BW Legal/ UK parking Patrol (again!)

Fruitcake

Arrive early. See an usher to find out where the hearing will be held, and ask for the judge's name. Refer to the judge as "Judge" and nothing else. Don't interrupt her/him or the opposition. If you are taken to the hearing by an usher, tell them you want to bring up a preliminary matter and ask them to let the judge know in advance, but in any case, speak up as soon as introductions have been made. If you are offered 

If the opposition speak to you beforehand, be polite but refuse to engage otherwise, and refuse to accept anything from them. Do not tell them about the preliminary matter.

Good luck. Win or lose, hold your head high and know you have probably cost the PPC more money than they will recover even if they win.

Fruitcake

Take crib notes with you with para numbers of your and their witness statements so you can quickly guide the judge to the relevant parts.

The PPC's rep gets to go first so make notes of what they say and the relevant paragraph numbers so you can counter anything said.

moneylion

thank you so much - wouldnt have been able to do this without you guys! 

moneylion

Right fresh from the court. 

They had sent an agent - who was friendly but was not helped by roboclaim bw legal. 

Judge set about confirming the Witness statements and Defence filed. The agent had the wrong bundle of documents - apparently the claimant WS was 100-something pages but the Court and me had only received about 30 pages. 

Secondly as part of preliminary matters I requested the additional WS get struck off. The judge read out the procedural rules and asked why it wasnt filed 14 days before. The agent said because new information was made available by the Defence WS. The judge then confirmed that my WS was filed over a year ago so why it took the solicitors a year to realise this? He proceeded to strike the additional information out. 

Coming back to the wrong Claimant WS, the agent asked for court adjournment. I asked that this is unreasonable behaviour given that the claimant is a professional firm. If I, as a litigant in person can get my documents in order, the claimant should be expected to as well. Judge unfortunately said that the bar for unreasonableness is at a higher threshold and granted adjournment but recorded that he was concerned about the Claimant's behaviour on this matter and that the Defence raises several forceful points so the matter should be heard. 

We then proceeded to costs. I asked for a full days of cost in terms of lost of earnings and travel costs. Agent said only an hour should be given. Judge considered it and awarded half days costs plus travel costs - £62 payable within 14 days. 

So i now have to wait for the new hearing date (it's been adjourned for 14 days) - atleast I have some money back from them and their own time wasting .. would have really preferred this matter would have closed. 

Fruitcake

What a shambles, and yet again another case where the claimant has been given far more leeway than the defendant. 

A good report and a good result nevertheless. You have already cost the PPC more than they will ever get back, even if you lose the final hearing.

Keep up the good work.

Castle

moneylion said:

Right fresh from the court. 

They had sent an agent - who was friendly but was not helped by roboclaim bw legal. 

Judge set about confirming the Witness statements and Defence filed. The agent had the wrong bundle of documents - apparently the claimant WS was 100-something pages but the Court and me had only received about 30 pages. 

Secondly as part of preliminary matters I requested the additional WS get struck off. The judge read out the procedural rules and asked why it wasnt filed 14 days before. The agent said because new information was made available by the Defence WS. The judge then confirmed that my WS was filed over a year ago so why it took the solicitors a year to realise this? He proceeded to strike the additional information out. 

You may want to check when the 100 page claimant WS arrives if they have tried to "sneak in" any of the new stuff included in the very late WS which the Judge struck out.

patient_dream

Castle is 100% right. BWL have done this once  and could well try again.

For BWLegal, it would have been cheaper if the judge dismissed the claim. As it stands, it has cost them (the PPC) your costs and the fees of the legal rep. They cannot re-claim these

This could repeat itself again BECAUSE BWLegal have no guarantee they will win a second time

So you now wait to see what kicks in ... Intelligence of Stupidity

Coupon-mad

...as part of preliminary matters I requested the additional WS get struck off. The judge read out the procedural rules and asked why it wasnt filed 14 days before. The agent said because new information was made available by the Defence WS. The judge then confirmed that my WS was filed over a year ago so why it took the solicitors a year to realise this? He proceeded to strike the additional information out. 

That's good!

And you got your wasted costs and the Judge felt your defence was strong.

It would not surprise me if they discontinue and cut their losses now.

Le_Kirk

It makes my blood boil whenever I read about more leeway being given to, as you put it OP, so-called professional outfits who cannot get their act together and amateurs, LIP's can.  They may say that the defendant has only one case and the claimant and/or their agents have many but that is their job for goodness sake!

moneylion

moneylion said:

Right fresh from the court. 

They had sent an agent - who was friendly but was not helped by roboclaim bw legal. 

Judge set about confirming the Witness statements and Defence filed. The agent had the wrong bundle of documents - apparently the claimant WS was 100-something pages but the Court and me had only received about 30 pages. 

Secondly as part of preliminary matters I requested the additional WS get struck off. The judge read out the procedural rules and asked why it wasnt filed 14 days before. The agent said because new information was made available by the Defence WS. The judge then confirmed that my WS was filed over a year ago so why it took the solicitors a year to realise this? He proceeded to strike the additional information out. 

Coming back to the wrong Claimant WS, the agent asked for court adjournment. I asked that this is unreasonable behaviour given that the claimant is a professional firm. If I, as a litigant in person can get my documents in order, the claimant should be expected to as well. Judge unfortunately said that the bar for unreasonableness is at a higher threshold and granted adjournment but recorded that he was concerned about the Claimant's behaviour on this matter and that the Defence raises several forceful points so the matter should be heard. 

We then proceeded to costs. I asked for a full days of cost in terms of lost of earnings and travel costs. Agent said only an hour should be given. Judge considered it and awarded half days costs plus travel costs - £62 payable within 14 days. 

So i now have to wait for the new hearing date (it's been adjourned for 14 days) - atleast I have some money back from them and their own time wasting .. would have really preferred this matter would have closed. 

Hi all - reviving this thread again as the new Court date has been set for June 25. 

BW legal have clearly not followed the Judge's orders by resending a new Claimant WS, and certainly not within the 14 day period that they were supposed to (in case something appears this week?) 

My question - advice appreciated. Do I write to the Court to state that the orders havent been followed or sit tight and mention it on the day. I am not even sure if they will turn up to Court on the day at this stage. Previously they have tried to get in contact a couple of weeks back offering to negotiate. Nothing this time around!