Pls help, worried I may have sent my defence in late (DCB legal/ Group nexus)

Smithylulu

Hoping someone might be able to help me/ clarify some details for me. 

The county court claim was served on 29/11/2023
The letter was received on 06/12/2023
Acknowledgment of Service on 07/12/2023 on mcol website. 

I utilised the Newbies thread to draft my defence abd thought I'd sent it in a couple of days early. Sent my completed defence to the CCBCAQ@justice.gov.uk email on 29/12/2023 at 16:53. I received the acknowledgement email at 16:55. 

However, I hadn't taken into account the impact of the bank holiday weekend. The acknowledgement email stated that if an attachment is received after 16pm, it would count as being sent on the next day when the court is open. 

This therefore, means they'll assume my defence was sent in on 02/01/2024. By my calculations, the 28 day period to send my defence in after AoS was 01/01/2024. 

Really grateful, if someone could please help me understand what impact this would have on my defence. I have tried doing some independent research online, but can't find a conclusive answer. 

I did try calling the county court as soon as I recieved thr acknowledgement email, but they were unable to answer before the lines closed at 5pm. 

I thought I was keeping on top of things by sending my defence a couple of days early, but fear the judge may now automatically rule in favour of DCB legal/Group Nexus. 

Is there anything further I could do? I have already resolved to calling the County court first things tomorrow morning, but gratefulnif anyone could let me know if there is anything in particular I should mention/ be aware of. 

As a last ditch attempt, I'm considering submitting the defence through the mcol website. But my whole defence can't be copied in as as into the provided answer box. I'd have to cut out about half of what I've written - so really trying to avoid this route. 

Thank you 😊 

Fruitcake

I don't think you have anything to worry about because you received an auto response stating that your defence had been received before the deadline.  Today is a statutory holiday, and the court business centre won't be open, so even you are right about your defence submission date and the claimant tried to get a default judgment, both it and the defence would arrive on the same day, tomorrow.

Hopefully forum regular @KeithP will be along to confirm your dates, and some of the more court savvy regulars will reassure you as well.

troublemaker22

You say it was "served" on 29/11/23.  Do you mean "served" or "issued"?  The date served is 5 days after the date issued.  If it was issued on 29/11/23 it was served on 4/12/23.

Assuming you meant what you wrote, and that you filed your AOS on time, the last day for filing your defence was 27/12/23.  If you meant to write "issued", the last day for filing your defence is tomorrow, 2/1/24 (1/1/24 being a public holiday).

So if 29/11/23 is the issued date, you're fine and if it's the served date, you're probably also fine as it's unlikely the claimant's representative went to work and filed for a default judgment during the holiday period.  But you should keep an eye on your MCOL page to check for this.

Happy New Year!

Smithylulu

troublemaker22 said:

You say it was "served" on 29/11/23.  Do you mean "served" or "issued"?  The date served is 5 days after the date issued.  If it was issued on 29/11/23 it was served on 4/12/23.

Assuming you meant what you wrote, and that you filed your AOS on time, the last day for filing your defence was 27/12/23.  If you meant to write "issued", the last day for filing your defence is tomorrow, 2/1/24 (1/1/24 being a public holiday).

So if 29/11/23 is the issued date, you're fine and if it's the served date, you're probably also fine as it's unlikely the claimant's representative went to work and filed for a default judgment during the holiday period.  But you should keep an eye on your MCOL page to check for this.

Happy New Year!

Thank you so much for your reply. I meant that the claim was issued on 29/11/12.

Smithylulu

Fruitcake said:

I don't think you have anything to worry about because you received an auto response stating that your defence had been received before the deadline.  Today is a statutory holiday, and the court business centre won't be open, so even you are right about your defence submission date and the claimant tried to get a default judgment, both it and the defence would arrive on the same day, tomorrow.

Hopefully forum regular @KeithP will be along to confirm your dates, and some of the more court savvy regulars will reassure you as well.

Thank you so much for your reply. 

KeithP

Smithylulu said:
I meant that the claim was issued on 29/11/12.

With a Claim Issue Date of 29th November, and having filed an Acknowledgment of Service in a timely manner, then as @troublemaker22 said, you have until 4pm on Tuesday 2nd January 2024 to file your Defence.

Smithylulu

Thank you so much everyone. I called the court today and they confirmed it was received on time. 

Jollyme12

Smithylulu said:

Thank you so much everyone. I called the court today and they confirmed it was received on time. 

Hi what was the end result 

Le_Kirk

@Jollyme12, if you check the profile of @Smithylulu, you will see they were last active on April 12 last year, so may not read your post; you could try sending a DM/PM using the envelope symbol top right.