THE INDUSTRIAL TRIBUNALS

CASE REF:	353/05

CLAIMANT:		Toni Taber

RESPONDENT:		Barry Mark

DECISION ON A PRE-HEARING REVIEW

Constitution of Tribunal:
Chairman (sitting alone):		Ms J Knight

Appearances:
The claimant was represented by Ms K Lamont.
The respondent did not appear and was not represented.

1.	The pre-hearing review was arranged to deal with the respondent’s application to strike out the claimant’s claim due to her failure to comply with the Orders for Additional Information and Discovery made by the tribunal on 10 October 2005.

2.	The respondent did not appear at the pre-hearing review to pursue the                     strike out application.  Nevertheless, it appeared to the Chairman from correspondence from the respondent’s solicitors, and Ms Lamont conceded, that the claimant had not complied with the Orders some six months after they had been made.

3.	The Chairman was satisfied that both parties had been notified of the date of the       pre-hearing review and not having received any communication from the respondent’s solicitors as to the reason for their non-appearance, decided to deal with the application to strike out in the absence of the respondent.

4.	Having heard the representations of Ms Lamont, the Chairman decided to make an Order pursuant to Rule 13(2) of the Industrial Tribunals (Constitution and Rules of Procedure) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2005 that unless the Orders are complied with by 12 May 2006 the claimant’s claim shall be struck out without further consideration of the proceedings, or the need to give Notice under Rule 19 or to hold a further pre-hearing review or hearing under Rule 26.

5.	The Chairman explained to Ms Lamont the consequences of not complying with the ‘Unless Order’ and directed that copies of the claimant’s responses to the Orders should be sent to the Office of the Tribunals by 12 May 2006.

Chairman:

Date and place of hearing:		27 April 2006, Belfast

Date decision recorded in register and issued to parties: