Small claims advice: 21 days for evidence - is there a hard deadline?

Pastry_lover

Hi MSE forumites. 

I am posting here because I have seen other questions on small court claims that have been answered by members who display a lot of knowledge. It's my first time doing anything related to court. Brain is freewheeling a little with the court submission date. Am I late, or am in in time? 

This being my first time participating in the process I have done what many do and found myself racing the clock to get all the documents organised and uploaded . No excuses - the statements were written in good time but it took me longer than I anticipated to organise all the evidence.

The hearing date is the afternoon of 11 Feb. The court order requires any evidence to be uploaded to the portal "not less than 21 days before the hearing". I find this to be very ambiguous, vague and stressfully open to interpretation! Personally, I would prefer a specific time and date. 

I was aiming to have it completed on afternoon of 20 Jan, but there were events! So, my upload was made to the court a little after midnight on 20 Jan.... specifically, the documents were uploaded on 21 Jan (albeit at around 00:30). 

Counting backwards, the 21st day before 11 Feb is 21 Jan. So, does the court therefore accept anything that was uploaded by 23:59 on 21 Jan?

Or, is the cutoff considered in terms of business hours/days (this would make sense, as I presume it's to provide staff time to react and prepare). In that case, the cutoff could be 07:59 on 21 Jan. 

Or, does the court look at blocks of 24 hours from the time of the hearing? If the hearing is at 14:00 then 21 blocks of 24 hours prior is actually 14:00 on 21 Jan.

If we're talking about 'no fewer than', then is any time after 00:00 on 21 Jan late, and should it actually have been made on 20 Jan!?

I'm sure I can't be the only one who finds this to cause stress. Perhaps it is this way to allow leeway and reasonableness? 

Thanks for any advice! 

GingerTim

Courts are very hot on deadlines so I fear if you have missed the cut off you should prepare to be disappointed.

Pastry_lover

I am preparing to be disappointed - but I can't understand if I missed the 'cut off' or not. 

A_Geordie

So based on what you described, you are using the online Money Civil Claims process.Deadlines are there for a reason, and they are not optional so if you don't comply on time then you are deemed to be in breach.

Not all breaches have automatic sanctions built into the rules but when it comes to filing evidence, you run the risk that your evidence might not be downloaded and added to the court bundle for the judge assigned to the case on the day. Alternatively, the other side could say that because you didn't file on time you shouldn't be entitled to rely on your evidence, but if it's a small claims matter, there is usually some leniency on this since it would be a draconian option and the courts prefer to avoid those unless all other reasonable options have been explored.

Given that claims have the ability to be settled right up to the last minute, you are probably going to be ok since there is no real harm or delay, and I would expect court staff to print off the file and evidence a few days before the hearing date. 

If you are really worried, I would suggest you take two copies of the evidence (one for you on the day) and bring that with you to court, staple it together with a covering page that said Claimant/Defendant evidence - brownie points if you add sticky note tabs to each of the individual evidence and number/letter them for ease of reference. If for whatever reason the judge asks where your evidence is because its not in the bundle, then you can tell them you did upload the evidence to the portal but you have brought an extra spare and can supply a copy.

Boohoo

Pastry_lover said:

I am preparing to be disappointed - but I can't understand if I missed the 'cut off' or not. 

Have you logged onto to your mcol(not sure if correct) and checked to see if the evidence is listed on there?

You could try again next week and/or ring to see if it's listed and also check the deadlines date.

Pastry_lover

A_Geordie said:

So based on what you described, you are using the online Money Civil Claims process.Deadlines are there for a reason, and they are not optional so if you don't comply on time then you are deemed to be in breach.

Heya - thank you folks. Yes, using the Money Civil Claims process.

The main question I'm looking for an answer for here is: when was the deadline? 

Court hearing: afternoon of Feb 11. 

Court order: evidence to be submitted to portal "not less than 21 days before the hearing".

In basic terms I could look at this and say:

fewer than 21 days before is bad, more than 21 days before is good
Which I think means submitting on the 21st day before is fine. 

In those terms, the cut off should be 23:59 on 21 January? In that case, I am fine. 



"Boohoo said:

Pastry_lover said:

I am preparing to be disappointed - but I can't understand if I missed the 'cut off' or not. 

Have you logged onto to your mcol(not sure if correct) and checked to see if the evidence is listed on there?

You could try again next week and/or ring to see if it's listed and also check the deadlines date.

Yes the evidence is there on the portal, but I gather from speaking to MCOL staff that the portal remains open until the hearing.... this allows additional evidence apparently!

A_Geordie

The main question I'm looking for an answer for here is: when was the deadline? 

The standard rule for filing documents with the court is 4pm on a working day. If the deadline date falls on a Saturday or Sunday then the deadline extends to the next working day i.e. 4pm on the Monday unless its a bank holiday in which it will be a Tuesday. Same rules apply for serving documents on the other parties involved in the claim.

In short, you are well out of time by some 8 hours

Pastry_lover

A_Geordie said:

The main question I'm looking for an answer for here is: when was the deadline? 

The standard rule for filing documents with the court is 4pm on a working day. If the deadline date falls on a Saturday or Sunday then the deadline extends to the next working day i.e. 4pm on the Monday unless its a bank holiday in which it will be a Tuesday. Same rules apply for serving documents on the other parties involved in the claim.

In short, you are well out of time by some 8 hours

As a thought experiment then....

The judge orders you to eat a cheese sandwich "not less than" two days before the hearing. 

The hearing is scheduled for 14:00 on a Friday. 

What is the last moment you can eat the sandwich and comply with the order? 

LightFlare

If you take it entirely literally - I would say 14:00 Wed

but Im not sure how the courts consider part days etc

Pastry_lover

 

How else can one take written instructions!? 

Sheesh. This is why we have numbers. 

 

mybestattempt

Pastry_lover said:

 

How else can one take written instructions!? 

Sheesh. This is why we have numbers. 

 

The attached link to the CPR (Rule 2.8) explains how to calculate the time in terms of days:

https://www.justice.gov.uk/courts/procedure-rules/civil/rules/part02#2.8