Claim and Counter Claim builder gave an estimate to build an extension

[steampowered]

I'm surprised that you want to stop making a simple claim worth thousands because of the £325 court fee. You'll recover this anyway if successful. If you discontinue the case most likely you will get nothing. If you are finding the process too stressful, rather than throwing in the towel immediately you should write a letter to the Defendant offering to settle the case. The case can be settled anytime up until the hearing. For example you could offer to stick to the original estimate or offer a discount.

 

If your case is dropped because you didn't pay the fee, the counterclaim can still continue if the Defendant wants to continue with it. In that situation the Defendant would need to pay the appropriate court fee. Presumably the Defendant would not be bothered about the counterclaim if you discontinue.

 

What did the expert report say and why do you want it? It sounds like the judge didn't think the report was relevant because it didn't address the issues raised by the Defendant.

[dillon21]

ok heres wher we are the date for hearing is in about 2 weeks we are going to court when I dropped the papers into the court that were to be relied on in court I also put in an application on allocation form and paid a fee of £80 for our experts letter to be used in the hearing we have now received this General form of judgement or order

 

 

Before Judge xxxxxxx sitting at XXXXXX county court

 

 

Upon considering the papers in the case including the application dated xxxxxx issued by the claimant (us)

And upon the court noting that there is no eviedenvce the claimant (us ) has raised with the expert report ( Mr xXXXXXXX) relied upon by the defendant and written questions concerning any matters in the report of that expert with which the claimant does not agree

 

 

IT IS ORDERED THAT

1 The application of the claimant (us) dated xxxxxx is dismissed

2 Because this order has been made by the court without considering representations from the parties, the parties have the right to apply to have the order set aside ,Varied or stayed. A party wishing to make an application must send or deliver the application to the court with the fee to arrive within 7 days of service of this order which gives us 2 days

does this mean our case is weak no written questions were raised we thought you did all this at the hearing feeling a bit desprate

[dillon21]

Also I paid £80 for it to be used at hearing rather than £45 for it to be looked at in the judges chamber so if hes already looked why did I have to pay the higher amount

[genie101]

You need to concentrate on preparing your case for the trial and ensuring any deadline for filing and serving documents / evidence is met. You need to check the previous court orders but it would be unusual for the court to allow an expert at a small claim trial. The court prefers all expert evidence to be in writing, with questions being put to him and replied to well in advance of trial.

 

If you don't want to pursue the claim and defend the counterclaim any further, you need to strike a deal with the defendant.

 

If you want it all to come to an end, you could suggest a drop hands and walk away settlement - you don't pursue your claim (and costs) and the defendant doesn't pursue its counterclaim (and costs). If you strike a deal, you need to inform the court as soon as you can, ideally with the terms agreed in writing by both you and the defendant.

[dillon21]

Sorry I thought I made it clear in the above thread we are going to court all paper work is in his expert witness statement as been given permission to be used and yes it is in writing we answered his expert s questions but obviously this was not enough and should have disagreed and addressed them directly to his expert in writing this is were we got confused and thought that would have been what the hearing was for as I have set out above the judge decided to dismiss our experts witness letter we presume for that reason but been to CAB this morning also got a bit of advice from a solicitor and have been told to write to judge and ask for the letter from our expert to be allowed to be used as it is relevant to his experts report CAB most helpful

[maddiemay]

Good to hear CAB were helpful, off there myself tomorrow.

 

Seems to me the experts report has made it more complicated, your husband is the expert, or was it to say the work he's done is of a good standard possibly.

 

Nothing to add of any importance, just to say I'm still following and wishing you all the best for next week.

 

In my opinion and only based on a claim we brought against the most arrogant landlord in the history of landlords, whom my husband did emergency plumbing work for, in one of his tenanted properties, then denied he authorised the work, a judge expects you to be paid if they've done the work, unless of course it' clearly needs to be done again, which in the instance (and ours) is not the case.

Keeping everything crossed for you

 

Maddie

[dillon21]

aww thanks Maddie this as been so stressful hubby had hip replacement in the middle of all this so had time off work for that plus losing the Money this guy didn't pay been awful 12mths anyway back to the case going to drop the forms in to court tomorrow to have the dismissal set aside of our experts report

[maddiemay]

It'll be over one way or another soon enough, last leg now! Hope hubby is recovering well, and whilst recovering has been working on the terms and conditions of working for anyone in future.

 

Fingers and toes crossed for you

 

Maddie

[steampowered]

Out of interest, what exactly was your expert report and who prepared it?

 

 

Bear in mind that experts are supposed to be independent.

[dillon21]

Out of interest, what exactly was your expert report and who prepared it?

 

 

Bear in mind that experts are supposed to be independent.

 

Ours was to show a consultancy project management building firm all the plans paper work etc to price it because his surveyours was almost smack on what he had already paid and solicitor seemed to think a bit convinient hence why we decided at a late stage to get another builders input because he had all the invoices from the suppliers so he knows exactly what everything costs and that was already at £13.500 +£2.500 for roof and yet his surveyor still reckons it should have been built for £19,000 including fee for plans elects and plumbing and yes it is an independent builder

[f16]

dillon21 Good for you for not "Chucking the towel in". Stick with it.

 

Good Luck

[steampowered]

So, it sounds like your expert report basically said he should have done the job for less? This doesn't strike me as relevant to the issue in this case, which is presumably whether your husband did the work he was contracted to do. I could be completely wrong but I would imagine that is why permission to use the report was denied.

 

It might be worth moving on from the expert report issue and focussing very hard on preparing for the hearing. You will need to make sure that you know how you are going to explain your case to the judge and how you are going to address the points made by the other side. Good luck.