COUNTY COURT CLAIM FORM (UKCPM, Gladstones)

Loadsofchildren123

There is this 2017 case on 27.14(2)(g) costs which has not yet found its way into the White Book commentary -


https://kerryunderwood.wordpress.com/2017/05/23/small-claims-unreasonableness-and-costs/

[Deleted User]

@LoC123 I seriously wonder how Kerry has time for his day job

In short still very nuanced. Even the CA don't like that part of the rules. FWIW do you have any thoughts on the use of tactical £5 settlement Calderbank offers to try and improve prospects of unreasonable costs award on conclusion? Low enough that Claimant likely to refuse, high enough to demonstrate commercial benefit had Claimant accepted it (similar to a part 36 at 95% but obviously part 36 can't apply here).

Loadsofchildren123

I don't think it would make a difference. Most judges feel the bar is set very high and even a Calderbank offer wouldn't give you the normal costs protection. It's worth doing I suppose just in case.

CircusFrog

Hi all,

Thanks for all of the kinds words, I passed all of the Birthday greeting on to the Mrs, who it must be said, was in a better mood after court than she was before.

To be perfectly honest about the unreasonability award, it was the very last thing I looked into - I only produced the schedule that morning. The 10 hours was probably an under-estimate of my time, but I wasn't expecting we'd get that, and had it in more as a buffer to stop the other costs being reduced.

The judge, as Bargepole has noted, was very keen to award costs; as soon as he gave his judgement he turned to me and my wife and said: "So, costs!".

By this point, I realised I'd misunderstood the judge's request to the Claimant for a re-submitted claim, and thought it was a deadline for their Witness Statement. As such, I'd crossed out the unreasonable part of my costs schedule. Then I said: "I have some costs for litigant in person under rule 27..." (he finished the clause for me.)

"Would you hear arguments on this being unreasonable?"
"I would."

The Judge then basically made the argument for unreasonability for me - primarily because his Court Order had been ignored, but also, crucially for other cases, because *the contract UKCPM had with a management company didn't override my lease, so they had no right to take me to court*.


---

Some thoughts from the day from my more novice perspective that Bargepole.

Firstly:

Two of the PCNs had been issued when the car was parked in its allocated bay, and one when on an access road.

isn't strictly true, the Claimant's solicitor thought this was what was going on, but on two we hadn't displayed a permit but were in a 'free bay' that wasn't allocated. Not our separate, allocated bay.

Anyway, from my perspective, some tips:

1) When taken to court, list every day in the next 12 months you can't attend, or you'll end up in court on your wife's birthday.
2) Know the case well - the Claimant's attorney tried to go after the 'parking outside of a designated' bay separately, but I'd prepared for that argument in advance, included a Legal Plan of the grounds in case, and knew that there was a clause about that in the Lease.
3) Use a laptop - if you're so inclined. I'm heavily computer based, and naturally did all of the write-up on my laptop. Fumbling around print-outs on the day was a struggle - and I'd have been much quicker onto things if I'd just had the PDF open and searchable. (I didn't know they were allowed!)
4) Direct the judge to your argument, don't assume it's been made. This is where Bargepole helped out with a couple of notes, I'd made the argument about case law pretty thoroughly in my Skeleton, but didn't realise the need to direct the judge's attention to it in the room. For various reasons (not least the court order, etc), the judge was biased towards us, but once he'd been directed to Jopson he mentioned it about 5 times.
5) Trust the process - it's worth going to court if you have a case: To my layman's eye, the Claimant's Witness Statement was weak, I'd already referenced the case law in the initial Defense Statement, and they didn't touch it. But they padded out the document, 8 sentences was made to look like an insurmountable legal claim, but it was just multiple print outs of blown up photographs of PCNs. I was always confident our argument was stronger, on effort alone if nothing else!

Thanks to Bargepole to taking the time out on the day, and the others that responded to drafts etc, in particular CouponMad, who helped out regularly!

Happy to share any documents with anyone that needs, though my final forms of both Witness Statement and Skeleton Arguments are in this thread.

AOneVS

Good to hear of UKCPM getting another kicking. Maybe they'll start to think twice before enlisting the services of Gladstones.

[Deleted User]

:j well done. Great comments too.

Heh at point 1. Dates to avoid are exactly that - do male sure you provide a list.

I completely agree that it can be helpful to prepare your documents as an e-bundle if that suits. Don't let that be to the exclusion of having a copy of costs schedules or your key judgments to pass to the defendsnt/judge as needed, however.