Received County Court Claims form

JasonHar1

This afternoon I've received the collated court bundle from BWL, it needs to be agreed and submitted by 4pm tomorrow. They have included all of my documents as requested.

For the Witness Statements the Court Orders specifically stated that they should be in 12 font size, double-spaced and no more than 6 pages. The Claimants WS is 14 pages long, some of which is complaining that I've wasted a lot of their time by copying & pasting from online forums, (material which I cannot possibly understand and which is therefore non-sensical) and citing this one as an example. In the bundle they have used a highlighter pen to mark the section of the orders which set out the parameters for the WSs.

Is it reasonable for me to email them with something along the lines of " I cannot agree to the inclusion of your Witness Statement, which is currently 14 pages long, when the Court Orders (which you have used a highlighter pen to emphasise in the Evidence Bundle) specifically limit the Witness Statement to 6 pages in length of 12 font and double spaced. Please amend accordingly."?

I'm assuming that if I approve it as it stands then I am in effect giving my consent to them submitting a WS which is over double the prescribed length.

Thanks.

SayNoToPCN

Have you checked the quality of all your documents? Some legal,s have "accidentally" reduced teh quality of photos etc to illegibility before now...

Their WS issues:
I would definitely object to it, copying in the court as well. Thta way the court knows the claimant is trying to dump this on you a day before the deadline.

If you dont get a response in time, then maintain your objection, and then raise that wiith the court as a preliminary matter, ie that the claimant has broken the  courts order of X date, made by Y judge, in that their WS grossly exceeds the maximum length the order allows for, and you ask that the court applies a reasonable sanction. 

JasonHar1

I objected, quoting the notice of allocation "ii. limited to 6 sides double spaced 12 font".

They have responded with "In respect of the Notice of Allocation".... "please note that the Claimant is unable to limit their statement to 12 pages due to the defendant's lengthy, cut and paste internet Defence.

Constricting the length of the staement would severly prejudice the Claimant's case and impede their ability to present all pertinent issues to the court. A full detailed position has been provided for in this statement to allow both the Defendant to understand the Claimant's case and for the honourable Court to make a fair determination based on all the relevant facts. The Claimant has attempted to comply with the NOA with their statement being 14 pages."

I need to respond fairly quickly.

Are they misreading the order? I read 6 sides double spaced 12 font to be 6 pages of double spaced text in size 12 font.

Does it matter and should I point out that it is 6 pages, not 12 that they were instructed not to exceed? Do I comment on their continuing complaints ref: copy and paste internet defence? The deadline for submission is 4pm.

JasonHar1

I've just noticed that the response was addressed to the Court and CC'ed to me.

SayNoToPCN

Yes, 6 SIDES means a total of 6 sides. Maybe they misread and thought it said 6 pages....

Maybe point out to the court that a lot of the claimants WS is a copy and paste job, prolix with no bearing on this claim, and in fact advances letgal arguments not contained in the original POC. 

If the limitation to 6 pages was so serious an issue, the claimant should have realised this a lot earlier, and not on the deadline. 
The defendant asks that the court applies an approirpiate sanction for breach of the courts order, such as a striking out of the non-compliant WS. 

Coupon-mad

This is hilarious!   They can't amend their template because...cough...it's a template complaining about you using a template!

JasonHar1

So they have asked the Court to allow their 14 page WS, when it should have been 6. Complaining again about my copy and paste internet defence.

I've also emailed the court, mentioning that their WS has a lot of copy and paste and mentioned some of SayNoToPCN's other points and asked the Court to strike out their WS.

The 4pm submission deadline for the bundle has passed. The Court haven't responded as yet.

SayNoToPCN

They likely won't.  Usually this is a hearing discussion. 

JasonHar1

As far as I can tell the evidence bundle hasn't been submitted then.

It was sent to me for my approval, I objected, they disagreed, I countered, then nothing.

SayNoToPCN

They may have filed it anyway, given the subject of the rebuttal