Gladstones Court Claim Documents - incorrect particulars

Le_Kirk

Jeff1279 wrote: »

Now confused - why am I not supposed to be using MCOL to file the defence?

You send your defence to the e-mail address as stated here, normally posted by KeithP: -

When you are happy with the content, your Defence should be filed via email as suggested here:

1. Print your Defence.
2. Sign it and date it.
3. Scan the signed document back in and save it as a pdf.
4. Send that pdf as an email attachment to [EMAIL="CCBCAQ@Justice.gov.uk"]CCBCAQ@Justice.gov.uk[/EMAIL]
5. Just put the claim number and the word Defence in the email title, and in the body of the email something like 'Please find my Defence attached'.
6. Log into MCOL after a few days to see if the Claim is marked "defended". If not chase the CCBC until it is.
7. Do not be surprised to receive a copy of the Claimant's Directions Questionnaire, they are just trying to put you under pressure.
8. Wait for your DQ from the CCBC, or download one from the internet, and then re-read post #2 of the NEWBIES FAQ sticky thread to find out exactly what to do with it.

KeithP

Jeff1279 wrote: »

Now confused - why am I not supposed to be using MCOL to file the defence?

Why are you confused?

The reason for not using MCOL to file your Defence is fully explained in Bargepole's 'what happens when' post linked from post #2 of the NEWBIES thread.

Post #5 above offered guidance on one way of filing your Defence.

Ultimately, the choice is yours.

But keep in mind:

...you have until 4pm on Wednesday 27th March 2019 to file your Defence.

That's just over three hours away.

MothballsWallet

Coupon-mad wrote: »

Why on earth would you do that, when you can simply write to the court and absent yourself and ask that the case is decided on the papers?

C-M, I take it this is a special case as it's normally advised to go for the "hearing in person" option since "on the papers" can backfire (but it's Gs we're talking about here anyway)?

Coupon-mad

I was just trying to allay the OP's concerns.

A hearing in person is always best but not a deal breaker, better to defend anyway, fill in the N180 DQ with holiday dates etc., as if he/she is going to attend a hearing locally, and actually decide later.

MothballsWallet

No problem, C-M - I just wanted to clarify as I've seen the usual advice is to go for an in person hearing as on the papers can give the claimant the advantage if the judge isn't clued up.

Jeff: as C-M says, put the dates you're not available onto the N180 DQ form you get from the court as a starting point.

And remember to ignore any DQ that comes from the claimant, they're trying to make you panic deliberately.

Jeff1279

Hi All,

Right - am back as things progressed as expected - filed my defence - got assigned to small claims - then assigned to a court near me (win) for the 10th December.

I scoured the letter from the court back to front - and there was no date by which I had to file a witness statement - just one for the claimant (Gladstones) to do so and file a fee by the 26th November.

They sent through their statement - in which they've suddenly changed their tune - to my parking (we'll come to that) in an area that's not meant for parking. Clearly a cut and paste - as it IS an area in which you can park - it even has markings - and after my wife stopped there, they even later put in physical raised lines where the markings were.

HOWEVER - 2 things:

1.) Have I screwed up by not filing my witness statement 14 days before (even though there's no date in the letter?

2.) My defence (as per statement above) rests on not being parked but STOPPED, and that post the date she was stopped they changed the signs (I have evidence that they didn't say this when she stopped) to take account of stopping/waiting.

Given this - I'm surprised that no one on the forum suggested I use the Jopson vs Homeguard defence in which the appeals judge defines stopping for a minute as this:

"Neither party was able to direct the court to any authority on the meaning of
the word “park”. However, the Shorter Oxford Dictionary has the following:
“To leave a vehicle in a carpark or other reserved space” and “To leave in a
suitable place until required.” The concept of parking, as opposed to
stopping, is that of leaving a car for some duration of time beyond that needed
for getting in or out of it, loading or unloading it, and perhaps coping with
some vicissitude of short duration, such as changing a wheel in the event of a
puncture. Merely to stop a vehicle cannot be to park it; otherwise traffic jams
would consist of lines of parked cars. Delivery vans, whether for post,
newspapers, groceries, or anything else, would not be accommodated on an
interpretation which included vehicles stopping for a few moment for these
purposes. Discussion in this area left the respondent in obvious difficulties,
from which the attractive advocacy of Miss Fenwick was unable to rescue it.
21 Whether a car is parked, or simply stopped, or left for a moment while
unloading, or (to take an example discussed in argument) accompanying a
frail person inside, must be a question of fact or degree. I think in the end this
was agreed. A milkman leaving his float to carry bottles to the flat would not
be “parked”. Nor would a postman delivering letters, a wine merchant
delivering a case of wine, and nor, I am satisfied, a retailer’s van, or indeed
the appellant, unloading an awkward piece of furniture. Any other approach
would leave life in the block of flats close to unworkable, a consideration
9
© Crown Copyright
which those instructing Miss Fenwick seemed reluctant to accept. I am quite
satisfied, and I find as a fact, that while the appellant’s car had been stationary
for more than a minute and without its driver for the same period (whatever
precisely it was), while she carried in her desk, it was not “parked”.
Accordingly, for that reason too, the appellant was not liable to the charge
stipulated in the respondent’s notice. "

Any reason I simply don't use this as part of my witness statement?

Cheers!

KeithP

Look again at your Notice of Allocation. The Notice that gives the hearing date.

Is there not a paragraph something like:

Each party must deliver to every other party and to the court office copies of all documents on which he intends to rely at the hearing no later than [ . . . ] [14 days before the hearing].

Might be on the back.

Those documents you intend to rely on are your Witness Statement and evidence.

Jeff1279

Nope. I photographed all sides of it! Anyway - I guess I should submit sharpish?

Coupon-mad

What, does the letter just say 'the Claimant must file & serve the evidence upon which they rely and any WS...'?

Jeff1279

Hi,

Right - I’ve screwed up as these details were in the first letter from the court. That letter had no date for the hearing - I then got another one with the exact court location and a date. So I forgot about the first letter.

So I have 8 days as of today. Should I just file a witness statement today or am I screwed? If so I’ll just pay the damn thing and be done with it assuming that’s still possible.