Thomson court debacle

rtzpillar

Due to the publicity on this site re Thomson flight delay claims, I took them to court myself. On 17th September 2014 I received a notice from the court entitled "General form of Judgment or Order". Thomson had until 8th October to respond to it. I rang the court when I received a copy of the form and asked if I had to do anything with it and was told "No". I rang the court in January as I hadn't heard anything and was told they were very busy and there would be a delay . I rang again today (4th Feb) only to be told that as Thomson had not responded to the order, I had to "request that the case be re-raised" I have e mailed the court with the request. I had no idea that it was up to me to chase the court. It would appear that if a defendant does not respond to the order, that's it, nothing more happens. Is there any point taking legal action? I thought it was supposed to be straight forward and could be handled by a layman rather than go through a solicitor. Has anyone else had this problem? I did ask the lady at the court how I should have known that I had to ask for the case to be re-raised and she couldn't answer the question!

Prof_Ligate

What did the order say?

Ignacio

I too have had this problem. Even if a Judge makes an order against the defendant, they seem to be able to ignore it without penalty.
I have just contacted the court for the second time, to comply with the judges order and list my claim for hearing.

Vauban

You have my sympathies rtzpillar: I know from personal experience that it's not easy as a litigant in person to work your way round the court's procedures, and it is an entirely reasonable assumption that, having issued an Order, the Court would have a mechanism for following it up.

Unfortunately the Courts do seem extremely busy and it seems that it is generally for the other side to bring matters to the Court's attention when one party has failed to follow the Court's instructions. After all, no one should be more motivated to get justice than you!

You don't explain the nature of the order that the airline has ignored, but I don't think that there is any harm done here. Write to the Court Manager explaining what has happened, your frustration at the chronology of events and the defendant's behaviour, and ask for this to be brought to the attention of the Judge. That should get matters back on track.

rtzpillar

Thanks for all your replies. I am claiming the flight delay for a holiday 3 years ago to Cuba when we were rerouted to The Dominican amongst other problems and we were 5 and1/2 hours delayed. I wrote to the CAA and they agreed that Thomson should compensate us. Of course they ignored this so I started the legal proceedings myself because Martin Lewis said it was unnecessary to go through a solicitor. Thomson replied to the original papers and cited the 2 year ruling and some waffle about the weather and re fueling the previous days flight. The next thing I received was a copy of the Order. Basically it asked Thomson to advise in writing by 8th Oct 2014 - Location of each of its witnesses, the number of other claims in relation to this delayed flight, which court the claims were heard and how they had been resolved. Thomson appear to have just ignored the order. I naively thought that when a court issued an order, it had to be complied with otherwise what is the point of having a legal system? Perhaps Martin Lewis should point out that its not always that simple to bring about court proceedings yourself.My main gripe is how on earth I was supposed to know that it was up to me to re-contact the court if Thomson hadn't replied and how was I meant to know that they hadn't. It doesn't say anywhere "contact the court if you have not heard anything after 2 months" does it? perhaps that's making things too easy.

Mark2spark

I think there's an element of common sense that one needs to take on here rtzpillar, basically you had a court order and it would have been prudent of you to have made enquiries to the court a week or two after the date of the order had expired. But no harm done. Just a bit more time wasted. But if you're claiming interest then it all counts

Prof_Ligate

Mark2spark wrote: »

I think there's an element of common sense that one needs to take on here rtzpillar, basically you had a court order and it would have been prudent of you to have made enquiries to the court a week or two after the date of the order had expired. But no harm done. Just a bit more time wasted. But if you're claiming interest then it all counts

Yes sadly courts these days are too busy to keep on top,of everything.

Now that you've written, the court will probably resend the order to Thomson and make it an 'unless order' saying that if they don't respond by a set new date, their defence will be struck out meaning you can ask for a judgment.

Thomson seem to be taking a sensible commercial approach to these matters now and are weighing up which is the cheaper option for them - pay up or pay a legal team to continue the older cases at the potential expense of dealing more efficiently with the new ones.

rtzpillar

How can I tell if the court has resent the order to Thomson and is it then up to me to contact the court to see if they have responded. If this is the case, any idea how long I should leave it before I contact them? Apologies for all the questions but this is the first time I have ever taken someone to court and its not as easy as I was lead to believe.Thanks

Prof_Ligate

rtzpillar wrote: »

How can I tell if the court has resent the order to Thomson and is it then up to me to contact the court to see if they have responded. If this is the case, any idea how long I should leave it before I contact them? Apologies for all the questions but this is the first time I have ever taken someone to court and its not as easy as I was lead to believe.Thanks

You'll just have to ring them. If they resend the order to Thomson, you should get a copy so if you've not got anything after a couple of weeks, I'd ring the court again.

Once you know the date Thomson have been given, call the court the day after the deadline to see if they've done as they were ordered.

It is possible that the court will give you judgment without re sending the order as Thomson have left it so long. It will depend on what they think when they look at the file. Sadly, very little is as fixed as you might expect it to be with the courts so you just have to keep on top of it yourself.

Mark2spark

rtzpillar wrote: »

How can I tell if the court has resent the order to Thomson and is it then up to me to contact the court to see if they have responded. If this is the case, any idea how long I should leave it before I contact them? Apologies for all the questions but this is the first time I have ever taken someone to court and its not as easy as I was lead to believe.Thanks

Well you appear to have emailed the court, so it's a wait and see game.
I would have worded it that you are applying for judgement as they have failed to supply a defence, or, in the alternative, you seek further directions. (from the judge).

rtzpillar

With hindsight, I should have posted here before I e mailed the court to understand better the court procedures. However, I didn't, so I will just have to wait now. I will definitely ring them if I haven't heard anything within 2 weeks and keep on top of the case.