WHEN A LITIGANT DOES NOT HAVE A COMPUTER AT COURT: WHAT IS THE PRACTICAL RESPONSE?
In BM Electrical Solutions Ltd & Anor v Belcher [2020] EWHC 2749 (Ch) a very practical problem occurred. The court held a “hybrid” hearing, a litigant appeared in person. The litigant in person did not have a laptop with them. This is an issue that may need to be addressed a lot. Applicants may need to be sure that respondent litigants in person have a bundle. The “low-fi” option of simply printing a bundle out and sending it to the respondent in good time may be a more pragmatic way of dealing with this issue in place of attempting to find the litigant a computer to use in court.
“In the future, care will need to be taken that when one of the parties is appearing in person, he or she is advised by the represented party before coming to court of the need to have a laptop with him or her at court and in the event that is not possible that arrangements are made for access to a laptop for his or her use.”
THE CASE
The judge was hearing an application brought by administrators. The applicants appeared remotely, the respondent appeared in person. A solution was found.
The courts can’t provide deputies with lap tops and even where they do the technology si not up to date and we don’t get passwords to log into the main system – we are however told we can’t work at home because our home systems are not regarded as secure but are asked to bring our own laptops to court (I don’t have a laptop) so we also end up borrowing from ushers or court staff.