UK Small Claims AND European Small Claims procedures - urgent help needed!

[Guest 888]

Hi -

 

I'm currently quite in some predicament as by the looks of it I have to start 2 separate court actions relating to the same item...

 

In a nutshell:

 

Sold an item of quite some value (bit more than 1k) to a retailer of these speciality items in the Netherlands (I'm a private individual).

The transaction has nothing to do with Ebay and was completely independently negotiated.

As an alternative to Paypal we agreed for the buyer in the NL to pay the money into an escrow account run by a solicitor practice in Germany.

 

Following confirmation from the solicitor practice in Germany, that the escrow deposit had been received, I sent the item via courier (UPS) in July 2012.

 

According to UPS tracking the item was received and signed for 2 days later.

 

5 days after receiving the item the recipient claimed the item to be damaged (claiming the packaging was intact externally and he had no time to unpack it earlier).

 

Based on his comments and images sent, I raised an enquiry with the booking agent who forwarded my claim to UPS.

UPS requested an on-site inspection of the item; - which the recipient refused.

As UPS rejected liability in the first instance, the booking agent's goods in transit insurance based their rejection on UPS' decision.

I have requested the recipient since mid August 2012 numerous times (in compliance with the terms and conditions set out by the German solicitor company holding the escrow deposit) – to return the item to me in order for me to agree to release the money in the Escrow account back to the him.

Since my first request in August 2012 he has not returned the item to me and instead come up with various insinuations and accusations apparently justifying why he is going to keep the item at his premises till further notice (unless I provide him with an unlimited guarantee to release the money in the escrow deposit account to him, no matter in which condition the item is returned to me - in which case he could send me an empty box and still try to force me to release the money to him).

 

Hence I have already sent a letter before action to the courier booking agent and only received an acknowledgement letter from their solicitor missing any date by which they intend to respond as well as missing any additional information I requested from them.

 

Separately I'm now in the process of filing an European small claims case (ESCP) against the buyer in NL in order for him to return the item to me or for him to pay the item.

 

I'd be very grateful for further advice - eg. regarding the UK small claims time-scales (the CPR only state a reasonable timespan) tomorrow the 14 day deadline set in my letter before action has been reached yet due to their acknowledgement I was told by someone with a legal background I would have to provide them with another 14 days before filing the claim?

 

When submitting the claim, does it have to be accompanied by a covering letter - if so - are there any templates on here?

 

Further can anyone advise me regarding successful self-representation in court as due to circumstances I cannot afford a solicitor?

 

There had been a similar thread some time ago ("DHL Courier Service - lost items - no re-imbursement") and due to not having enough posts I cannot contact the OP and others who had been successful in similar cases directly...

 

Also regarding the ESCP - where would I have to file it? I'm hoping to be able to file it here rather than in NL based on 'place of performance of the obligation in question' - however I'm not sure if returning the item qualifies as that..???

 

Further regarding claiming costs of proceedings - as I cannot foresee which expenses I might have during the course of the ESCP can I just state an estimated amount? - the guidelines available for download don't specify it more in detail!

 

I'd be grateful for responses from anyone with personal experience of the ESCP!!!

 

Also - would it help to put pressure on the person in NL to file a criminal report for embezzlement (and may be attempted fraud as a few of his statements/claims were quite dubious to say the least - however I haven't much tangible evidence for that) with the police - if so here in the UK or in NL?

 

Many thanks

Edited October 25, 2012 by 888