Notice of Proposed Allocation

starnold444

I have just received the Notice of Transfer Proceedings to tell me it has been sent to my local court and says to wait for the Judges directions.

I wanted to check if there is any value in calling the court to make sure they have my letters and make sure that it is seen by the Judge? Or sending another copy of the letter to my local court to again make sure it gets seen.

The court is only 10 mins from my house so I could even drop off the letter by hand.

Loadsofchildren123

You could phone and check that your letter is still attached to your DQ. It may be quicker to drop in, if it's convenient, because it can be difficult to get through by phone.

starnold444

Perfect thanks will pop in this week to double check

Loadsofchildren123

court counters close at either 2 or 2.30 so you need to go before that

starnold444

We have just had a letter from the court to say that they don't have a copy of our defence. Wanted to check what the best course of action was from here?
I previously submitted our defence before the PoC and then followed up with a letter to provide to the court about them backdating the PoC etc.
Shall I send all communication to the court or just the letter about them not following procedure around PoC and ask them to throw it out?

Quentin

Send them a copy of all your defence together with any proof you have you sent it in time previously

Loadsofchildren123

they must have received your original defence, otherwise they would not have sent out the DQ.


But yes, send it in again. No harm sending in that letter as well and asking them to action it.

starnold444

Thanks. I did go to my local court who said they had everything before Xmas but said it had been sent to a central court for processing.

You would have thought they would have had it but just got the letter through. Will re-print everything and resend it with that last letter as a cover.

starnold444

Got a letter from the Courts saying "It is ordered that, defendant seeks to strike out claim by letter dated xxxx. Defendant must apply using the correct form N244"?

Loadsofchildren123

If you make an application to the court, technically you have to make it on paper, on the Form N244 and then you pay a fee (£100 if you say no hearing required, £255 if you want a hearing).

However, the court rules contain the following provisions which you can rely on to argue that a formal application is unnecessary:

1. The court has the power to exercise its inherent powers, of its own initiative, as part of its duty of active case management under CPR Rule 1.4(2)(c) and Practice Direction 26, paragraph 5.1, namely to summarily dispose of issues which do not need full investigation and trial. The court!!!8217;s powers include striking out a claim (or part of it) under CPR Rule 3.4 and Summary Judgment under CPR Rule 24.

2. The court!!!8217;s power to make such orders of its own volition, without a formal application, are contained in CPR Rule 1.4(2)(c) and Practice Direction 26, paragraph 5.1.

3. If the court is not minded to make an order of its own volition, then the court has the power to treat the letter from you as an application rather than asking you to issue a Notice of Application !!!8211; the power to do this is contained in CPR Part 23.3(2)(b) which provides specifically that the court may dispense with the requirement for an application notice.

You could write to the court saying all of this to have another go. Nothing lost, nothing gained. They can only say no.

If they say no then you either issue the application or just leave it and get on with defending the claim.

The court will sometimes make the order exercising these powers, sometimes it won't.

So you write something like:

Dear Sirs

I refer to your letter dated x in which you have asked me to issue a formal N244 application.

This is a small claim with a value of £x. The fee for a N244 is £255, which is plainly out of proportion. The court does in fact have the power to make this order of its own volition, or by treating my letter as the application, without requiring me to issue a formal application.

These powers are contained in the following:
1. Rule 1.4(2)(c) and Practice Direction 26, paragraph 5.1 provide that the court has inherent case management powers by which it can summarily dispose of issues which do not need full investigation and trial. The court!!!8217;s powers include striking out a claim (or part of it) under CPR Rule 3.4 .

2. If the court is not willing to exercise its inherent powers under paragraph 1 above, then under CPR Part 23.3(2)(b) the court may dispense with the requirement for an application notice and may treat my letter as an application.

I ask that the court exercises its powers and dispenses with the requirement for me to file a form N244 and makes the order sought in my letter of x date (further copy enclosed for convenience).