helped to do their bathroom. It is a long and sorry story which I will attempt to summarise briefly.

Plumber (let's call him P) undertook job for £1000 (original quote £2500) because friend (let's call him A) couldn't afford proper price and said he would assist in job to bring costs down. P is very kind, generous person and agreed to do it as at the time, they were fairly close family friends.

P did the work in any spare time he could manage (had other properly paid jobs on at the same time) and after 3 weeks A got fed up and kicked P off the job. A said it was because P's work was terrible, P said it was because he didn't want/couldn't afford to pay.

Horrible horrible horribleness ensued and it ended up in small claims. Now judge is saying that A needs to fill in a scott schedule which P will need to respond to. P's wife is worried that doing this will prejudice their case - which is that P was helping A to do the job, and not working on his own as A now is claiming.

There is A LOT of very personal stuff all tied into this case (intimate knowledge by P of shocking things in A's marriage for eg) and nasty nasty correspondence by A to P (text, email, letter).

What I am saying is that it isn't an ordinary 'builder does bad job' case. Does anyone out there know whether this scott schedule is a good idea or should P object?

From HM Court Service:

5.6 Scott Schedules

5.6.1 It can sometimes be appropriate for elements of the claim, or any Part 20 claim, to be set out by way of a Scott Schedule. For example, claims involving a final account or numerous alleged defects or items of disrepair, may be best formulated in this way, which then allows for a detailed response from the defendant. Sometimes, even where all the damage has been caused by one event, such as a fire, it can be helpful for the individual items of loss and damage to be set out in a Scott Schedule. The secret of an effective Scott Schedule lies in the information that is to be provided. This is defined by the column headings. The judge may give directions for the relevant column headings for any Schedule ordered by the court. It is important that the defendant?s responses to any such Schedule are as detailed as possible. Each party?s entries on a Scott Schedule should be supported by a statement of truth.

5.6.2 Nevertheless, before any order is made or agreement is reached for the preparation of a Scott Schedule, both the parties and the court should consider whether this course (a) will genuinely lead to a saving of cost and time or (b) will lead to a wastage of costs and effort (because the Scott Schedule will simply duplicating earlier schedules, pleadings or expert reports). A Scott Schedule should only be ordered by the court, or agreed by the parties, in those cases where it is appropriate and proportionate.

5.6.3 When a Scott Schedule is ordered by the court or agreed by the parties, the format must always be specified. The parties must co-operate in the physical task of preparation. Electronic transfer between the parties of their respective entries in the columns will enable a clear and user-friendly Scott Schedule to be prepared, for the benefit of all involved in the trial.

Sounds like the judge wants more information from both parties, so not a bad thing. But I'm no expert.

thank you very much for your info - will pass it on to my friend.

My friend thinks it will prejudice their case and has asked that there NOT be a scott schedule...

Not sure what the judge will do now.