Responding to a Court Summons

KeithP

Yesterday I wrote this:

KeithP wrote: »

Mappy3333 wrote: »

...but how would anybody suggest I include the videos I have shot.

They must be sent on a 'durable medium' to both the Claimant and the Court.

A 'durable medium' is something that once sent cannot be altered by the sender.

In the case of video, that means you are effectively limited to either a CD/DVD, or memory stick/card.

Your idea of a link to a Dropbox file is not acceptable as you could alter that file after it has been sent.

You also need to consider how you are going to show the video at the hearing. Take a laptop or tablet with you that is capable of playing the chosen durable medium.

...and this:

KeithP wrote: »

A video file as an attachment to an email is another example of a 'durable medium', but you might need the explicit agreement of the court and the claimant to accept evidence that way.

There are not many new questions on here.

thanfrancis

Hahaha, it's typical that you answered this yesterday (I made my ~7th attempt to find a reliable answer on Sunday). Note to self - always run a final search before posting

Thank you again Keith - I'll keep updating with progress.

thanfrancis

UPDATE: Today I won at court. The judge ruled that:

- there was significant glare from the signage in the claimant's photographs which made it illegible
- that the smallprint text on the signage was not of sufficient size, against the IPC's code of conduct
- that the overall signage itself (18inx24in) was not of sufficient size
- that there was not enough signage for the size of the site
- that signage was not visible until at least after the driver had entered the site as it was parallel to the entrance
- that no contract was formed because there was no offer of parking and the charge was penalising
- that the position of the closest signage would not have been possible for a driver to see when reversing into spot, exiting the vehicle or walking away from the vehicle
- that the one piece of signage which may have been in the driver's view was surrounded by electrical warning signs and graffiti which would have distracted the driver's eye
- that as the claimant had admitted that they had to replace signage close to 40 times due to vandalism, and had been unable to produce dates of replacement, it was fair that I raised doubt about whether signage was in place at the time of parking (in a google streetview image taken 5 months before the incident no signage was in place despite the claimant claiming to be operating at the time in their proof of permission to operate) even if it was improbable that it had been put up by a warden in stealth

As a result he found in my favour (defendant/keeper) and dismissed the £260+ claim. The claimant requested to appeal. The request to appeal was rejected on the grounds that the judge did not believe there were was a reasonable chance of success.

I asked for my costs to be awarded per the schedule I had submitted, and was awarded £90 for labour and £10 for transportation. The judge turned down my effort to claim a further ~£60 on the grounds that bringing the case was "unreasonable". He requested the £100 be paid by the claimant within 28 days.

The claimant is adamant that they plan to appeal and as such the judge requested that I email him soft copies of my defence. If that happens I will upload the any transcripts I receive.

I'm not sure how an appeal works in a case where it has been rejected so if anyone has any knowledge I'd love to know. Thank you once again to everyone who helped above, this is our win (plural) :-).

thanfrancis

Today I received notice of an Appellant's notice of appeal from the claimant. They were not granted permission to appeal but are requesting permission to do so in their N164.

Could I ask whether I should consider to undertaking any action at this stage? And whether I should receive a transcript of the proceeding at any stage? (as if so I would like to be able to share it publicly).

Coupon-mad

Interesting! Sorry that no-one replied when you posted about your win, I expect we were pretty much all on holiday in August!

The PPC on the is "PACE RECOVERY & STORAGE LIMITED" a.k.a Ace Security Services.

OK, so there is nothing to be done at this stage until you get directions from the court, if a Senior Circuit Judge agrees that the first Judge possibly could be considered to have erred in law and that the case is arguable at appeal. They might refuse!

But the parking firm will need to get a transcript to appeal this, so I would in fact send their data protection officer a SAR request, specifically asking for the hearing transcript for claim xxxxxxx as it includes your data and you believe they hold that transcript - or are about to get it - and you require them to share that data with you when they get it, as is your right under the GDPR.

thanfrancis

Thank you Coupon-mad! Yes, the forum definitely goes a little quiet in August (as do the courts seemingly). Perfect - I've just filed another GDPR request as advised, so I'll pop back on here if the transcript comes through or if the court approves the request.

Castle

thanfrancis wrote: »

Today I received notice of an Appellant's notice of appeal from the claimant. They were not granted permission to appeal but are requesting permission to do so in their N164.

Have they paid the £100 which the court awarded to you?

thanfrancis

Castle wrote: »

Have they paid the £100 which the court awarded to you?

Yes, they paid this around a week ago by BACS.

thanfrancis

Just attaching some of the Claimant's reasoning below for context:

thanfrancis

Interesting... following an SAR (per Coupon-mad's advice) their data officer has referred me to Paragraph 5, Part 1, Schedule 2 of the 2018 Data Protection Act ("as this is in connection with legal proceedings the GDPR provisions do not apply").

They also claim that their appeal is presently against the ruling of the Court and "at this stage has nothing to do with me".