Can't attend court - am I done for?

dustyshoe66

95Rollers said:

Surely with enough notice in advance explaining circumstances they can facilitate a remote hearing via MS Teams. Lots of court are still doing these. All you can do is explain your circumstances- we've just come out of a pandemic, and it's probably the first opportunity for your family to enjoy a holiday (and possibly the last for sometime due to the current cost of living rises?). But you vigorously wish to defend the claim and have your say as you can't let your family down, but cannot effective defend if you are not present during the hearing. I feel that is perfectly reasonable. 

Thank you for being understanding. I think it's totally reasonable too, I just hope the court agrees.

ronnie69 said:

To the OP: Did you put your holiday dates in your N180 saying dates you could not attend?
If so and the court listed it on dates you already said you could not make, you must have a reasonable chance of the court re-listing it without you having to make an application to re-list the final hearing date. Phone the court and explain (if you can manage to speak with anyone) and a helpful person may refer it to a listing officer or (less likely) judge and re-list it for a date you can make.
If the above doesn't work, you could ask the other side to agree to re-list the hearing and explain why. Have prints of your holiday booking available to show it was booked before the hearing was listed. You can suggest that if the other side unreasonably refuse and you have to make an application (form N244) to have the hearing re-listed, you will ask the court to award your application fee and costs of attending the hearing (of your application to have the FINAL hearing date re-listed) awarded against the other side because it was unreasonable of them to refuse. The chances are your application to re-list will be done by telephone. However, you will need to pay the application fee which I think is £108 (but do check). 

No, the holiday was booked after I submitted my N180. That could be an idea, my only worry is that I doubt BW Legal in this case would be reasonable, and I could see them taking advantage of the situation.

95Rollers

dustyshoe66 said:

No, the holiday was booked after I submitted my N180. That could be an idea, my only worry is that I doubt BW Legal in this case would be reasonable, and I could see them taking advantage of the situation.

Its not BWs decision - its the courts decision.  These !!!!!! legal companies will always try and pull the wool over the courts and public's eyes with their BS by gaslighting, making threats, spinning lies in order to get their own way - but they have no power like they try to lead their victims to believe. 

The court should appreciate life moves and things pop up. You can't put your life on hold as it can take a very long time for court dates to be allocated and there is no reason why cases still can't be held virtually as there are many valid reasons such as people shielding, being carers/ guardians or travel issues etc.

Umkomaas

How long ago did you complete the N180 DQ, ordinarily it asks for dates of non-availability for the following 6 months?  If it was more than 6 months ago, you'd have a very good reason to refer this back to the court to attempt to seek a re-listing.

dustyshoe66

Umkomaas said:

How long ago did you complete the N180 DQ, ordinarily it asks for dates of non-availability for the following 6 months?  If it was more than 6 months ago, you'd have a very good reason to refer this back to the court to attempt to seek a re-listing.

Beginning of March is when I submitted it, holiday is in July so not six months unfortunately.

The court provided me with their number for listings but haven't actually been able to get through to anyone the past couple of days. Think I might send an email, but try to ring them again next week.

If I do have to give notice that I cannot attend my hearing can this be done by email? The sending of the rest of my documents was allowed by email.

Coupon-mad

Yes do it by email but don't just say you can't attend. You need everything else we've suggested you ask for instead.

dustyshoe66

Hi guys, just going to give an update and something I need help with urgently.

So I was unable to arrange any sort of telephone hearing so I decided to inform the court that I was unable to attend with notice.

My hearing was last week, I came back from holiday at the weekend. I knew I lost when I received a letter from BW Legal telling me I owed them £450 pounds. As you can imagine I was astonished.

Today I received the judgment of order from the court itself. However it states that I the defendant failed to attend with no explanation having been provided, and that it is constituted unreasonable behaviour. But like I said I gave notice and explanation as to why I was unable to attend.

What should I do? Should I contact the court directly, or will I have to do an appeal? I have been instructed to pay the sum by the 12th July, so I'm not left much time.

Coupon-mad

I am so sorry. Knew this could happen.

We won't be gloating or saying we told you so.  So sad.  You only had to arrange a phone hearing instead. This (not attending, even with notice) was absolutely not what to do, and added costs were always a danger, as the rep will definitely have asked for them.

You must email a complaint to the local court manager immediately, showing proof that you did advise you could not attend and why.

Ask for your email to be put before the Judge immediately, to either issue a fresh Order under the 'slip rule' (removing the added costs) or to explain how the complaint can be escalated so that the court compensates you for their error.

If, in June, when you emailed the fact that you could not attend, you also emailed BW Legal at the same time, point this out to the court too (i.e. that the Claimants KNEW you had said you could not attend, so it was wholly improper to seek a finding of unreasonable conduct in your absence).

dustyshoe66

Coupon-mad said:

I am so sorry. Knew this could happen.

We won't be gloating or saying we told you so.  So sad.  You only had to arrange a phone hearing instead. This (not attending, even with notice) was absolutely not what to do, and added costs were always a danger, as the rep will definitely have asked for them.

You must email a complaint to the local court manager immediately, showing proof that you did advise you could not attend and why.

Ask for your email to be put before the Judge immediately, to either issue a fresh Order under the 'slip rule' (removing the added costs) or to explain how the complaint can be escalated so that the court compensates you for their error.

If, in June, when you emailed the fact that you could not attend, you also emailed BW Legal at the same time, point this out to the court too (i.e. that the Claimants KNEW you had said you could not attend, so it was wholly improper to seek a finding of unreasonable conduct in your absence).

Thank you for your kind words and advice. I am annoyed because I did request a telephone hearing by email but never received a response apart from the automated email.

I of course knew that winning was unlikely, if I can get at least get the costs payable reduced then I will feel better, so I will be sure to compose the email immediately.

Of course I am unsure of how long it will take for them to reply so would I be in the right if the payment date passes without giving BW Legal anything? Thank you.

MothballsWallet

@dustyshoe66 When did you send the email?

I think we've seen some courts (and the CCBC itself) seeming to "lose" emails if they're sent outside office hours - which, imnsho*, is completely stupid since email servers run all the time (except for maintenance/outages), so someone in the office should be checking the emails when they start work.

* In My Not So Humble Opining (as an IT Professional)

Coupon-mad

No, you cannot let the date pass without paying. That will get you a CCJ for 6 years.