Turn repeated delays into a documented procedural question for your lawyer.
Corporate Recovery Partners
01 / 06
Every promised response arrives late
A subcontractor’s claim has stalled through repeated requests for more time. Each delay pushes the expected recovery further away, while the business continues paying legal bills. The owner suspects a tactic but cannot distinguish ordinary case management from a failure that the court can address.
List the required step, original date, extension requested, reason given and actual response. Attach the relevant correspondence or order rather than relying on recollection.
Separate deadlines imposed by the court from dates suggested during negotiation. Their significance may differ, and an accurate chronology helps your lawyer identify the real procedural issue.
Request advice about the applicable rules, orders and evidence needed for any response to delay. Do not assume a missed date automatically wins the case or cancels the opponent’s claim.
Ask what the proposed step would cost and what it could realistically achieve. A procedural application can create further expense without immediately producing payment.
Update the expected timing of recovery and the cash committed to proceedings. Business.gov.au identifies the time, expense and uncertain outcome of court action as factors businesses should consider.
Keep the disputed recovery out of money needed for fixed commitments until there is a reliable basis for expecting it. Consider whether the extended timetable changes the commercial value of settlement.
Through the appropriate adviser, ask which specific information or decision is preventing progress. A targeted document exchange may be more useful than another broad promise to respond.
Where suitable, discuss mediation or a confined settlement issue. Government guidance recognises that ADR remains available during court proceedings; it does not require pretending the delays were acceptable. Record the financial effect of each revised timetable, including additional adviser work.
Give your lawyer the date-by-date record and ask for a recommendation addressing both procedure and cost.
Agree a review point for the next response or application. Update the recovery forecast when the timetable changes, instead of carrying the original expected date forward.
Call CRP today about debt recovery and coordinating the appropriate professional support.
