So I'm going to court...

nosferatu1001

Disbursement’s are at actual cost. Provide receipts - copies!

Time
You can try for a higher rate, some courts have suggested they’d accept 50% of a band D fee earner as costs - around £60 an hour. Just check up on this for yourself.
Itemise your time # you should have found some examples on here of costs schedules. Split it down to research , writing defence, writing ws etc. All the stages.

Jhpt

Well sounds like we are almost there! If anybody could spare a minute to view either my letter to court (copy to Claimant!!!) and my costs I'd be most grateful.

Letter to Court
https://www.dropbox.com/s/ul48qvqxdk9xnbr/GLADSTONES%20AGAIN%20FAIL%20TO%20PROVIDE%20WS%2022.docx?dl=0

Costs Schedule
https://www.dropbox.com/s/0cxchkfceh98qbb/COSTS%20SCHEDULE.docx?dl=0

Thank yoU! :beer:

Loadsofchildren123

para 3: breached the Pre-Action Practice Direction by failing to explain the basis of the claim or to provide any documents in relation to it 9in breach of paragraphs 3, 6(a) and 6(c)) and then CPR Rule 16.4 by failing to.....


Para 7: add at the end "Professional Code of Conduct"


Costs:
you've got a far better chance if you break it all down - look at the link in the newbies thread and at Sassii's thread which has a precedent (I think newbies links to it).


First of all make five categories:
Letters
Phone calls
Drafting/reading documents
Research
Other


Under letters:
x letters to/from Claimant.............. x minutes/hours
x letters to/from Court....................x minutes/hours
Break each hour into 10 units of 6 minutes.


Under telephone: same thing


Under documents:
2 sub-categories: drafting and reading
Drafting:
AoS
Defence
Directions Questionnaire
Witness Statement (including compiling exhibit)
D's bundle
And put next to each individual one the time it took


Reading:
list each of the C's documents and all court orders, list them individually then allow time for reading each of them


Research:
Researching court rules, law and case law: and give yourself whatever you think is reasonable for this.


Other
I'd include there all the trips to the post office, so say
5 trips to post office (posting pleadings and correspondence) at x minutes per trip..................x hours/minutes


Then add up the time under each heading, then do a grand total at the end.


If you break it all down between each specific activity you can justify more hours. It all adds up and the more you break it down the more reasonable it looks.


If you are seeking £60 you need to justify it with the rule that allows you to recover more than £95 and by explaining that you earn £60 per hour and that you turned work away in order to defend the case properly - see nos's post.


Then put in a heading "Disbursements" and include there a list of every time you posted anything, what it was, who to, and what it cost, and attach the receipts.
You can try adding a notional amount for stationery and printing ink, but I'd add how many pages approximately it was that you had to print to add weight to this being awarded.

Loadsofchildren123

Your order said this:


2. Unless the Claimant issues and a copy on the Defendant by 4pm on 15 December 2017, an application for an extension of time for its evidence including copies of the Claimant's evidence in accordance with Paragraph 2 of the order of 9 October 2017 (To include full responses to the Defendan'ts evidence), then the claim shall be dismissed





And does their WS contain a full response to your evidence? That may be another breach. You need to include reference to this in your costs application: that they failed to serve their WS on time and the court had to make an "unless" order.

Have they issued an application or not? They were supposed to do more than just send you the WS - they were supposed to issue an application and send you a copy on 15th. Can you call the court and find out? Your letter needs to say that no application has been received.


I think if they are a day late in posting it then the court may well allow it, it depends very much on which judge your letter is put in front of.

Jhpt

Loadsofchildren123 wrote: »

para 3: breached the Pre-Action Practice Direction by failing to explain the basis of the claim or to provide any documents in relation to it 9in breach of paragraphs 3, 6(a) and 6(c)) and then CPR Rule 16.4 by failing to.....


Para 7: add at the end "Professional Code of Conduct"


Costs:
you've got a far better chance if you break it all down - look at the link in the newbies thread and at Sassii's thread which has a precedent (I think newbies links to it).


First of all make five categories:
Letters
Phone calls
Drafting/reading documents
Research
Other


Under letters:
x letters to/from Claimant.............. x minutes/hours
x letters to/from Court....................x minutes/hours
Break each hour into 10 units of 6 minutes.


Under telephone: same thing


Under documents:
2 sub-categories: drafting and reading
Drafting:
AoS
Defence
Directions Questionnaire
Witness Statement (including compiling exhibit)
D's bundle
And put next to each individual one the time it took


Reading:
list each of the C's documents and all court orders, list them individually then allow time for reading each of them


Research:
Researching court rules, law and case law: and give yourself whatever you think is reasonable for this.


Other
I'd include there all the trips to the post office, so say
5 trips to post office (posting pleadings and correspondence) at x minutes per trip..................x hours/minutes


Then add up the time under each heading, then do a grand total at the end.


If you break it all down between each specific activity you can justify more hours. It all adds up and the more you break it down the more reasonable it looks.


If you are seeking £60 you need to justify it with the rule that allows you to recover more than £95 and by explaining that you earn £60 per hour and that you turned work away in order to defend the case properly - see nos's post.


