Help with Virgin Claim going to Court

waamo

Prepare your case. You will see their defence in plenty of time so prepare a strong rebuttal.

halifaxmortgage

Thanks very much.....can an acknowledgement also mean that they may agree to a full or partial payment or is it definately that they will be defending the claim?

Regarding preparation, I have all the emails, letters, photos and videos, so hopefully that should suffice.

waamo

All it means is that they confirm they have had the paperwork. They may wish to go to mediation, negotiate, settle or defend. It gives them longer to consider their options.

halifaxmortgage

Thanks Waamo mate. So I guess I'll just have to sit tight and see what option they come up with. I will keep you posted if I receive a reply.

Cheers.

halifaxmortgage

Hello again. As shown below, today I've received copies of the Acknowledgement of Service from VM. It seems that they plan to defend the full claim. I would be very grateful if you could help me with the following questions:

1. They've said that defence is due by 21st Nov, so does that mean they plan to respond with defence within 14 days, rather than 28 days?
   
   
2. Once the VM team have looked at the evidence, are they still allowed change from Defence to Admission if they find that they've made a mistake or that the evidence is against them?
   
   
3. I have plenty of evidence, i.e. letters, emails, photos/videos etc, but I'm not sure how I'm supposed to organise this for whomever needs to see them...Should I make a contents/index/time-line page for all evidence? any suggestions?
   
   
4. Can they counter-claim? If so, I'm on low-income, would I get any help?
   

waamo

Calm down. This is purely routine at the moment. They have calculated the defence date and if they have calculated it wrong that is their problem. In saying that submitting it early does no harm to anyone.

They can decide to settle all the way up to walking into a hearing. If a judge is told 30 seconds before you walk in that it's off as one side has settled then you will have a happy judge. You won't meet them but you can go home knowing that they will be happy.

Organise your evidence for later. Get copies and put it in a well organised and indexed ring binder.

They aren't counter claiming and frankly any counter claim would be ridiculous.

halifaxmortgage

waamo wrote: »

Calm down. This is purely routine at the moment. They have calculated the defence date and if they have calculated it wrong that is their problem. In saying that submitting it early does no harm to anyone.

They can decide to settle all the way up to walking into a hearing. If a judge is told 30 seconds before you walk in that it's off as one side has settled then you will have a happy judge. You won't meet them but you can go home knowing that they will be happy.

Organise your evidence for later. Get copies and put it in a well organised and indexed ring binder.

They aren't counter claiming and frankly any counter claim would be ridiculous.

Yeah sorry mate, I just got a bit concerned that I may need to have prepared my paperwork by the 21st Nov. At least I can be reassured that it's just normal procedure.

Since the date they've given is 21st, are they expected to provide me with their defence by the 21st or would this go to some sort of arbitrator? And if no defence by this date, then do I need to do anything?

For now I'll make a list of what evidence I have and once I know what their response is, then I will decide from there.

Thank you.

waamo

If they don't file a defence by the court deadline (whatever date that actually is) then you win by default.

They will send the defence to the court and you will get a copy a few days later. The court portal will tell you if a defence has been entered.

You will be offered mediation as a normal procedure.

Just as an aside I think this case is ideal for mediation. It wouldn't be productive for either side to go to court and this is an issue you should be able to hammer out to some satisfactory conclusion for both parties.

Just my opinion of course. Ultimately it's your call though.

halifaxmortgage

I think that's excellent advice mate as I would be willing to go for mediation. In fact as part of my letter before action, it clearly stated that I'd consider this option, but VM weren't interested at the time.

waamo

Very sensible. As long as you walk away reasonably happy then it's a good result. Don't negotiate with a fixed figure in mind as it would be daft to be walking into court over say a sticking point that amounts to £10.

If it did go to a hearing it would be at a court near you. The expenses for VM probably outweigh the value of the claim so it's ripe for a "no fault" settlement. In other words they pay you as long as it's clear they aren't admitting fault. They may also want details kept confidential but you can hammer this out in negotiations.