HELPCowboy builder scam, money claim, defence filed, but passed to business centre court

piglet33

Hi,
Cowbiosy builders scammed me for £5200 and destroyed my disabled dads house and ended up having to kick them out before casuing more damage before xmas. Have a mountain of independent evidence to show they carried out fake illegal incomplete works. They filed a money claim against me on xmas eve when i had to sort out my dads house as it had no water, electricyt heating, i applied for extension and tehn filed a detailed defence  in time, and counterclaim. As there was a counterclaim it took me offline and asked me to send the defence via email or hard copy and i did both and received a delivery receipt. 1 week later i find out the case has been passed to business centre county court so assuming they did not receive my defence? What now? do i contact money claim (cant get through on phone) or the business centre court now? And what are my rights given i can prove if filed a defence which has been ignored.

Alderbank

I think you are jumping to the wrong conclusion.

Many, perhaps most, small claims never get to court. The judge simply reads claim and counterclaim in his office and gives judgement. Lots are undefended so pass by default. Others are dismissed because the named defendant says 'I'm not the right party to sue. No case to answer'.

But with your issue, the court has considered both submissions and decided that the case has valid arguments on both sides and does need to be heard in court. You haven't been ignored.

piglet33

how do you know this is the right conclusion either? I filed a defence last week and already it has been passed to CCBC? Seems too early for any judge to have even considered it??? So it does seem to have passed by default but how do i find out? The money claim service auto email says i now have to contact CCBC directly and if i log in i should find details but I cant find any contact details except for money claim who say they no longer deal with it. Can i phone CCBC to find out where it's at? And if it is the case that my defence has not been considered, does that mean i will get  chance to defence it again at this stage and i should stop panicking? Im annoyed because their claim was ridiclous (no judge would award that having considered it) and my defence was detailed. They are serial scam artists with many clients have been scammed. if what u say is true then fine, but i dont think tahts what happened as its too quick. How can i find out for sure -- do i just wait and see if i get a claim form to defend? will i get a chance to defend again if they never received my defence - i sent it at 3 pm on the last day when the deadline was 4pm that day so it may have slipped through.

DullGreyGuy

Alderbank said:

Many, perhaps most, small claims never get to court. 

It's way more than "most"... the 92% of claims result in a default judgement. 

piglet33 said:

 Seems too early for any judge to have even considered it???

It is, before a judgement is made by a judge both parties will be sent an allocation questionnaire which will decide which track (small, fast or multi) the case will be assigned to and ultimately how the case will be done (written submissions only, video conference etc)

You ultimately need to persist in trying to get through to the CNBC to understand the status of the claim against you. 

tacpot12

Will you and your dad be filing a counter-claim? It sounds like you shoudl be doing. You really need some professional legal support. Does your dad have home insurance? If so, does he have legal expenses protection? If he does, he can get help to counter-sue the builders for the damage that they have caused. This is a slightly unusual situation as you are also a party to the claim, but all you can do is talk to the insurers to see what they are prepared to do. 

DO you own your own home? If so, do you have legal expenses cover as part of your home insurace? If so, you can aslo talk to your own insurer. 

ArbitraryRandom

piglet33 said:

how do you know this is the right conclusion either? 

Because if they hadn't received your defence then it would have just been found against you and wouldn't have been transferred to the business centre... 

piglet33

ok thanks for all yourr replies...... no its me not my dad even though they destroyed my dads house as he lacks capacity. i just wanted to be sure that it wasnt handed over for default judgement as they thought i hadnt replied as was too close to deadline and they are bcklogged. noone answers, not money claim nor CCBC. they just send automated email saying they are 12 months behind schedule or whatever ! its a shambolic service. i have reported builders to police, action fraud, trading standards and several other agencies and some are taking it seriously - there are 6 others also scammed by these people - they are not just scammers, they will kill someone with their illegal work. i have so much evidence to get them trown in jail i really want my day in court not just have to appeal some unjustified CCJ due to admin error because their process was broken. Wanted to make sure i didnt need to do anything until i hear further. all i know is it has been passed to CCBC - i have heard nothing else, havent been asked about any questionanire or anything - i assume that is coming later and will look out for it. since i submitted my defence my remedial costs have increased more and i have further evaidence of their illegal work and independent witnesses so i hope ill get a chance to amend /update my case as more info comes to light. 

ArbitraryRandom

Please don't take this the wrong way, but citizen advice can be great if you're not familiar with the court process and are worried things are taking too long/the wrong things are happening. 

Generally they are contactable by phone, but you may also have a local drop in near you where you can make an appointment with someone who has experience with these kinds of issues. They can tell you what to expect, when, and what you can usefully prepare in advance ready for the next stage. 

piglet33

hi i have an update which i hope you can help me with. i received a strange automated email from OCMCNton just with a header saying  "Not read: Re: 482MC999 | Counterclaim Struck Out | N180 Directions Questionnaire" and then a letter in the post titles general form of judgement or order basically writing to the claimant saying they failed to submit the directions questionnaire and saying they have 12 days to do it before the claim is struck out. 
Now i purposefully let my counterclaim lapse as the builders bank notifed me following investigation they had no funds to repay monies owed so i knew that i would be throwing good money after bad. But i did fill out and send the directions questionnaire. 
So the question is why have i received the letter meant for the claimant?! Or is this just standard process that the letter is sent to both parties? It's all a very strange process (non intuitive) with zero communication.