JLA "Stopping" Charge

Router66

The case has been re-listed to be heard in November by a different judge (DDJ Nabou).

It is recorded that:

a) The claimant has failed to comply with paragraph 6 of the 18th May order in relation to the trial bundle.
b) The defendants bundle is very large and not paginated.
c) The court requires compliance with the order on the part of the claimant.

Further to my post of 25th July 1:38pm. (Page 19)

It appears I misunderstood the requirement for VCS to provide the court with a paginated and indexed bundle within 7 days; the order actually states: 7 days before the hearing the claimant must file and serve a hearing bundle which is paginated in number form and with an index and must include the defendants evidence filed on 10th June 2022...I believe the rest of my report to be accurate.

 Judge Blakeborough made it very clear to Mr. Efobe (VCS rep.) that VCS did not have a good case and even if they did prevail the maximum they would be able to claim would be £100.00 regardless of whether it was herself or someone else who heard the case.

Since this is not mentioned in the order I am concerned that VCS are being given a second bite of the cherry and will be encouraged to try their luck again.

It is accepted that the defendants WS is quite large in total but the actual WS and exhibits is only 41 pages and these are paginated and indexed. The other 40 pages are case transcripts and un-cropped versions of GSV exhibits which don’t show the year/month of when the image was taken.

Would it be permitted to ask the court to record in the new order that the maximum charge claimable would be £100.00? Also, would it be permitted to re-submit the WS as a 42 page document (VCS WS is 50 pages)? The additional page would just include links to the transcripts with hard copies of the un-cropped GSV exhibits being made available at the hearing, should they be required?
Any advice greatly received...

Coupon-mad

No and no.  Leave it as it is.

The Judge's comment about the £100 was just an aside - I see it as a strong hint to the Claimant to discontinue, given he also commented their case was weak.  It was not a finding nor an order.

Let the Claimant have the burden of creating a fully paginated bundle that includes your full transcripts. That's what the Judge has done!

Clever Judges. I think VCS will discontinue rather than do all this for a weak case.

Router66

Thanks C-M, your re-assurance is very welcome in what is a first court appearance... 

Coupon-mad

As this might go very quiet now, until they either drop out or comply in early November, please make sure you don't miss the vital 'private parking charge levels' (the extortionate money) Public Consultation which I am guessing we might see the DLUHC release around October.

We have to wait until a new DLUHC SoS is appointed by the new PM in September first. Then a new Minister to be in charge of the parking Code of Practice and this final Consultation. 

This is the third one and they are only ever open for 4 weeks. Stick around here or 'bookmark' the top thread by MSE_JC (where we've briefly discussed this) and set email alerts for new posts on it.

Router66

I will be so mad if the consultation goes in favour of the parking companies. I will be hounding the family to contribute to the consultation as they have all been issued PCN's unfairly over the last 6 years and would have paid up if I had not come across Pepipoo and MSE.  Both forums provided me with advice on how to beat the PPC's and this is the first case that has gone near a court. Couldn't have done it without you...
 

Router66

Point 3 in the orders for the re-listed hearing stated that 'the claimant is to pay the defendant £82 earnings and £12.50 travel by the 8th August 2022'. Unsurprisingly the payment has not been made, putting VCS in breach of court orders for both the initial hearing, (causing the hearing to be adjourned), and now the re-listed hearing. Should this latest breach be brought to the attention of the court immediately or when/if the re-arranged hearing takes place? Is it the responsibility of the defendant to chase VCS for the awarded costs whilst the claim is still live, or can the court intervene and strike out the claim?  
Advice is much appreciated...

Fruitcake

Remind VCS in writing that they owe you money as ordered by the court. Give them seven days from the date of issue of your correspondence to pay or you will be seeking a warrant of control against them.

Router66

Thank you for your suggestion @Fruitcake, which I will act upon. In addition I feel I should let the court know that VCS have failed to carry out the order made by Judge Blakeborough since the re-listed hearing will not be heard until November and then by a different judge. I would not want the second breach to go unnoticed after being paid a week late. To this end, I would look to put the court in copy of my reminder and ask them to apply the appropriate sanctions...assuming forum advice would support this way forward.
What do you think?

Fruitcake

Definitely alert the court that VCS have failed to comply with a court order, which in my opinion is more important than telling the court VCS failed to pay.
When you tell the court, you could do it in the form of a draft court order asking for the claim to be struck out and costs awarded to you for unreasonable behaviour.
IANAL, so I do not know the best way of doing this, but I suggest you warn VCS today about their failure to pay and warn them about obtaining a warrant of control.

Johnersh

I'd write, notifying them that payment is overdue and that you will seek now seek interest at judgment rate, running at £0.02 per day.

An approach which bears a delicious similarity to the standard particulars of a ppc.