CST Law case - Judgement made

LDast

I respectfully submit that the claimant's witness statement should not be accepted by the Court, as it fails to comply with CPR Part 32 and Practice Direction 32. The statement has been signed by a legal representative who does not have firsthand knowledge of the facts and events described within the statement.  This is highlighted by the embarrassing fact that they have simply copied and pasted their witness statement from a different case by a different claimant where they have referenced their client as being MET Parking Services Limited, a company completely unrelated to the Claimant in this case.

According to CPR 32.4, a witness statement is intended to contain evidence that the witness would be permitted to give orally, which typically necessitates personal knowledge of the matters in question. Furthermore, Practice Direction 32, paragraph 18.2, stipulates that a witness statement should only include evidence that the witness could provide from their own experience or direct observation.  Since the accuracy and applicability of the Claimants entire WS is in disrepute and the document is meaningless as it lacks the requisite reliability and credibility, it should be disregarded by the Court and dismissed accordingly.

               

Coupon-mad

That is what you can say about the WS but of course there's more in your case: the client is the wrong parking firm so the entire WS is in disrepute.  Nothing in the Claimant's WS says that the signatory of the supposed WS was instructed by Anchor.

Chan and Akande can both be submitted attached to a skeleton argument later this week if you want (no deadline for a skelly).

lurpdog101

LDast said:

I respectfully submit that the claimant's witness statement should not be accepted by the Court, as it fails to comply with CPR Part 32 and Practice Direction 32. The statement has been signed by a legal representative who does not have firsthand knowledge of the facts and events described within the statement.  This is highlighted by the embarrassing fact that they have simply copied and pasted their witness statement from a different case by a different claimant where they have referenced their client as being MET Parking Services Limited, a company completely unrelated to the Claimant in this case.

According to CPR 32.4, a witness statement is intended to contain evidence that the witness would be permitted to give orally, which typically necessitates personal knowledge of the matters in question. Furthermore, Practice Direction 32, paragraph 18.2, stipulates that a witness statement should only include evidence that the witness could provide from their own experience or direct observation.  Since the accuracy and applicability of the Claimants entire WS is in disrepute and the document is meaningless as it lacks the requisite reliability and credibility, it should be disregarded by the Court and dismissed accordingly.

               

thank you - is that something I say when I get to court? Also the actual witness statement itself is correct, it is just the body of the email they sent me, where they have stated the wrong client

Dear Mr XXX,

 Claim Number: XXX

MET Parking Services Limited v Mr XXX

Our Ref: CST/XXXX/XXXX

 

I write in relation to the above matter on behalf of our Client, MET Parking Services Limited.

 

Please find attached the Claimant’s Witness Statement and Exhibits dated 29 August 2024.

 

We wish to make you aware that in accordance with CPR 27.9 the Claimant’s Witness will not attend the hearing however, there will be an Advocate present on the Claimant’s behalf.

 

Please note that the same has been filed with the Court.

 

lurpdog101

Coupon-mad said:

That is what you can say about the WS but of course there's more in your case: the client is the wrong parking firm so the entire WS is in disrepute.  Nothing in the Claimant's WS says that the signatory of the supposed WS was instructed by Anchor.

Chan and Akande can both be submitted attached to a skeleton argument later this week if you want (no deadline for a skelly).

Ah - the actual WS they attached does clearly state Anchor though.

lurpdog101

it is only their email to me, with the WS attached, where they mention the wrong client name

lurpdog101

the subject line, everything in the email relating to the case, bar my name and the claim number is incorrect haha

lurpdog101

Regarding the fact it is only the email that they sent me, and not the WS itself, that mentioned the incorrect client - is there anything I can say to the court about that? Surely I could still call it into disrepute and as more proof of the confusion it causes me, if they cannot get it right, albeit in an email? I will cite the Chan and Akande case study also, in the fact that their POC just named a lump sum and did not specify exactly what for. Also in the witness statement - where they list the PCNs - they only mention the dates and not the length of time (these are, however, in the exhibits). 6 of the 8 PCNs were between 11 and 14 minutes. So I have stated in my WS that considering the disability, and the BPA CoP states extra time should be taken into account for disabled, above the 10 minute grace period, that these should be dismissed. Besides the fact, I only ever received 3 PCNs and they all landed on my doorstep on the same day, so the driver would not have had time to correct their mistake in time before receiving another fine. (that was dismissed in the appeal)

of the ones they have put in:

3 x issued on 24th August 2021 (for 3 different dates) - the 3 I received same day and immediately appealed.

2 x issued 13th August 2021 (for 2 different dates) - never received originals

1 x issued 9th August - never received originals

1 x issued 5th august - never received originals

1 x issued 6th August - never received originals

Coupon-mad

Yes you can plan to raise these issued at the hearing but be guided by the Judge.  They'll make it obvious which points they like, or not.

lurpdog101

I have just received the Claimant's Bundle. Is this something I also need to send out? I did not see anything about that on the court form, or here...is it just something they do? My Witness Statement was submitted etc on time.

KeithP

lurpdog101 said:

I have just received the Claimant's Bundle. Is this something I also need to send out? I did not see anything about that on the court form, or here...is it just something they do? My Witness Statement was submitted etc on time.

Your Witness Statement and evidence are 'your bundle'.

Apart from that, what else is in the Claimant's bundle?