Court proceedings for auto repair visit

foofcat

Hello all,

I've just received the following three documents:

1. A letter saying that Civil Hearing (trial) Fees will no longer be refundable if paid / settled before the hearing, which (a) I think only applies to claimants and (b) says that such a change "will come into effect from 6 March 2017" (?!)

2. EX306 which is an FAQ basically

3. A Notice of Allocation to the Small Claims Track (Hearing) which opens with:

District Judge Cohen has considered the statements of case and directions questionnaire filed and allocated the claim to the small claims track. IT IS FURTHER ORDER THAT:

Having considered the papers in your case, the court believes that your case is suitable for mediation."

Then a bunch of information about how to arrange mediation. The next page opens with "Warning: you must comply with the terms imposed upon you by this order: otherwise your case is liable to be struck out or some other sanction imposed."

Then finally in harder to read font...the court date and location

I don't think Mediation is appropriate here but wonder if I'll be penalised for ignoring the mediation aspect of this notice. I'll go back to the newbies sticky to look into this because it may well be standard text that everyone gets. Though not sure why a judge would think it was suitable for mediation?

And June is ages away, I don't want this hanging over my head until then. Not to mention, the court only asked for 6 months' worth of availability so I only supplied it until April.

The_Deep

IMO, where a PPC is attempting to obtain monies to which it has no entitlement, mediation is otiose.

Loadsofchildren123

It's free and there's no harm doing it. But the PPC will just try to get money out of you so really what's the point.
You wouldn't be criticised for refusing mediation where you have a strong defence. To protect yourself you could write to the PPC to say you are turning down mediation because they have been aware since X date that you deny any liability and why, and there could have been at any time a meaningful dialogue about that and the claim in general. Say you remain willing to engage in dialogue but simply don't see the point in wasting the court's time with mediation.

foofcat

Thanks LOC, I think I'll work that into my drop hands offer that I'm going to send shortly. In my case I made PCM's debt recovery agents aware that I wasn't driving (and informed them who was several months before the court proceedings were initiated. I've had no contact with Gladstones or PCM except to email Gladstones with my DQ and defence statement though now I'm thinking it's time to engage with them directly via the DHO.

Thanks again

PS - can't help but wonder the fact the DJ recommended mediation means s/he wasn't convinced by my defence statement But then again, perhaps they always push mediation to try and save court time.

[Deleted User]

Personally and I know it's not the view of the forum, but I take the view that we should ask for mediation because it provides an opportunity for them to bring all their documents to the table nice and early and for you to take a look.

I also know that the PPCs dislike mediation - it's in their standard "we don't need mediation and don't need a hearing letter." If you agree and the Claimant refuses you can deploy Halsey v Milton Keynes http://www.bailii.org/ew/cases/EWCA/Civ/2004/576.html (in addition to their failure to address reasonable correspondence as LoC123 points out) when arguing for Part 27(1)(g) costs later - and indeed for arguing for reductions to the costs payable even in the event of a loss.

Just a thought. The direction for mediation is pretty standard. Small claims are overstretched, they need fewer cases to go to trial.

Loadsofchildren123

I agree with Johnersh. At least you show willing.
However, small claims mediation is utterly pants. I've done it before myself. You don't get any docs or info, you just play telephone ping pong with a mediator who has no legal training and sounds like he's about 15.

foofcat

Hello all,

The Drop Hands Offer was ignored by the Solicitors and last night I received an email with their witness statement and evidence. It's about 24 pages long. I will share it once I've redacted it.

The plan is to go through the newbies thread again with a view to looking at other witness statements. I need to re-read the other side's statement carefully. And then I need to decide if and how to proceed. It's come at a really bad time in life and now thinking I should have done the witness statement months ago but never mind.

Question for anyone who can answer in the meantime: now that I have their witness statement can I use mine to directly counter anything raised in theirs?

Court date 19 June, so I need to get everything submitted before 5 June.

Hope you're all well.

foofcat

Here is the link to the other party's bundle. Thoughts welcome but I suspect I'm on my own as it's bank holiday weekend!

Castle

foofcat wrote: »

Here is the link to the other party's bundle. Thoughts welcome but I suspect I'm on my own as it's bank holiday weekend!

I can still read the claim number and your name.

foofcat

Thank you for catching that, Castle. I'd marked everything for redaction but forgot that you then have to select the option to actually redact it.

Old link removed, here is the new link for the solicitor's bundle.