Mr J Ross v Fife Resource Solutions — 2022

This was a decision made on the papers. The respondent applied on 5 August 2022 to strike out the claim on two grounds: that it was not being actively pursued and that the claimant had not complied with case management orders. The Tribunal gave the claimant an opportunity to respond by 12 August 2022 and suggested that he seek independent advice, but he did not respond.

The Tribunal recorded that the claimant was a party litigant and had referred to mental health difficulties, but he had not complied with a number of case management orders. In particular, he had not given the respondent fair notice of the case he intended to make or the compensation sought, which meant the respondent could not properly prepare for the final hearing and was prejudiced as a result. The claimant had been given more than one opportunity to address these issues, including orders made on 27 June 2022 and 28 July 2022, but he did not comply or correspond with the Tribunal or the respondent's solicitor about them.

Applying Rule 37 and the overriding objective, and referring to the two-stage approach in HM Prison Service v Dolby and Hassan v Tesco Stores Ltd, the Tribunal concluded that the grounds for strike out were made out and that it was appropriate in its discretion to strike out the claim. The judgment therefore ended the proceedings without any determination of the merits and without any monetary award.