My TAXI nudged a fence - court papers ***Settled by ADR***

[AndyOrch]

How would the claimants council know if the court had or had not received your defence ?

 

The letter is a last ditch ploy to get you to settle........of course the courts had your defence,

 

Andy

[maybelate]

Thanks Andy, I thought this might be the case Do you think it's best to just ignore this letter then?

[Ganymede]

Thanks Andy, I thought this might be the case Do you think it's best to just ignore this letter then?

No. Call the Court and check.

 

What was the email address you sent it to?

[AndyOrch]

Yes you must still check anyway...disregard the rest of the letter..

 

Andy

[maybelate]

I rang the court today and was surprised to be told that initially they didn't think they had received my defence, but when I pointed out that I had received an acknowledgement they looked into the matter further and said that they had received my defence and Allocation Questionnaire's will be going out in the post today. What I cannot understand is if the Claimant's knew, as stated in their letter, that the Court thought that I hadn't filed my Defence why didn't they apply for Judgement to be made instead of warning me and giving me extra time to file it

[AndyOrch]

If you served a copy of the defence on the claimant...then they would know there was an error as the court would have advised them to complete N225 to request judgment...

 

Very honest of them to give you an heads up Maybe.

[maybelate]

I did serve a copy of the defence on the Claimant Andy and I suppose I could prove that I sent the defence to the court as well, but their actions are still confusing me (doesn't take much though) am I missing something and not reading between the lines?

[AndyOrch]

No your not missing anything........If the claimant had requested judgment it would have been pointless as you could prove it was submitted....time expense wasted for both parties...they were simply giving you a tip that there was problem......but still disregard the second part of their letter.....forget it now as the DQ is being issued and the claim is proceeding.

[maybelate]

ok thanks again Andy, I will await the Allocation Questionnaire

[maybelate]

Hi, I've received a notice of proposed allocation to the small claims track, along with a medication form and a directions questionnaire form. Am I correct in thinking that I just answer the questions on the forms at this stage and return them to the court and a copy to the claimant's rep's, and that I don't need to send anything else with the forms?

 

Thank you

Maybe

[Ganymede]

Am I correct in thinking that I just answer the questions on the forms at this stage and return them to the court and a copy to the claimant's rep's, and that I don't need to send anything else with the forms?

 

Correct.

[maybelate]

Great, thanks Ganymede.

[AndyOrch]

Yes to mediation MBL

[maybelate]

Thanks Andy, will do

[citizenB]

Hi, I've received a notice of proposed allocation to the small claims track, along with a medication form and a directions questionnaire form. Am I correct in thinking that I just answer the questions on the forms at this stage and return them to the court and a copy to the claimant's rep's, and that I don't need to send anything else with the forms?

 

Thank you

Maybe

 

Medication form..!! love that one, maybelate

[maybelate]

I have a mediation appointment for this next week, does anyone have any advice about what is best for me to bring up in mediation or any tips I should follow please?

 

Thank you

[unclebulgaria67]

I have a mediation appointment for this next week, does anyone have any advice about what is best for me to bring up in mediation or any tips I should follow please?

 

Thank you

 

I have not read all of your thread, but this sounds like a person with a rotten fence looking for someone to pay for it to be replaced.

 

Probe their claim and what evidence they have. I don't think I would be admitting anything or suggesting paying a contribution. Even if the fence was old, the cost of installation these days is often more than the cost of the panels/posts.

 

If the claimant has third party witness evidence, I would think they would have had to disclose this.

 

I suppose you will have to stick to the defence information that you have already submitted and just probe the claimant about what they have said. I think in mediation, you ask the mediator a question and they relay it to the claimant. So write down probing questions.

[reallymadwoman]

I did mediation on a small claim earlier this year, I was the claimant. In case it helps, the mediator phoned me first and asked for a general idea of why I was claiming and what for. He then spoke to the other party, presumably for their version and what they admitted/disputed. He must also have asked if they were prepared to make an offer as this was then relayed to me. I refused the offer with my reasons (didn't even cover minimum expenses plus court fee) and made a counter offer. This to and fro was repeated until we reached an impasse where neither side were prepared to move.

 

As preparation in your case I would have clearly set out what you are prepared to pay for in line with your defence. You will also need a list of when and what you have previously offered. You should also think about what is the maximum you are prepared to pay to settle this bearing in mind the hassle and expense involved in going to a hearing as well as the possibility that you would lose - even the most watertight case is never a sure thing in a court room. On the other hand, I seem to remember it's the insurers of the fence pursuing you so they'll either have to persuade the other party to attend and present their case or pay for their solicitor themselves. As a minimum it would cost £300 or so for a solicitor to do a small claims court hearing so they'll want to avoid that if they can.

 

If the pattern described above is the norm, I would expect you to have to make the first offer and would advise offering precisely what you consider yourself to be responsible for, and if this is less than or equal to previous offers then don't include the court fee or any costs. How you negotiate after that does of course very much depend on what the other side counter with and how high you are prepared to go, but I would try to steer a middle course between jumping too much in one go and making such tiny increases that it's just wasting everyone's time.

[maybelate]

Thank you for the advice Unclebulgaria and reallymadwoman, it's really helpful to know the experience of others. I will make sure I get well prepared in line with your suggestions and I'll post up what happens. The claimant is not the insurance company reallymadwoman, it's the person who's fence I hit, who is only out of pocket for the excess on his policy as his insurance company paid his claim in full, but the claim also incorporates the amount that the insurance company paid to the claimant

[unclebulgaria67]

Thank you for the advice Unclebulgaria and reallymadwoman, it's really helpful to know the experience of others. I will make sure I get well prepared in line with your suggestions and I'll post up what happens. The claimant is not the insurance company reallymadwoman, it's the person who's fence I hit, who is only out of pocket for the excess on his policy as his insurance company paid his claim in full, but the claim also incorporates the amount that the insurance company paid to the claimant

 

They are entitled to reclaim the amount paid out by their Insurers, provided they do pay the money back to the Insurers.

 

Sounds like you admit that you hit the fence. It is then just how much you are willing to settle the claim for.

 

If you are expecting your Insurers to pay the amount of the court claim you agree to, you should speak to them before the mediation call.

[maybelate]

Just an update on this - managed to reach an agreement in Mediation, which was actually for an amount that was less than the amount they originally claimed was required to complete the fence repair. Thank you everyone who helped with this, your support is greatly appreciated as always

 

regards

Maybe

[AndyOrch]

Delighted that this has been resolved MBL....

 

Thread title amended to reflect the outcome.

 

Regards

 

Andy

[Ganymede]

Just an update on this - managed to reach an agreement in Mediation, which was actually for an amount that was less than the amount they originally claimed was required to complete the fence repair. Thank you everyone who helped with this, your support is greatly appreciated as always

 

regards

Maybe

 

Glad to hear it.

[reallymadwoman]

Glad to hear this is finally settled, and well done for standing your ground and not being coerced into paying for damage you didn't do.

[honeybee13]

That was a marathon. Well done on the result.

 

HB