Moorside Legal Claim Form

KindHearted20

Hi All, 

I yesterday received a Claim Form in the post from Moorside Legal for a Parking Charge issued Sept 2019. I have received numerous letters from numerous agencies for this since 2019 and I have ignored them until this landed through the door. I have read the previous threads and I intend to complete the AOS in the next day or 2 online and I have drafted a defence that I will send to the email address - ClaimResponses.CNBC@justice.gov.uk

I was wondering if any experts could take a look at my drafted defence and steer me in a right direction? 

KindHearted20

Here is a scan of the letter I received. 

KindHearted20

USUAL HEADINGS AT THE TOP)

DEFENCE

1.  The Defendant denies that the Claimant is entitled to relief in the sum claimed, or at all.  It is denied that any conduct by the driver was in breach of any term.  Further, it is denied that this Claimant (understood to have a bare licence as agents) has standing to sue or form contracts in their own name. Liability is denied, whether or not the Claimant is claiming 'keeper liability', which is unclear from the boilerplate text in the Particulars of Claim ('the POC').

Preliminary matter: The claim should be struck out

2. The Claimant sets out a cut-and-paste incoherent and sparse statement of case. The POC appear to be in breach of CPR 16.4, 16PD3 and 16PD7, and fail to "state all facts necessary for the purpose of formulating a complete cause of action". The Defendant draws to the attention of the allocating Judge that there are two persuasive Appeal judgments - by HHJ Murch at Luton and HHJ Evans at Manchester - to support striking out the claim in these exact circumstances of typically poorly pleaded private parking claims. The Defendant believes that dismissing this meritless claim is the correct course, with the Overriding Objective in mind. Bulk litigators (legal firms) should know better than to make little or no attempt to comply with the Practice Direction.  By continuing to plead cases with generic auto-fill unspecific wording, private parking firms should not be surprised when courts strike out their claims based in the following persuasive authorities:

3. Two recent persuasive appeal judgments in Civil Enforcement Limited v Chan (Ref. E7GM9W44)and Car Park Management Service Ltd v Akande (Ref. K0DP5J30) would indicate the POC fails to comply with Civil Procedure Rule 16.4(1)(e) and Practice Direction Part 16.7.5. On the 15th August 2023, in the Chan case, HHJ Murch held: 'the particulars of the claim as filed and served did not set out the conduct which amounted to the breach in reliance upon which the claimant would be able to bring a claim for breach of contract'. The same is true in this case and the Defendant trusts that the Court should strike out the extant claim, using its powers pursuant to CPR 3.4. 

4. The second recent persuasive appeal judgment also held that typical private parking case POC (like this) fail to comply with Part 16. On the 10 May 2024, in CPMS v Akande, HHJ Evans held: 'Particulars of Claim have to set out the basic facts upon which a party relies in order to prove his or her claim'. Transcripts for both cases are linked below to assist the Court to deal with this failure promptly and the two authorities will also be exhibited later, if the claim is not struck out at allocation stage:

(Link to the two authorities will be entered here)

The facts known to the Defendant:

5. The facts in this defence come from the Defendant's own knowledge and honest belief.  The Defendant is unable, on the basis of the POC, to understand with certainty what case, allegation(s) and what heads of cost are being pursued, making it difficult to respond. However, the vehicle is recognised and it is admitted that the Defendant was the registered keeper and driver.

6. The Defendant attended a retirement party for one of their colleagues at ### Social Club on 14/09/2019. The Defendant parked their car in the onsite car park as they were a patron of the venue that evening. Whilst the Defendant was waiting in their car for her colleagues to arrive, she was informed of a serious car crash that had just happened outside the front of the venue on the main road. Being fully trained first aiders, herself and her colleagues, who she had met in the car park, went to the main road to see if anyone required any first aid assistance. Seeing that the emergency services were in attendance, the defendant and their colleagues immediately went into the venue and stayed there all evening until they left. 

