Mr P Simon v Integrity Property Management Limited (In Administration) — 2019

The tribunal had stayed the proceedings in June 2018 because the respondent was about to enter administration, and the respondent went into administration on 17 July 2018. An extension to allow the claimant to seek permission from the administrator to proceed was granted on 11 August 2018. The tribunal later sought an update, issued a strike-out warning, and then maintained a stay until 5 July 2019 after the claimant asked for the stay to remain in place until the administration ended.

In July 2019 the respondent's solicitors said the administration had been extended to July 2020 and sought a further stay, but the tribunal did not approve that request. The tribunal said a further 12-month stay did not appear to accord with the overriding objective because it would involve delay, and it noted that the events relied on by the claimant dated back to 2016, making a fair trial increasingly unlikely the longer the case remained unresolved.

On 6 September 2019 the tribunal asked the claimant whether he intended to seek consent from the administrator to proceed and, if refused, to apply to court for permission. He did not reply, and a reminder sent on 5 October 2019 also received no response. By letter dated 23 October 2019, the tribunal gave him an opportunity to make representations or request a hearing about strike out, but he did not object. The tribunal therefore struck out the claim because it had not been actively pursued since the stay ended in July 2019.