Conversation between myself and Charles Goldthorpe at Chiltern Solicitor's office *add date*
Please see the bottom of this section for an interpretation of this conversation.
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Alex However. This isn't the main concern.
Please see the bottom of this section for an interpretation of this conversation.
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Alex However. This isn't the main concern.
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Charles Goldthorpe Right.
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Alex Right. [clears throat] Sorry,
let me just gather myself.
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Charles Goldthorpe No that's ok, no problem.
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Alex Um...
Right ok. Alright. So what did happen and what went fine really... was that Peter
went to Court and asked an extension of time, because when we all sat down and
discussed it, he said "ok, this is a negligence case really, it's not
really..."
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Charles Goldthorpe That's my view right from the start, as you know.
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Alex Yeah.
Exactly, yeah. And so fair enough try to get an extension to get that added to
the case and then so say time had been extended, I take it... I don't want to
put words into your mouth, and tell me if I am wrong, I take it if an extension
had been given...
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Charles Goldthorpe The Trial would have been adjourned.
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Alex Yeah it
would be adjourned and then between
yourselves and Peter you would produce a document that would prove that the
case was out of time.
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Charles Goldthorpe What we would have done is we would... the case would have been adjourned, we would be
given a certain amount of time to prepare what they call an Amended Particulars
of Claim, that's where the initial claim
form - so you can amend that to add to that the Claim for negligence. They would then get the time to file a
Defence...
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Alex Yeah.
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Charles Goldthorpe There may be other directions [0:16:44.2] ... necessary
and then it would go back to Trial.
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Alex Yeah. So
the ultimate document that would have been produced would have been an analysis
of the time limit?
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Charles Goldthorpe It would be an analysis of why they missed it. Because they have missed it.
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Alex Yeah. So
it would have been a document that said ... you were contacted on such and such
a day...
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Charles Goldthorpe You were contacted on such and such a day... you did
this, that and the other... you didn't advise that the time limit was up, you missed it and
therefore you're negligent because you [0:17:19.3]
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Alex Yeah
exactly. And it would have also said... it would have covered the continuing act
for when the time limit started stopped.
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Charles Goldthorpe Yes. What we would have to have done is come back to
another conference and gone through it with you to make sure we have got the
dates and times and everything right in the documents. What got done would have been an amended
draft document, sent it to you, have a chance to look at it, then we would have
the meeting, discuss it, go through it, tidy it up, put it right. Alright,
that's how it would work.
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Alex Yeah.
Can I ask you a hypothetical question now?
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Charles Goldthorpe You can ask me a hypothetical question I will give you a hypothetical answer.
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Alex Yeah...
if I had submitted such a document to the Court and the other side had known
that the document had been submitted and not submitted any Defence of it, and
if you consider on the day the Judge was not prepared to adjourn the Hearing so
it would be a reasonably likely outcome that the Judge would have cited no
contest because the other side had not submitted a Defence...
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Charles Goldthorpe Possibly. It's in the power of the Judge.
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Alex Yeah but
... more likely because the Judge has already said he is not prepared to
adjourn... yeah.
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Charles Goldthorpe If it had gone ahead, and that document had been there
and there had been no Defence to that actually, then they would have been
unable to put forward any evidence to counter to.
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Alex Yeah.
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Charles Goldthorpe It wouldn't be automatic but... as good as.
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Alex Well..
here is that document.
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Charles Goldthorpe Alright. I've
seen this though haven’t I?
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Alex No.
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Charles Goldthorpe Have I not? No. I shan't sit down and read it now
because...
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Alex That's
fine. It is basically...
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Charles Goldthorpe [0:19:25.8] you've got it...
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Alex That is
basically the document that they are talking about. That is proof of the time
limit. And the reason that this was not in the bundle, was because... and this
is in the communication I sent you... the Defendant wasn't allowing it to go
into the bundle. They disputed...
...
Alex Yeah.
Well my argument here is that there is three opportunities - at least three, I
need to check everything I've got - there is three opportunities that this
should have come up and it should have been discussed at the beginning of the
case. And also, what's important about this is the other side knew that you
were asking for an extension of time. They knew that you didn't know about this
document or this document wasn't being dealt with. So they had no fear of...
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Charles Goldthorpe They had no fear of it because they knew we didn't know
about it... right.
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Alex Yeah. So
and this would have come up, if the case had been discussed in any detail. It's
also in the inter-party documents and I mentioned it on the day to Peter as
well. And it's mentioned in Court. So this is ...
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Charles Goldthorpe [mumbling] sorry, I am talking to myself...
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Alex That's
ok.
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Charles Goldthorpe [speaking quietly] Right.
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Alex So if
this document...[static] no, nothing at all... so my belief is that if this
document had been dealt with as it should have been, then the case would have
had a very different outcome. There would have been no need for an application
for an adjournment because we would argue that something that was already
there.
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Charles Goldthorpe Not necessarily the case. The judge could have still
ignored it even if it was in the bundle.
...
Charles Goldthorpe Peter knew about
it or if he didn't know about it, he should have done.
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Alex Yeah. So
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Charles Goldthorpe I understand that
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Alex So this
is the reason that I am not happy. And the reason this comes about is because
there is a total lack of preparation for the case. And that's why on the day
the case went incredibly bad, I can I explain to you why...
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Charles Goldthorpe Yeah ok.
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