Former Chelsea team doctor Eva Carneiro's constructive dismissal case against the club will go to a full tribunal after no settlement could be agreed at a preliminary hearing on Wednesday.
Carneiro, 42, was in attendance at the London South Employment Tribunal in Croydon which was held in private before an employment judge. She arrived with her husband and her legal team, and made no comment to the waiting members of the press as she entered the building.
Leaving court after the three-hour hearing, Mary O'Rourke QC, representing Carneiro, said no settlement had been reached and a date had been fixed for the next hearing.
Eva Carneiro arrives at Croydon tribunal court for her constructive dismissal case against #CFC pic.twitter.com/WrJNf2OU4X
- PA Dugout (@PAdugout) January 6, 2016
The hearing fixed the timetable for the case, and dealt with witness statements and disclosure of documents -- including texts and emails -- by each side, as well as any legal procedural disputes that current exist between the two parties.
A date for a full hearing has not yet been confirmed, but could be fixed for some time in June if there is not another preliminary hearing arranged before that takes place. The parties may also agree to a settlement before the case is heard.
Chelsea filed their defence in the case last month. Carneiro also has a separate personal legal action against former Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho, who left the club in December, for alleged victimisation and discrimination.
The doctor was removed from first-team duties after Mourinho criticised her and the first-team physio Jon Fearn for going onto the pitch to treat Eden Hazard on the opening day of the season.
The action meant that Chelsea were temporarily down to nine men against Swansea, and afterwards Mourinho called Carneiro and Fearn "impulsive and naive." Carneiro did not appear on the bench again for first-team duties and later parted company with the club.
Mourinho was cleared of using discriminatory language towards her following an investigation by the Football Association.
Afterwards, Carneiro and the FA's independent board member Dame Heather Rabbatts criticised the governing body for not interviewing the doctor as part of its investigation.
Carneiro has also had backing from FIFA's medical chairman Michel D'Hooghe, who contacted the doctor to offer his support and that of the world governing body. He has backed Carneiro's insistence that she was simply doing her job.