Court Claim

1xvp1

Bazarius said:

1xvp1 said:

Received the bundle from Gladstones a few days ago, the court is tomorrow - any final tips?

What date was the claimant’s WS signed ? And who signed it ? 

26 August, signed by a paralegal, which I mentioned in the WS as per the recommendation above.

1xvp1

Hi all,

Quick update on my case.
I had my preliminary hearing today.

I arrived around 9:50 a.m., went through security and waited in the hallway. About 20 minutes before the hearing the usher came over and checked that both parties were present. The Claimant’s representative turned up late and looked completely unprepared — barely familiar with the papers, poor English, clearly rushing.

The usher confirmed to both of us that this was a preliminary hearing, not the full trial. The representative didn’t seem to know that.

We went in shortly after 10:30. The Judge was polite and business-like. She explained that the only purpose of this hearing was to establish one narrow point — whether the PCNs had in fact been cancelled. If that could be resolved, the whole case might end today; if not, it would move to a full trial.

The judge immediately pressed the Claimant’s rep about the alleged cancellation and referred him to my evidence bundle (the housing association email).
He got completely lost, mixed up exhibits, and even thought the print date on my exhibit was the date of the email itself.
The judge had to redirect him several times.

Eventually he asked for 5–10 minutes to call his office to “check the situation.” The Judge agreed but told him to be quick.

I had to call the usher to get us back in the courtroom because he was just sitting there doing nothing.

After about 15 minutes he came back and said his company “rejects” that the PCNs were cancelled - that housing association cannot do it. Judge pressed on the wording of the email which stated that HA "escalated" the issue and cancelled the PCNs, not that they cancelled it themselves. I also mentioned my exhibit where UKCPM already cancelled my PCNs in exactly the same circumstances. The Judge did not take into account any other arguments on my side yet. 

The Judge said she wanted to resolve the issue today, but since the Claimant still denied the cancellation and hadn’t brought anyone competent to clarify it, she couldn’t make a final decision.

She said the case will therefore be allocated to the Small Claims Track for a 1.5-hour trial in a few weeks’ time.
She also advised me to contact the housing association again to try to obtain clear confirmation of who cancelled the PCNs and how, so that it can be presented next time.

Overall, she was respectful and patient with me, telling me directly she wanted to resolve it today.

The claimant's rep clearly hadn’t read anything and looked out of his depth.

No decision yet, obviously concerning if the housing association was not right about the cancelled PCNs. 

I’ll be contacting the housing association to request written confirmation and any internal correspondence with UKCPM regarding these cancellations, to produce as an additional exhibit before the final trial.

Gr1pr

That's typical of them sending a 3rd party advocate at the last minute 

Not familiar with the case 
Fudging the issues
Clearly almost zero preparation 

Probably git the job last night or this week , so dont be concerned 

Its possible that the claimant may cut their losses and discontinue before hearing 2

1xvp1

Gr1pr said:

That's typical of them sending a 3rd party advocate at the last minute 

Not familiar with the case 
Fudging the issues
Clearly almost zero preparation 

Probably git the job last night or this week , so dont be concerned 

Its possible that the claimant may cut their losses and discontinue before hearing 2

Hard to judge (put intended), given that it's a double PCN situation, plus my counterclaim, that they will discontinue, but we shall see. Thanks for the help.