Help with Virgin Claim going to Court

DoaM

waamo wrote: »

WP offers are confidential and cannot be used in court. The only exception is where it is marked Without Prejudice Save As To Costs.

In fact a WP letter can be used in court ... if the judge so-directs. But the judges rarely do so.

halifaxmortgage

Guys thanks for your input.

I definitely sent a "Without Prejudice Save As To Costs" email/letter to them because it was you guys who had helped me back in Nov 2018 to write the letter.

I feel they have been totally unreasonable because although I didn't send the whole case to the defence, I did whatever their solicitor asked me to do, which was to send photos/videos and allow an inspection.

Surely the judge can't blame me if VM sent an a**hole to argue with me?

The defence have acknowledged receipt of photos/video links, so how could they say that I didn't send them any evidence or didn't co-operate?

So shall I totally leave it out and not mention it at all?

waamo

It's not worth mentioning. The issue is they haven't "officially" seen it. Until it goes to the court it isn't seen.

As I said send it now.

halifaxmortgage

That's fine then waamo mate. I'll take it out.

halifaxmortgage

Hello again. You might be wondering why I'm posting at almost 4:30am in the morning. Well that's because I've spent all my time to complete an indexed bundle pdf file and I have just emailed it to courts and vm defence team.

I did confirm this with the courts last week and vm defence. They both said that it was fine to send via email

The only thing I'm not sure if I did it correctly or not, was to send the email FTAO of the District Judge and also carbon copy the defendant into the same email so that I can prove to courts that vm also received the bundle..

da_rule

As long as you sent it to the email address they specified then you are fine. If you’re concerned you can always resend it.

I’ve just had a read of this thread and there is one area where you have potentially slipped up that I wanted to make you aware of. When VM filed their defence (which contained mistakes etc) you should have formally replied to it under CPR 15.8. This should have been filed and served with your directions questionnaire. From the posts it seems that you sent the information as a WP letter/email.

This means that the last document in front of the judge will be the incorrect defence rather than your reply correcting it and reasserting your position. The judge may also ask why you have opted to correct the mistake in a witness statement, filed some months after the defence rather than through a reply to defence.

This shouldn’t be fatal but just something to consider and maybe have an answer for if it comes up.

Also, where you have had to serve things on WM, I assume you have been filing certificates of service?

halifaxmortgage

Thanks da_rule.

Yes I sent it to the local county court email address as well as VM's defence email address.

Forgive me, but what mistakes are you referring to exactly?

What's a filing certificate of service?

I know my experience of doing these things is very weak, but for the small amount claiming, it was not worth me hiring solicitors out, hence I've tried to do it to the best of my ability. If the case is unsuccessful, then I'll put it down to experience.

However, I'm hoping at the very least the judge will see the photos/videos of the damage and the now clearly visible cable and tell VM to sort it out.

Once again, thanks everyone for sticking around....I'll keep you guys posted.

waamo

A certificate of service is a form that formally notifies the court you have served documents. You can download one. Again not fatal but it does help to have one. It stops the other side claiming they didn't receive something.

The other point is courts lose things. Again it tells the court they had it.

As I said not fatal it's just good practice to do one.

steampowered

You are being given some slightly odd advice here Op.

You only need a certificate of service in respect of the claim form or particulars claim. And only then if you serve yourself (rather than the court serving - which the court does if you file through the moneyclaimonline system). You would not normally file a certificate of service for other documents.

It is also a bit odd to suggest you should have served a reply. Replies are only suitable in a minority of cases. There is zero point in serving a reply which just repeats the particulars of claim. Replies should only be served when you have something genuine and new to add.

You can take a copy of your WP email to court if it makes you feel better, but it is unlikely to be relevant.

At this stage I think you need to focus on what actually matters to your case. Worrying about these rabbit holes is just a waste of time and energy. Focus on how you are going to explain your case to the judge and convince the judge that WM should pay.

da_rule

steampowered and I will have to differ on this one (which is often the way in litigation, it often comes down to how each person would conduct a case).

I would have served a reply to address the fact that they have raised the date as a defence. They appear to be stating that you should have claimed earlier as the works were carried out a number of years ago when in fact they were quite recent. You don't appear to have included the date of the works in your particulars of claim (as quoted at post 51) so this would have given you the opportunity to correct this and also tell the Court when the damage happened.

In relation to certificates of service, yes they are only needed when serving certain documents. However your posts mention a witness statement. I would always send a certificate of service to the court when serving a witness statement on other parties.