Then put in a heading "Disbursements" and include there a list of every time you posted anything, what it was, who to, and what it cost, and attach the receipts.
You can try adding a notional amount for stationery and printing ink, but I'd add how many pages approximately it was that you had to print to add weight to this being awarded.

Perfect - thank you! I'll crack on with this, this afternoon and get it sent out tomorrow.

Loadsofchildren123 wrote: »

Your order said this:


2. Unless the Claimant issues and a copy on the Defendant by 4pm on 15 December 2017, an application for an extension of time for its evidence including copies of the Claimant's evidence in accordance with Paragraph 2 of the order of 9 October 2017 (To include full responses to the Defendan'ts evidence), then the claim shall be dismissed





And does their WS contain a full response to your evidence? That may be another breach. You need to include reference to this in your costs application: that they failed to serve their WS on time and the court had to make an "unless" order.

Have they issued an application or not? They were supposed to do more than just send you the WS - they were supposed to issue an application and send you a copy on 15th. Can you call the court and find out? Your letter needs to say that no application has been received.


I think if they are a day late in posting it then the court may well allow it, it depends very much on which judge your letter is put in front of.

the WS does not contain a full response - I'll include this now too.
I personally haven't recieved an application byut I was unsure as to whether I would or this was just to the court - will phone the court now to find out!

Loadsofchildren123

The order says they had to send it to you too:
Unless the Claimant issues and a copy on the Defendant by 4pm on 15 December 2017, an application
You could phone the court to see if they have issued it. It may well be, as you say, that they have sent it to the court, but not you - but this isn't what the order actually says. The word "serves" has been inadvertently left out of the first line (it should say "issues and serves a copy....") but I don't think that matters one bit.

Jhpt

Loadsofchildren123 wrote: »

The order says they had to send it to you too:
Unless the Claimant issues and a copy on the Defendant by 4pm on 15 December 2017, an application
You could phone the court to see if they have issued it. It may well be, as you say, that they have sent it to the court, but not you - but this isn't what the order actually says. The word "serves" has been inadvertently left out of the first line (it should say "issues and serves a copy....") but I don't think that matters one bit.

EXCELLENT. Once again - just a quick thank you to everybody who has contributed to this. I've taken all your advice and have now edited both the letter to the court (copy to the Claimant) and the costs schedule - however I'm struggling to find the relevant law which allows you to claim loss of earnings over £95? All I can find is practice direction 27 -

"(1) for the loss of earnings or loss of leave of each party or witness due to attending a hearing or staying away from home for the purpose of attending a hearing, a sum not exceeding £95 per day for each person, and"


EDIT :

I'm also wondering re: costs - I'm not including parking/ travelling to the court in my costs as I haven't done this yet - do I do so assuming this will still be dealt with in person on the original date set for trial? Or shall I assume this is to be dealt with on paper?

Coupon-mad

If you can show the claimant's conduct and behaviour throughout (not just Gladstones at this stage) was exceptionally vexatious and 'wholly unreasonable', then you can ask the court to consider awarding higher costs on an indemnity basis, under CPR 27(2)(g), which details an exception that the court may order:

“such further costs as the court may assess by the summary procedure and order to be paid by a party who has behaved unreasonably”.



You'd be looking to show this sort of thing, blow by blow:


A consistent failure to respond to correspondence and/or telephone calls

A failure to properly set out a case in respect of liability and/or quantum at pre-action stage

A poorly pleaded, vague and undetailed claim.

An unwillingness to discuss the case and narrow issues

Refusing or ignoring the defendant’s legitimate requests for relevant documentation

Dilatory conduct leading to delay

A claim that is unreasonably made and without merit

Exaggeration of a claim (e.g. adding 'debt collection' costs that were never incurred because the typical debt collectors like DRPlus openly advertise their 'no collection, no fee' service)

A failure to follow the standard Small Claims track directions.

See:

https://keoghs.co.uk/keoghs-insight/aware/costs-orders-for-unreasonable-behaviour-in-small-claims

HTH

Jhpt

Coupon-mad wrote: »

A consistent failure to respond to correspondence and/or telephone calls

A failure to properly set out a case in respect of liability and/or quantum at pre-action stage

A poorly pleaded, vague and undetailed claim.

An unwillingness to discuss the case and narrow issues

Refusing or ignoring the defendant’s legitimate requests for relevant documentation

Dilatory conduct leading to delay

A claim that is unreasonably made and without merit

Exaggeration of a claim (e.g. adding 'debt collection' costs that were never incurred because the typical debt collectors like DRPlus openly advertise their 'no collection, no fee' service)

A failure to follow the standard Small Claims track directions.

Great, thank you - in this case;

1. Asked not to communicate directly with myself, but via my Solicitors at the time - failed to do so throughout.
2. Failing to provide the WS/Exhibits by the original date OR the extended date set by the court.
3. Failing to provide the Defendant with an application for an extension of time.
4. Failing to respond to all the Defendant's points made in the Defendant's defence in the Claimant's WS
5. Not explaining at any point how the inflated sum had been calculated
6. Poor PoCs - especially considering both the Claimant and Claimant's chosen lawyers deal almost exclusively in this area
7. Bringing a case to court against a vehicle authorised to park in the car park.

I think that probably crosses the threshold, don't you?!

Coupon-mad

Yes, when you list it like that - exactly what you need to set out for the Court. Give it a go!