Late Defence

mercuteio

Hmm, very quiet on this thread since last night. I'll take that as a tacit vote of confidence in my defence statement  

I'm going to submit now, and I think I'll submit the original version. Will update you all as things progress. Many thanks for all your help so far.

mercuteio

Ok, I've emailed my defence to the County Court Business Centre now. Not sure if I'm going crazy, seeing as I can't see this on the Newbies thread at all now, but in previous cases I thought maybe I needed to email my defence to the PPC too? Or is that just witness statements? I haven't contacted them at present, but would someone mind letting me know if I need to send them my defence statement at this point? Thank-you!

KeithP

The CCBC will send a copy of your Defence to the Claimant.

It is often suggested on here that you should also send a copy of your Defence to the Claimant, but if you have received an email auto-receipt for your Defence from the CCBC - have you? - then probably no need to bother with that.

mercuteio

Ah, perfect - thanks @KeithP! I think I won't bother in that case. No point engaging with them any more than is absolutely necessary, I reckon.

mercuteio

Hi everyone,

Quick question: I've just received a copy of ParkingEye's Directions Questionnaire from them, and I noted that for question A1 they've ticked the box saying that they agree to this case being referred to the Small Claims Mediation Service.

Just wanted to check - when I receive my own Directions Questionnaire, and state that I do not want to use the mediation service, presumably that will shut down the mediation service as an avenue for this case to proceed and I'll just continue to the witness statement stage? 

Just want to make sure that I shouldn't be doing anything else at this point to ensure that we proceed to witness statement stage rather than having to mess around with mediation.

Many thanks!

Umkomaas

state that I do not want to use the mediation service, presumably that will shut down the mediation service as an avenue for this case to proceed 

That's the sum of it. 

mercuteio

Perfect - thanks @Umkomaas!

mercuteio

Hello everyone, 

I hope you're all starting to wind down for Christmas. Just a quick question (I hope). The last thing I heard about this court case was a request for my Directions Questionnaire in August. At that time I selected "No" in answer to the question "Do you agree to this case being referred to the Small Claims Mediation Service". As such, I assumed that the next communication I would receive would be a request for witness statements. However, instead I have received a date for a Directions Hearing. 

I haven't heard of a Directions Hearing, but the letter states:

"A directions hearing is required to enable the court to:
a) conduct a conciliation appointment/an early neutral evaluation.
b) consider what directions are required in the event that the matter cannot be settled"

This sounds like mediation to me? I have no intention of agreeing to anything except a ruling against Parking Eye in total, so I'm not sure if perhaps the court has made an error, and followed procedures as if I accepted using the Small Claims Mediation Service?

Or is this a new method that the courts are trying in order to more quickly get through the enormous backlog of cases they have to hear, in part due to clogging of the system by vexatious private parking companies?

What I'm trying to work out is whether I sit tight and just attend the hearing (in which case, I perhaps need to ask some questions about how I should prepare for this without a witness statement from either party), or whether I should contact the court and point out that I am not happy to accept mediation or settlement.

Any thoughts would be very much appreciated, and I really hope that you can take a well-earned break from such queries over the festive period very soon!

Coupon-mad

Or is this a new method that the courts are trying in order to more quickly get through the enormous backlog of cases?

Yes.  And yes it is glorified mediation but you have no choice.  Search the forum for these keywords: Directions Hearing rookie Judge.  Discussed loads of times.  Be ready for an idiot Judge to wrongly tell you that you have no case ("Beavis, innit").

Stay firm and convince the Judge your case is distinguished from Beavis.

mercuteio

Ah, fabulous! Thanks @Coupon-mad!

Just to check - am I right to think that there's no point in writing to the court to say I have absolutely no intention of settling? From the sounds of what you've said ("you have no choice"), I just need to go to that hearing and say the same thing in person - is that right?

Many  thanks!