7. (I will input para 4 from the original template and renumber to suit). 

ChirpyChicken

if your defence is ready dont bother with the AOS just email the defence,

KeithP

With a Claim Issue Date of 21st February, you have until Wednesday 12th March 2025 to file an Acknowledgment of Service('AOS'), but there is nothing to be gained by delaying it. 

To file an AOS, follow the guidance in the Dropbox file linked from the second post in the NEWBIES thread.

Having filed an AOS in a timely manner, you have until 4pm on Wednesday 26th March 2025 to file a Defence.

That's four weeks away. Plenty of time to produce a Defence, but please don't leave it to the last minute.

To create a Defence, and then file a Defence by email, look again at the second post on the NEWBIES thread - immediately following where you found the AOS guidance.

Don't miss the deadline for filing an AOS, nor that for filing a Defence.

Do not try and file a Defence via the MoneyClaimOnline website. Once an AOS has been filed, the MCOL website should be treated as 'read only'.

Coupon-mad

Remove the repetition:

"Two recent persuasive appeal judgments"

I think there are recent Moorside defence examples that are a bit better in para 6, don't give away too much by way of facts and merely respond to the POC.

Read a few Moorside claim threads from January that respond to the POC instead of giving info on matters that the POC don't actually plead.

KindHearted20

Coupon-mad said:

Remove the repetition:

"Two recent persuasive appeal judgments"

I think there are recent Moorside defence examples that are a bit better in para 6, don't give away too much by way of facts and merely respond to the POC.

Read a few Moorside claim threads from January that respond to the POC instead of giving info on matters that the POC don't actually plead.

Thank you Coupon-mad! I will make the adjustments and pop it on here once I’ve done it if that’s ok? 

KindHearted20

Coupon-mad said:

Remove the repetition:

"Two recent persuasive appeal judgments"

I think there are recent Moorside defence examples that are a bit better in para 6, don't give away too much by way of facts and merely respond to the POC.

Read a few Moorside claim threads from January that respond to the POC instead of giving info on matters that the POC don't actually plead.

Hi Coupon-mad, Apologies if I have missed this somewhere else. I am about to submit my defence via email and I have ClaimResponses.CNBC@justice.gov.uk that I am sending it to, but do I also need to cc in an email address for Moorside legal? I have had a search around here for any other posts answering this question but can’t find it for looking! 

KindHearted20

ChirpyChicken said:

if your defence is ready dont bother with the AOS just email the defence,

Hi ChirpyChicken, Apologies if I have missed this somewhere else. I am about to submit my defence via email and I have ClaimResponses.CNBC@justice.gov.uk that I am sending it to, but do I also need to cc in an email address for Moorside legal? I have had a search around here for any other posts answering this question but can’t find it for looking! 

KindHearted20

KeithP said:

With a Claim Issue Date of 21st February, you have until Wednesday 12th March 2025 to file an Acknowledgment of Service('AOS'), but there is nothing to be gained by delaying it. 

To file an AOS, follow the guidance in the Dropbox file linked from the second post in the NEWBIES thread.

Having filed an AOS in a timely manner, you have until 4pm on Wednesday 26th March 2025 to file a Defence.

That's four weeks away. Plenty of time to produce a Defence, but please don't leave it to the last minute.

To create a Defence, and then file a Defence by email, look again at the second post on the NEWBIES thread - immediately following where you found the AOS guidance.

Don't miss the deadline for filing an AOS, nor that for filing a Defence.

Do not try and file a Defence via the MoneyClaimOnline website. Once an AOS has been filed, the MCOL website should be treated as 'read only'.

Hi KeithP, Apologies if I have missed this somewhere else. I am about to submit my defence via email and I have ClaimResponses.CNBC@justice.gov.uk that I am sending it to, but do I also need to cc in an email address for Moorside legal? I have had a search around here for any other posts answering this question but can’t find it for looking! 

Coupon-mad

Nope. The CNBC serves your defence.