CLAIM DISMISSED - CLERKENWELL COURT 10.02.25

skintbutwantstosave

Coupon-mad said:

No don't.  It is so minor that it is unimportant.

Is there anything I need to do to prepare for the hearing on Monday? 

Gladstones paid the court hearing fee on 6th Decemeber, I rang the court to find out before I went on holiday. I've just come back and want to know if I need to take any of the legal cases I have referred to within my statement 

skintbutwantstosave

Any advice to prepare for the hearing on Monday?

skintbutwantstosave

Is there anyway I can use the recent case at the hearing on Monday?
Gladstones haven't said how long the car was parked there for them to issue a ticket, other than it wasn't parked in a bay. The witness statement "land hire agreement" isn't an agreement with the landlord and the area of enforcement shown is outside the area where the car was parked.

Le_Kirk

Read again the advice given here: -
2 January at 3:12PM 
If it is an in-person hearing, turn up in plenty of time to go through security checks, sign in with the usher, take some water, do NOT be side-tracked into a room by the claimant or their solicitor/advocate, do not take any papers they offer you. Make sure you take an extra copy of your witness statement in case the claimant tries to pull the "Oh judge we didn't receive the defendant's WS" trick.  Dress smartly (smart body, smart mind) do take all your papers and know your defence and WS well.  Maybe make a crib sheet, so you know the important parts of your case you want to highlight to the judge - if they give you the chance.  When you win, don't forget to ask for your costs, oh and good luck.

skintbutwantstosave

Le_Kirk said:

Read again the advice given here: -
2 January at 3:12PM 
If it is an in-person hearing, turn up in plenty of time to go through security checks, sign in with the usher, take some water, do NOT be side-tracked into a room by the claimant or their solicitor/advocate, do not take any papers they offer you. Make sure you take an extra copy of your witness statement in case the claimant tries to pull the "Oh judge we didn't receive the defendant's WS" trick.  Dress smartly (smart body, smart mind) do take all your papers and know your defence and WS well.  Maybe make a crib sheet, so you know the important parts of your case you want to highlight to the judge - if they give you the chance.  When you win, don't forget to ask for your costs, oh and good luck.

Thanks, will read the advicd. Gladstones said Claimant won't be attending, hopefully this will help? 

Le_Kirk

They usually send a "rent-by-the-hour" advocate.  It helps in that they won't know your case like you do.

skintbutwantstosave

I attended the hearing today in person, Gladstones didnt bother to send anyone there and asked for the claim to be heard on the basis of their written evidence.

1. Procedural point
-Def asked for the Supplementary WS to be disregarded, Judge said Def had ample time to consider the contents and therefore not at a disadvantage and therefore letting it in, despite evidence being submitted in late
 
Out of time Supplementary Witness Statement was allowed to be let in

2. Defence -
- Judge did not consider the Defence to be a proper Defence, she has seen the legal submissions made in a lot of claims
- She did not consider that the Defence had adequately address the issue relating to the parking at Lion Ct
- The Defence did not address the allegations within the PoC and was not fully particularised ( I was baffled at this point)
- Judge has power to strike out the Defence as it "discloses no reasonable prospect of defending the claim"
- The Defence breached rule 22, no complaint statement of truth (not excluded in Small Claims)

The Defence was therefore Struck out

3. Claimant's Evidence
- The Claimant had to persuade the Judge on the balance of probabilities
-The Witness Statement did not address where the vehicle was parked, how long the vehicle was parked there, whether the vehicle was within the boundary of the parking arrangement
- Unclear from the Evidence where the areas were, what NPM could control
- Claimant provided two maps (1st statement with "landowner agreement" which was the parking agreement) and land registry title (supplementarystatement), she said neither maps showed anything and that they did not help

On this basis the Judge was not satisfied that the Claimant had proven their claim and that their claim was dismissed

4. Costs
- I made a request for costs, Judge adamant no costs to be awarded given that it is a small claims court
- I said putting aside the Defence that was struck out, the Claimant's claim was dismissed, therefore I would like costs to be awarded for waste of my time
- Judge asked what it was that I wanted to claim, I re-read the costs that I had requested from my witness statement, she said no time could be recovered for the Defence as it was struck out. 
- Judge awarded my travel expenses and 1 day's loss of earnings (maximum she could offer was £95) in the sum of £108.80 to be paid within 14 days of the order.

CLAIM DISMISSED.


My thoughts, I used the template defence WITHOUT asking for any advice from the Forum. This was an error on my part. The Judge said that the Defence was deficient in the circumstances of the actual Defence - there was no defence pleaded, this goes to show that we need to pad out the the section which tells what has happened, why the car was there etc etc rather than being brief and relying on the template legal arguments. 

We probably need to spell it out quite clearly to say; something along the lines of:
the Claimant has failed to specify the length of time the car was parked at the alleged location.
The Claimant has failed to specify where exactly the car was parked.
The Claimant has failed to state that the car was within the boundaries of the area of the car park that the Claimant managed.
The Claimant has failed to demonstrate how a contract was formed between the Claimant and the Defendant
The Claimant has failed to particularise which part of the Terms and Conditions the Defendant has breached
The Claimant has failed to demonstrate how this breach has occurred under the terms and conditions
The Claimant has failed to fully particularise how they have suffered damage as a result of the allegedly breached terms and conditions.  
The Claimant is therefore put to strict proof on all of the above. 


I found it very strange the Judge referred to my Defence before she considered the Claimant's POC given how inadequate they were, surely that should have been struck out before my Defence. Anyway, their claim was dismissed.

I will upload the actual Judgment when I receive this in the post in the next few weeks, but hopefully this is one to note.

Thank you to everyone on the Forum who helped me prepare and defend this claim against NPM and Gladstone. 

LDast

As this was a Gladrags issued claim, why did the defence not include a strike out order on the bases that it completely failed to comply with CPR 16.4(1)(a)? On that basis alone, no proper defence could possibly be pleaded.

Chan and Akande should have been included.

Le_Kirk

Glad you succeeded, shame about the judge but you were awarded costs. I think most of the points you raised are in the template defence. Well done on your win!

skintbutwantstosave

LDast said:

As this was a Gladrags issued claim, why did the defence not include a strike out order on the bases that it completely failed to comply with CPR 16.4(1)(a)? On that basis alone, no proper defence could possibly be pleaded.

Chan and Akande should have been included.

The Defence I used had the strike out legal arguments, everything was copied and pasted. I took the Defence with me and re-read even after the hearing to check whether I was losing my mind or not, there was the point about the inadequate and woeful pleaded POCs, which was repeated again in the Witness Statement. 

I dont think Chan and Akande were included in the Defence, as this was drafted way back in October 2023 and like I said, I didnt get this reviewed by the Forum as I was under time pressure, the claim went to my parents house and I needed to get it sorted asap before I went on holiday. Chan and Akande WERE mentioned in my WS which was reviewed by the forum and I took printed copies of the Judgement for the Judge if she didnt have access/didnt bother reading. 

Just really annoyed about the comments made from the Judge. She even took an hour to read through the documents as apparently there was a lot of paperwork, I was there since morning and then was heard after 2pm. So I am not sure which Defence she read or didnt bother to read it properly and agreed with the comments made by Gladrags in their witness statement.