Money Claimonline

[nitecard]

Hi

 

My partner is suing her ex boyfriend for the £15K he owes her.

 

They were both ordered to attend a pre case conference - he didn't show up.

 

They were ordered to disclose all evidence by the 28th April, my wife sent hers to him and the court, he has sent nothing.

 

Amazingly the courts do not seem to think that he is in default.

 

The small claims route seems really powerless (toothless), can anyone who has been through a similar thing please help.

 

All comments welcome, thanks in advance.

[BankFodder]

I know that it can seem very one sided and unfair, but I think that you will find when it comes to the day of the trial, the judge will not forget the defendant's lack of cooperation. That

 

The charge is bound to act in accordance with the " overriding objective" which means that any must try to achieve a just solution rather than a solution merely based on procedural formalities. This means that if you make a mistake or don't use the correct procedure, you won't automatically lose your case if the result would be unjust.

 

You haven't had your trial yet, simply some pre-trial processes. When it comes to the date of the hearing – and if you win, I think that the judge will look at your application for costs very sympathetically. Has it been allocated yet? Presumably it must have been allocated to the fast track or even the multitrack. You can reclaim your costs at £9.25 per hour. Make sure that you keep a very detailed account of all the time that you have spent on the case – including preparation, any reading up on the subject, any time spent writing correspondence etc. If you present a properly detailed schedule to the courts and it doesn't look as if you are simply profiteering, then the court will order that these costs are to be paid to you. Additionally, you can claim your reasonable costs of travel on every occasion that you have had to attend court and also you can claim recompense that any dates that you have had to take off work.

 

Have you included a claim for interest on the outstanding money? You should have. If you haven't, then I would suggest that in view of the size of the amount of money you are claiming, that you put in an amendment to your claim. It will introduce a slight further delay but on the other hand it would probably be worth it. I think in view of the lack of cooperation of the defendant, the judge will agree to pretty well everything you ask for.

 

Finally, has the defendant put in a defence? I suppose that you must have because otherwise you would have asked for a default judgement by now. However, is his defence meaningful? If it isn't, then you could think about getting a summary judgement. A summary judgement means that you make an application for judgement to be given to you automatically because the defence shows that there is no triable issue.

 

If you are not sure about your County Court procedure, then you could by the County Court guide by Patricia Pearl which will tell you that you will everything you need to know

[nitecard]

Thank you for your comprehensive reply.

 

He has put in a defence, pretty much stating that he owes nothing and giving various reasons which we are sure he cannot substantiate, and given that he has not disclosed any evidence, he won't be able to.

 

Our worry is that he thinks that he doesn't have to do anything, we keep paying the court for various things and that if we win then he won't pay anyway, he probably won't turn up for the trial.

 

If we do win then we have have the problem of collecting, this is where it seems to me that the small claims falls down.

 

Thanks again.