Do not appear and are not represented For the v Laine Pub Company Ltd and and 1 other — 2020

At the hearing on 28 January 2020, Employment Judge Pearl dealt with seven individual claims against Laine Pub Company Ltd and a separate proceeding involving Clounaduff Limited. The Claimants had not complied with earlier directions, had not exchanged documents or witness statements, and did not attend the hearing after emailing that they had lost legal representation. The tribunal recorded that the Claimants had been warned by Employment Judge Segal QC that failure to disclose documents, exchange witness statements, or attend could lead to strike out and costs consequences.

The judge held that the strike out application succeeded because the proceedings had been conducted unreasonably, there had been non-compliance with orders, the claims were not being actively pursued in any realistic manner, and the Claimants did not attend the hearing. The result was that all the individual claims against Laine Pub Company Ltd were struck out.

On costs, Laine Pub Company Ltd produced a schedule of £4,690.50 exclusive of VAT. The tribunal reduced that figure to £4,000 exclusive of VAT and ordered the seven individual Claimants to pay that amount. The separate claim involving Clounaduff Limited was not finally determined at that stage; the tribunal made no order on it and directed that by 28 April 2020 Laine Pub Company Ltd was to say whether it agreed to dismissal of that claim, or otherwise explain why it wished it to proceed.