Court Claim received, need a little reassurance that I'm in the right direction

robertcox999

My telephone hearing is tomorrow at 2pm. The last letter from the court ordered the claimant's legal representative to arrange the telephone conference. So that would be Gladstones. Still heard nothing... do I just expect them to call me at 2pm tomorrow? Or should I call the court in the morning to clarify?

Thanks

Umkomaas

do I just expect them to call me at 2pm tomorrow?

Does the court have your telephone number?  Have you given it to Gladstones in the specific context of arranging the hearing?

Have you checked your Junk mail in case anything pertinent to the hearing has dropped in there?

robertcox999

Umkomaas said:

do I just expect them to call me at 2pm tomorrow?

Does the court have your telephone number?  Have you given it to Gladstones in the specific context of arranging the hearing?

Have you checked your Junk mail in case anything pertinent to the hearing has dropped in there?

Yes, yes and yes. Gave my number to both of them when sending my WS - a cover letter specifically saying this is my phone number for the hearing. Checked my junk but nothing.

Coupon-mad

I would re-forward that email to the Court and say you are concerned that you have gone to the enormous trouble of defending a claim and putting together a detailed witness statement at significant cost to your time and peace of mind during the pandemic crisis, and also supplied your phone number (as shown in the forwarded email below) to Gladstones but have heard nothing at all about them arranging the conference call.   

You have taken a day off work (if true) because you have had to make yourself unavailable and your job is xxxxxxx.

No Notice of Discontinuance has been received, just silence.

As such, you fear that Gladstones have not bothered to arrange the call and hearing and planned to just waste your time and the court's time.  So, you ask that this email is put before the Judge before the hearing and that it becomes a costs hearing instead, with the court please phoning you to speak for 5 minutes with the Judge to explain your costs assessment which accompanied the witness statement and evidence. 

Say that the entire process has taken you completely out of your comfort zone and if, as you suspect, the Claimant has just not bothered to comply with the Order requiring them to arrange the telephone hearing,  you believe that the high bar in Dammerman* has ben met and you wish the Judge to speak with you and assess your full costs, on the basis of the wholly unreasonable and vexatious conduct of this Claimant and their legal representatives. 

* https://www.portner.co.uk/news/unreasonable-behaviour-in-relation-to-costs-in-the-small-claims-track

Le_Kirk

Whilst it would be a shame to waste that brilliant WS, a strike out by the judge for poor behaviour by so-called professionals would be a result.  Let us know (I am sure you will) how it goes.

robertcox999

Just got off the phone from my hearing. Judge Bland at Lancaster. Don't know what happened, he sided with the claimant from the start and found against every single point that I made - he didn't even admit one of my points. 

Finally, at the end, they went through the costs and the claimant rep tried to add £150 for attendance. The judge awarded £50.
So I have to pay £313 in total now..


I don't get it... was the judge completely biased or what?


Thanks for the help anyway. Although I completely regret wasting my time now and having to pay even more than before.

Coupon-mad

Wow, that is awful.  DJ lottery is bruising when you get a bad one. 

He didn't even get that adding £60 is disallowed and that the Semark-Jullien appeal means diddly squat in that regard?

How does it make £313 if this was the claim? 

 (in the court claim letter they say they are claiming 100 for PCN, 60 for contractual costs and 6 for interest).

There would have been £50 legal fees too, but that's not £313!

When you calm down, can you give us a blow by blow account and the Judge's name if you remember it?

Did the Judge not have your WS or hadn't read it or looked at your evidence?

robertcox999

DJ bland. I’ll go through it all if you like but it was pretty simple. Claimant read out their argument. I read out mine which was pretty much my WS points. Claimant responded saying they say time stamps aren’t a legitimate way of proving the date a photo was taken and that the photos they supplied were there at the time.


After that, the judge systematically went through all my points and disagreed with each one.

Claimant then clarified all costs and asked to add their cost for turning up. End of story. What else do you need to know?

Coupon-mad

How did he arrive at £313, and what did he say about the Salisbury appeal, had he wrongly thought that adding £60 is now OK?

nosferatu1001

Sounds like he gave costs for the CLAIMANTs attendance - which is disallowed under the CPRs....