Suspending Accounts

Summary

When suspending accounts on the platform there are some restrictions to consider before proceeding to action or diairse requests. 

Minimum Number of Users

Unless otherwise agreed upon, we require a minimum of two unique users per party and at least one user per party workspace to maintain the workspace(s) for a party on a matter - we cannot host a workspace with no users. If for example a party has their main workspace and an Expert workspace, they are permitted to retain one user per workspace, provided these are two different users (therefore maintaining at least one user on the workspace and at least two users in total across their party-specific workspaces). One exception to this is Litigant In Person workspaces, where it is normally agreed from the outset that they only require one user. Similarly, for Judge / Tribunal workspaces, we only require a minimum of one active user. 

If a party asks us to suspend all users on their workspace, we would need to confirm that we are unable to suspend all users without also being instructed to Archive, Deactivate or Delete the workspace - which of these options are relevant can normally be found in the most recent PTOs circulated on the matter in Case Control and these can be attached in our response. We can always be instructed to Delete a workspace at any stage in the instruction, but workspaces can only be Deactivated when the party is on reduced access rates (more than 8 weeks before the main hearing) and likewise can only be Archived if access is no longer on reduced rates. 

If a party asks us to suspend all users except for one, we need to reply and confirm that we require a minimum of two users and as such can they please confirm the other account that should remain active, noting that all accounts will remain active and chargeable until we receive the necessary instruction.

A Litigant in Person (LIP) is an individual or organisation that navigates court or tribunal proceedings without formal legal representation

Instructing Party

In general, only the party responsible for a workspace should send instructions to suspend user accounts. With Litigants in Person for example, it is usually the case that one or more of the other parties are responsible for their access fees so instructions would need to come from the relevant party / parties. On some matters, one party is wholly responsible for access fees for other parties on the matter - in these instances the instructions should only come from the paying party and would conventionally copy the non-paying parties for oversight. 

Judge/Tribunal Workspaces

Any instructions relating to the suspending of users on the Judge / Tribunal workspaces, or the deletion of these workspaces, must copy all paying parties for us to be able to proceed. We cannot take unilateral instruction from one party on a multi-party matter in respect fo the Judge / Tribunal workspaces. 

Multiple Workspaces

It is fairly common for parties to have ownership of more than one workspace on the platform (for examples Client, Expert, or Witness workspaces) and we need to consider this when receiving instructions for account suspension. As above, we need to ensure that each workspace maintains a minimum of one active user and each party maintains a minimum of two active users - if the party just has one workspace, this equates to a minimum of two active users on the one workspace, if they have multiple workspaces this means we require at least one user per workspace and at least two unique users across all their party-specific workspaces.

If we are instructed to suspend (or diairse to suspend) all accounts except for User A and User B where both users have access to one workspace and the party has more than one workspace, we need to confirm if the additional workspace(s) should be deleted. If this is the case, the below response can be sent, amending the red text accordingly, and we take no further action (it terms of suspension or diarising suspension) until we receive a reponse:

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