County Court Judgement Received

Johnersh

nosferatu1001 said:

Inded - what else is happening?
Congrats on getting costs immediately. Did they have a rep on the call? 

On too many of these (at least as reported on here) the set aside happens and then the ppc gets directions made for D to serve a defence as a matter of course.  In fact, that should only occur where D has stuffed up when receiving papers. 

Maniak

Looks like the OP has posted on the LegalBeagles forum too.

There's a write up over there of his hearing.

https://legalbeagles.info/forums/forum/legal-forums/court-claims-and-issues/1523160-urgent-help-re-set-aside-hearing-in-8-days-time-via-telephone-private-parking

DoaM

Copy/paste from LB forum, for information:

Hearing time - approx 20 mins in total.
Result - Mandatory Set aside under 13.2 with 14 days to pay the costs £255.

Ruling that Judgement wrongly entered.
Time for acknowledging the claim didn't begin.
6.9.3 of CPR states

Where a claimant has reason to believe that the address of the defendant referred to in entries 1, 2 or 3 in the table in paragraph (2) is an address at which the defendant no longer resides or carries on business, the claimant must take reasonable steps to ascertain the address of the defendant’s current residence or place of business (‘current address’).

The hearing started 'off-piste' for what I was expecting and had the feeling this was not going to be a 'walkover' to say the least. Judge went straight into why he though it shouldn't be set-aside, that 'there is no reason why' as they had complied by sending to your last known address, eventually I was able to recover the situation, taking it back, stating some timeline to the proceeding and asking if he had received by electronic bundle, and building from there to state that under 13.2 and 13.3 I have mandatory and discretionary grounds.

He stopped me again and said, this is leading back to his question still. Cue 'heart in mouth moment' as I feared that I was about to be 'steam-rollered' and sent packing. Judge asked me my address, and whether I had received any witness statements by xxx, I said I had not (I have the suspicion they have still sent to the old address even after all of this and having my new one). I referred to some items in the bundle namely credit report/DVLA/and a postal letter out of the blue - post judgement - from the solicitors to my new address showing that I was there to be found if they had tried. I stated that a CCJ is a serious issue that can result in my employment being terminated, and that I would never disregard such a matter. Ultimately though, the length of time was key in 'turning the tide' here, as it is reasonable to assume 'no response' could well be due to moving home given it was in excess of two years since PCN.

I had many more arguments to give but this seemed to be the turning point combined with the length of time that had elapsed being enough for that part of the test, and didn't need to elaborate any further,

On to the defence. He asked about any other correspondence, when they filed the claim etc, I then checked the emails with a deathly silence, to confirm they had not sent a witness statement to me despite claiming they had to the Judge, I mentioned that I had received some photographs, and pdf docs after a subject access request, though confuses matters and the documents would have gone to an old address in any case (not sure what he was getting at there to be honest) but he moved on from that.

Judge asked what I would do if it was set-aside, I said I would file a defence, and defend the claim. 'on what basis' he asked. I stated that have a number of various points, the first of which is the signage:

The signage contained particularly onerous terms not sufficiently drawn to the attention of the visitor as set out in the leading judgment of J Spurling v BradshawÂ*[1956] EWCA Civ 3

The Particulars of Claim state that the Defendant “was driver/keeper)”. These assertions indicate that the Claimant has failed to identify a Cause of Action, and is simply offering a menu of choices. As such, the Claim fails to comply with Civil Procedure Rule 16.4, or with Civil Practice Direction 16, paras. 7.3 to 7.5. Further, the particulars of the claim do not meet the requirements of Practice Direction 16, 7.5 as there is nothing which specifies how the terms were breached.

Due to the sparseness of the particulars, it is unclear as to what legal basis the claim is brought, whether for breach of contract, contractual liability, or trespass. However, it is denied that the Defendant, or any driver of the vehicle, entered into any contractual agreement with the Claimant, whether express, implied, or by conduct.

I actually had alot more to say with regards to other lines of defence, though this seemed to be enough as he then said the magic words and said he will be requesting that the claimant files a certificate to prove they are sending to the correct address in the next stage in the process.

Reasons given were - not validly served 6.9.3 CPR, claimant had reason to believe defendant not residing at the address given the significant time period from PCN, no reply reasons sufficient and claimant should have taken reasonable steps. Time for acknowledging the claim did not ever begin.

On to costs - Judge asked whether I had any other matter. I then stated that I would like to raise the issue of costs for todays hearing namely the £255 fee I had to pay. I asked for costs to be ordered (make sure you ask him to order, do not expect them to give them unless you use the word order!), this is a mandatory set-aside. He agreed and outlined what happens next and that he will order that they provide a certificate to prove they are serving to the correct address, they must file accordingly within 14 days to the correct address. Then I will have to file defence within 14 days of that, then to file directions Q's.

Blue1133

Yes  write up on LB forum, they have to file within 14 days, then I will have 14 days after that, and so on with the Qs.
Thanks for all of your help, hopefully the write up will help others on what to expect on the day. You cant just turn up (via phone in this case) and expect a rubber stamp, you have to know the relevant CPR points, once you have that, and have showed how unreasonably they have acted within the law, in this case  2 yrs on they should have suspected a home move had taken place, they have not acted properly and it tips in your favour 

Blue1133

To confirm, yes, they have been stuffed for the £255, hit them where it hurts. 14 days is ticking!

Le_Kirk

According to that court report by the OP on Legal Beagles, he still has to defend the original claim once the claimant has proved they are sending stuff to the correct address.

Blue1133

Le_Kirk said:

According to that court report by the OP on Legal Beagles, he still has to defend the original claim once the claimant has proved they are sending stuff to the correct address.

Correct

Blue1133

They have 14 days, then once they file, I have 14 days from then to file a defence, and then have the Questionnaire 

Blue1133

They did not attend the hearing, they relied on a witness statement and original claim, however, I this wasn't served.

henrik777

Most of what i have argued on here for a few months,vindicated.

Hope others are similarly going to argue the same stuff successfully.