HELP! CEL County Court Business Centre Claim (x2)

Johnersh - if a PPC says 'POC to follow', should the D even do the AOS?

@couponmad Correct, there is no need to do an AOS if you haven't received full Particulars.

Here an AOS has been served so we'll work with that. On my analysis it doesn't change the fact that the CPR rules state clearly that 14 days for preparation of the defence runs from service of particulars and those on the claim form are insufficient to form the basis of a claim.

In some cases it is critical no AOS is served (for example if proceedings are served to the wrong address). Hence there is a slight need for caution before advising the AOS should be routinely filed in all cases.

This may work for inclusion in the updated newbies section. Very much a first draft. I may edit/tweak and I'm open to suggestions....

SERVICE OF THE PARTICULARS OF CLAIM
There are twomethods by which Particulars of Claim (the details of what the claim is about) may be served upon you as the Defendant.

Your timescales for preparing a defence will vary in accordance with which approach the claimant has adopted, so read the documents that you have received carefully.

Option A - Particulars set out on Claim Form
With this option all of the details of the claim are set out on the claim form itself (however scant). There is a character limit of approximately 1000 letters, so don't expect detail. All of the details will have been completed by the claimant online and the documents dispatched by the county court bulk claims centre in Northampton. You can double check that this option applies to you by reading the last sentence. At no point should it refer to further particulars being sent by post.

If this applies your timescales are:
(1) count 5 days from the date on the claim form (this is your "service date")
(2) add 14 days if you have completed and returned the Acknowledgement of Service form
(3) add a further 14 days for the defence. Thus the maximum time is just over a complete calendar month.

Option B: Particulars to follow
This option applies where the Claimant wishes to provide more detail. This is increasingly common following recent changes to the pre-action protocols that apply to debt claims.

In this scenario you will have received the claim form in the usual way. The particulars may state a date and amount of claim, but the documentation will be automatically endorsed with the words"I will serve additional Particulars of Claim within 14 days"

If that wording appears, you should wait. You are not required to respond to incomplete documents. No time limits apply until you receive complete Particulars of Claim.

These will be sent by the claimants Solicitor not the court. The deemed date of service is the second business day after posting, so check for the date on the covering letter. If there is any doubt you may consider asking for their certificate of service.

You have 14 days from the date of service of the full Particulars to prepare a defence (civil procedure rules part 15). However, the rules also permit you to first acknowledge service (after being served with the full Particulars, not before) and then to prepare and serve your Defence.

The Acknowledgement of Service form will have been provided with the claim form but should be completed and returned to court only once the full Particulars are received - at that point, it should (in most cases) be returned immediately. This extends the time limit by 14 days, providing a maximum of 28 days to finalise the defence (in addition to the time since the claim form was sent).

What if...
If the Claimant fails to serve the rest of the Particulars within 14 days of the claim form they are technically out of time to rely on particulars at all. This gives rise to tactical considerations as to how you wish to proceed. There are a number of threads considering this [links], which is also a developing area of case law insofar as it relates to small claims and parking tickets.

The first step is not to simply defend as though there has been no error. The claimant should be contacted. As a lay defendant you do not have any power to absolve the Claimant from any failure "it is not on your gift to give" given the express provisions of the civil procedure rules. Thus, in most cases, the Claimant should find themselves obliged to apply to court for "relief from sanction." Depending on the facts or total delays, depends whether the Claimants claim will be struck or permitted to proceed. However, you are expected to be reasonable and a delay of 24-48 hours is unlikely to be sufficient such that the court will immediately strike out the Claimants claim. If taking the point, do remember to respect the time limits on your own defence. By all means cause the Claimant problems, but do not assume no defence will need to be served or that the claimants default gives you an automatic time extension (it doesn't).

It should also be borne in mind that this may not be a magic bullet; the Claimant could simply reissue a brand new claim as in most cases they will be within the 6 year limitation period.