Mr S Davis v Helen Geldard Heard by CVP at: Newcastle upon Tyne — 2021

This was a remote CVP hearing before Employment Judge O'Dempsey on 14 January 2021, with reasons authorised on 15 January 2021. The judgment records that the claimant's claim had already been struck out for failure actively to pursue the case and for breach of the tribunal's 4 December 2019 order requiring witness statements, including his own. The judge accepted the claimant's explanation that he misunderstood that order and did not rely on that misunderstanding as the basis for the costs order.

Applying rule 76, the tribunal distinguished between the claimant's conduct before and after April 2020, when his solicitors ceased to represent him. The judge found that the claimant's conduct before April was not unreasonable, but after that date he failed to engage with the proceedings, did not respond to tribunal correspondence and warnings, and had no explanation for that failure. That post-April conduct was held to be unreasonable.

On quantum, the tribunal considered proportionality and the claimant's means, noting that he had about £150 disposable income per month and appeared to rent his accommodation. The respondent had claimed around £10,000 in costs, including the hearing day, but the judge considered a full award disproportionate and ordered the claimant to pay £1,000 by way of costs. The respondent's costs application was therefore only partially successful.