Gemini/Gladstones - Small Claim

System

And this one https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZZyb4HYC5A8

Saves you having to pretend to like Suits

FJ1000

Useful vids!

Not as entertaining as Suits though...

System

Are you sure they are sending someone for their side? If no-one turns up, you should point out there is no one on the other side you can challenge about their Statement of Truth and whether there was a genuine belief on the other side.

Add that there was the option to discontinue but the C has continued on the weakest of cases, to waste your time but more importantly the court's time.

You could ask for wasted costs [as detailed] but in the alternative you wish to ask that the court takes note of the burden these poorly presented cases has on other court users and ask if there might be an Order against the Claimant to cease taking action against defendants at this site until they can prove their case to the required standard to prevent the further waste of precious resources.

FJ1000

We!!!8217;ll soon find out if there!!!8217;s anyone representing the claimant...I!!!8217;m in the waiting area in the court room!

Thanks for the tip Ian - will use that if nobody shows up. It!!!8217;s a busy waiting area (around 25 people) so hard to tell at the moment!

FJ1000

I won!!

Thanks very much for all the help - wouldn't have been able to do this without this forum and it's very helpful members!

Before the hearing - the Gladstone representative came to find me to ask two questions. He asked if I agreed that it was 2 hours free parking (I said I didn't agree), and whether I received Gladstones updated WS (I did not - only an image of the 2 hour parking sign they sent as a follow on to their initial WS that had referred to 3 hrs free parking throughout).

I then asked him if he had right of audience in the court - he stated he was a "solicitor's agent". To which I asked if that meant he was a qualified solicitor? He dodged the question, before eventually saying he was not - and then shuffled off to make a phone call.

In the Judges room then, I challenged the Gladstone rep's right of audience - but the judge seemed to know him (made a comment of having seen him in the court a number of times) and that he was happy to hear from him.

Oh well.

It then all fell apart for the claimant anyway - the judge pointed out several inconsistencies in Gladstone's WS; that the free parking period in the images didn't match the statement (3hrs vs 2hrs), that there were pages missing in the resubmitted WS etc

The thing the judge honed in on though, was that my defence and WS mentioned that the signage was not adequate - but the claimant had not supplied any evidence showing that the signage in Dec 16 (before it was changed to 3hrs free) was prominent/visible, and therefore adequate for a contract to have been formed. All the images in the evidence pack were of the current signage, and the site plan referred to locations of the current signage too. There was a bit of discussion - but he dismissed the case on that basis.

So I'd won without saying much at all.

I then raised the issue of Gladstones acting, in my opinion, unreasonably - with a view to receiving additional costs. The judge heard me out, but dismissed most of the issues as admin errors (he seemed to have sympathy for them dealing with lots of claims - which I thought was odd), and on the point about Gladstones allowing Debt Recovery Plus to pose as them (which I argued was an intimidation tactic) - he said it didn't constitute unreasonable behaviour, but that there may be some data protection issues there and I may want to take that up with the Solicitors Regulation Authority

I ended up being awarded my ordinary costs.

Coupon-mad

Yay well done to you! Another one bites the dust!

Amazing to hear all the successes continuing! :T

Which Judge and court?

FJ1000

Thanks!

Croydon County Court - didn't get the name of the judge

Coupon-mad

Glad to see you got your ordinary costs, at least. What a scam the industry is.