Gladstones Defence required Urgent

monkeynuts45

Once again a massive thanks to all on here who take the time to sift through random panicking posts from numpties like me

The dice has now been thrown as i have submitted all my documents, let see what the day brings on 16th Dec.

The resources that have been made easily find able on here (thanks coupon mad) have been a god send, and have made my life considerably easier. Just wish i had seen this forum before it all started as i would have been significantly better armed earlier on in the proceedings.

Once again thanks all.

monkeynuts45

Right all you lovely people, well we have had a turn up for the books, Friday afternoon at 3:30 I had a mail asking if I would be prepared to settle as the client could not attend on Monday and what would I pay, respond my 4pm, then another email at 4:30 with the attached notice of discontinuation. None of these mails I picked up until this morning by chance, if I wasn’t looking for something else I would have still travelled to court on Monday and took the day off work.



I only received their witness statement on Wednesday and was planning on spending all weekend picking it apart. I am both glad but annoyed as I was kind of looking forward to the process, after putting in the effort with the obvious tons of help from on here.



Well i might just have a few beers this evening instead now

Redx

Check with the Court on Monday that the hearing is vacated , ask for it to be a costs hearing , perhaps write to the judge and ask for a costs hearing ?

monkeynuts45

Will deffo check with the court on Monday morning.



With a cost hearing, would that just so i can recover cost? As TBH its a massive PITA for me to get there too. And i doubt it would cover my time off never mind anything else.

Coupon-mad

Hmmm...no, don't do that.

How about going anyway and saying you only got their WS last Wednesday and are here for your hearing, and if the Court say it is vacated then ask to see the Judge for 5 minutes about having your costs awarded against the Claimant.

It's quite possible the court has NOT received the discontinuance in time and your case will still be listed, in which case sign in with the Usher as normal, and get in front of the Judge and prove they only emailed you AFTER 4pm on Friday and so you've gone to the trouble of attending, due to your costs thus far and in the worry that the hearing would not have been vacated and you might be adversely judged for not showing up.

Have you already filed & served a COSTS SCHEDULE? You need to add up your extraordinary costs and ask for an order that the C has acted 'wholly unreasonably' whilst being legally represented and a serial litigator, but treating a member of the public like this:

- harassing you with debt demands of different amounts, for xx months/years

- trying to claim a sum that they 'knew or should have known' was unrecoverable, given the POFA 4(5), the Beavis case 98,193 and 198, and the CRA 2015 para 6, 10 and 14 of the grey list in Schedule 2. Have that ready and understand the argument against the £60 add-on, in case the Judge doesn't know what you mean. Courts in Carnarfon, Southampton and Warwick have summarily struck cases out due to the added £60 alone.

- not bothering with full particulars of claim, or sending a copy of the contract (sign) with the Letter before Claim, which is against the pre-action protocol for debt claims.

- not bothering to file & serve evidence or a WS until late last week, against the court's clear directions

- asking for settlement on Friday by email, which you did not see until the weekend when you were then in two minds what to do, because they appeared to have tried to discontinue but well after the court offices would have closed

- thus, making you miss a day's work and causing you travel costs and distress to have to attend this hearing, when they had ample opportunity to discontinue when they saw your WS & evidence that you spent xx hours on, and £x printing and postal costs, and which you filed & served in time.

Getting costs on the indemnity basis on top of the usual £95 ordinary costs for loss of leave/salary and travel, is a high bar but I reckon you can reach for it! Print out the email showing the times that they contacted you on Friday...

Go on, and say the time spent was 25 hours at £19 per hour - go on! Think of this as a challenge to try to get c£500 awarded for a half hour conversation...

monkeynuts45

[FONT=&quot]You do make a very good point, and tbh they have had plenty of time to file the discontinuation, and the fact their WS was just a clear argument against mine and not a clear WS with evidence, arguing the justification for the 60 pound add on, and was only sent a few days before court.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Gladstones are as usual playing fast and loose with the systems. I too was sceptical that the court would have received the discontinuation in time to pull the hearing, as last thing on a Friday is taking the proverbial tbh.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]My only issue is the case is in Coventry as at the time of filing I was working there, now I have moved to Liverpool, so my cost schedule is already over 600, with travel etc.
[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Will ponder over the next day! I already have the bevis vs PE all printed and was included in my WS, as was all the recent cases for the abuse of process.
[/FONT]

Coupon-mad

Oooh, try for more like £800 then. Not joking. You are having to travel from Liverpool and the parking firm and their solicitors KNEW that. Add your hours wasted on this case that could have been better spent working or with loved ones.

Try for your actual hourly rate, if higher than £19 per hour, and read the CPRs on costs first in case the Judge is bad on costs. Be informed!

I would go, if I were you, because I cannot see how the court will have taken it off the list and you will get a chance to sing for your supper/Xmas dinner and plenty of wine/beer or whatever, all on the parking firm!

Or, if the case it in the afternoon, ring the court at 9am and find out if it is still listed. If it is, get there.

If it's in the morning, just go there to the court. Make sure you are NOT fobbed off that there is no case listed, we get fed up when people say they were turned away - DON'T BE. Insist politely that you are here for your hearing and need to see the Judge for 5 or ten mins only about your wasted costs.

monkeynuts45

OOh that does put a different spin on it, will check out the CPR's just looking it up now, are we talking Part 44 General rules on costs.... i was under the impression teh 95 quid was all i could get.



My case is i think 2 in the afternoon, so could ring in the morning but then i potentially would miss out on as you say "singing for my supper" hmmm

monkeynuts45

I like the fact that CPR states repeatadly about conduct but particulary:


(5) The conduct of the parties includes –
(a) conduct before, as well as during, the proceedings and in particular the extent to which the parties followed the Practice Direction – Pre-Action Conduct or any relevant pre-action protocol;
(b) whether it was reasonable for a party to raise, pursue or contest a particular allegation or issue;
(c) the manner in which a party has pursued or defended its case or a particular allegation or issue; and
(d) whether a claimant who has succeeded in the claim, in whole or in part, exaggerated its claim.


Court’s powers in relation to misconduct

44.11
(1) The court may make an order under this rule where –
(a) a party or that party’s legal representative, in connection with a summary or detailed assessment, fails to comply with a rule, practice direction or court order; or
(b) it appears to the court that the conduct of a party or that party’s legal representative, before or during the proceedings or in the assessment proceedings, was unreasonable or improper.


Its interesting reading, will get stuck into it later.

Coupon-mad

i was under the impression the 95 quid was all i could get.

If the court only awards ordinary costs, yes.

I am not talking about ordinary costs.

If you look at the costs schedule examples posted on here in the last two months, people have been breaking their schedules into two heads of costs, one worked out as 'ordinary costs' and one worked out as 'punitive full costs for unreasonable conduct by the claimant'.

You seem very close to reaching that bar which is why I typed out a list of things you should mention that tip it over that edge in the Judge's mind.

Your case is rare that the PPC has served a very late WS and then failed to discontinue in time for you to fairly see it and be sure the case hearing is vacated.

You can reasonably conclude that you have little choice but to travel and sit in that waiting room till you see a Judge, armed with your costs schedule but in addition, an argument for ''costs on the indemnity basis to penalise their vexatious conduct and send a message out to parking firms who think they can play fast and loose with the court process and consumer laws.''

Say that. Try it. Take proof of your actual hourly rate with you too.

Get there at least half an hour early and try to get there an hour early in case of heavy traffic, as it can take 15 mins just to get past security, which at a court is like going through an airport.