Lord Justice Hodge
Lord Justice Hodge tells disability charity and the technology firm This-Tel to return in six weeks
The next stage of the £430,000 claim by the small technology firm This-Tel against the charity Leonard Cheshire Disability will be heard in six weeks’ time.
At a hearing yesterday at the Court of Session, the supreme civil court in Scotland, Lord Justice Hodge said the two parties should return in six weeks’ time – either for a proof-before-answer hearing, where he would hear evidence on the facts before determining the questions of law, or a trial.
The company is suing the charity for more than £430,000 in a dispute over payment for the provision of digital pens, which allow data to be entered automatically into a database.
Steve Forsyth, managing director of This-Tel, said the company had offered six mediation dates to Leonard Cheshire since December but the offers had been "dismissed out of hand by LCD while simultaneously claiming willingness to settle".
Forsyth said: "I would therefore like to publicly extend that opportunity again directly to their chairman, Mr Ilyas Khan, and the trustees of Leonard Cheshire Disability to meet with us in Edinburgh and amicably resolve this simple issue."
A spokeswoman for the charity said: "Any suggestion that we have repeatedly refused offers of mediation is categorically untrue. We remain committed to resolving this contractual dispute as soon as, and as fairly as, possible. Our offer to enter into mediation on a mutually convenient date remains open."
