county court claim - civil enforcement

Coupon-mad

You are too late to alert the court to this and I'd worry that CEL might have filed a WS & evidence to the court but not to you...did you check?  I hope you told the court in writing that you hadn't had a WS from the Claimant and made sure the Judge knew that, just prior to the hearing on the papers?

stansmum

Yes, we wrote to the judge last week to inform him, so he knows that we haven’t received a witness statement. We called and made sure the message was passed on too. It isn’t due to be heard on papers until this Friday coming, so i think we’ll just write again to the court to say that we still haven’t received anything with only a few days to go.  They’ve missed the deadline by over a week. 

stansmum

Hi all - the case has been heard on papers and dismissed on the basis that the Claimant did not file any evidence, and that the signage and lighting was inadequate based on our evidence.  This is of course great news so thanks so much for all of your help.  
We did file a schedule of costs and asked that the judge consider these.  There is no mention of them in the order, so should I assume that the judge has considered this and decided against awarding costs?  or should we file a counterclaim? 
Thanks in advance. 

Le_Kirk

I guess, as it was heard on papers, that there would be no costs because you did not have to go to court.  You don't normally have costs awarded unless you can prove unreasonable behaviour, which is a high bar to cross.  You could file a counterclaim but what will be your basis for it and what loss/costs have you incurred?

ETA - Well done on the win!

stansmum

Thanks. The unreasonable behaviour first being that they pursued a claim that they knew they could not win, given the >£100 issue where they should know that a parking charge cannot exceed this. Secondly by providing no evidence at all to us or the judge. 

While I know that no costs have been incurred from eg a hearing, from other threads I have read that you can claim litigant in person fees that cover the time it took to pull the paperwork together? If this is definitely a non-runner, happy to be told! 

KeithP

The 'litigant in person' costs you mention are up to half a days pay for attending a hearing and the costs of attending the hearing, e.g. travel, parking.
It does not cover any preparation costs.

You did not attend a hearing.

I believe you are now too late to put forward a case for extra costs due to the Claimant's unreasonable behaviour, but even so, that is set at a high bar.

Redx

You can write to the court and ask for costs , but it should have been in your summary costs assessment filed with your WS and exhibits ( not a schedule of costs , but at least they were submitted )

The time for a counter claim was at the point you filed your Defence , months ago

You can start a claim through mcol , same as they did , but it's a new claim , not a counter claim

either way , well done , Another one bites the dust !!!

stansmum

Thank you. I think we will just leave it here. The win is enough for us! Thanks everyone. 

D_P_Dance

Personally, I always pursue companies when they waste my time.  I have recently received £75 from PC World for a failed delivery, compensation from BG for a no show, and EE for a billing error.  If you do not ask you do not get.

Coupon-mad

stansmum said:

Thank you. I think we will just leave it here. The win is enough for us! Thanks everyone. 

Congrats on your win!  Yet another CEL one bites the dust!