Scottish Simple Procedure

Herriot

Help please if possible concerning Scottish Simple Procedure.

I had a Section 75 claim against Tesco Bank for £375. They declined. I have taken companies to the on line small claims several times with great success. Because they are Scottish and I live in England, unfortunately, I had to use Scottish Simple Procedure law, which I presumed to be very similar (though more expensive)
Expecting them to cave in for such a trivial sum, they have actually employed solicitors, who, prior to their response are sending me rather aggressive and threatening e mails about evidnce disclosure.
I can find no reference in my reading of the law to the requirement of disclosure prior to the date of response. Do I have to oblige?
Annoyingly they have spent 5 weeks doing nothing and are now wanting things from me quickly.
Yes, I know now that I should have gone the ombudsman route.
Any help appreciated, Ta

bris

Of course you have to provide them with evidence. You can't just turn up at court without giving them a chance of a defence now can you?
Yes you should have gone the ombudsman route but that would entail a fair hearing, can't have that now can we.
I take it due to past experience with the small claims court you now expect them not to bother and find you get default judgements, easy money right.

unholyangel

You should have been able to take them to court in england (clicky) - just as I can take action against english companies in scottish courts.

Theres a EU convention that means residents have the option of taking action in their home territory regardless of governing law. Strictly speaking it only applies between member states (and not within those member states themselves) but the UK courts have always adhered to it with domestic cross border claims. They also tend to respect the judgements of each other.

Did you send them a letter before action setting out your position and what you intend to rely on for the basis of your claim? The courts expect you to be reasonable and try and reach a resolution without involving the courts. This includes disclosing what the basis of your claim is/what documentation you intend to rely on to prove that claim.

Otherwise you're looking at the potential situation of turning up to court and not being able to move forward with the hearing because (for example) the counter evidence to your evidence is back at the office and they had no idea it would be required. While small claims fees are set at an affordable level, it comes nowhere near to covering the actual costs incurred by the courts - costs that would increase massively if the parties turn up without all the information required for them to plead/defend the claim.

steampowered

You could have sued them through the English courts. Albeit that you could not have filed your claim using the moneyclaimonline service, and would have needed to file the form necessary to serve outside of the jurisdiction.

The Ombudsman is often a waste of time so perhaps going straight to court is not a bad idea.

The Scottish Civil Procedure Rules for the SImple Procedure (https://www.scotcourts.gov.uk/rules-and-practice/rules-of-court/sheriff-court---civil-procedure-rules/simple-procedure-rules) state that you must serve a list of the evidence you intend to rely on to the Defendant 2 weeks before the hearing (see Part 10).

So clearly you will need to do that, but it doesn't look like you need to do anything now.

That said - you should at least give the Defendant's solicitors the basic information which is required for them to understand the case. If you do not do that, it would be looked on negatively by the judge.

It would not be unreasonable to write back to the Defendant's solicitors (1) stating that it is totally unreasonable of them to impose the deadline in their letter given the length of time taken for them to respond, (2) stating that you intend to serve a list of evidence on them 2 weeks before the hearing as envisaged by the rules, and (3) inviting them to explain the legal basis (if any) on which they are requesting additional information prior to that date.

Herriot

Thanks steampowered. I had missed Part 10 and it's implications. I tried through the moneyclaimonline service but very early on there is a tick box for whether the respondent is in England, so I gave up on that route. So much easier than Scottish law! Thank you for your very supportive response.