HELP! In Court Tuesday - Advice please

[veryannoyed]

Hi All

 

I'm due in court tuesday as defendant in a case - not on bank charges, but someone else who is trying to get money out of me - the exact details do not matter for this question.

 

In the thing the court sent out to me, it said the claimant was calling 2 witnesses.

 

Now, I have had no copies of any paperwork "evidence" the claimant will be relying on, nor any witness statements, and as I understand it, the claimant is supposed to send copies to the court and me at least 14 days before the hearing of any documents they will be referring to and also statements from each of the witnesses?

 

So what should I do? Tell the court before tuesday hearing? Do I wait until I get in the courtroom before saying anything? Can I get the case struck out on this technicality?

 

I'm representing myself, so any advice and/or the correct legal proceedure/terms would be greatly appreciated!

[veryannoyed]

*bump*

[Glenn UK]

Re the witnesses, was there an allocation questionnaire sent out?

 

I wouldnt raise any objections in court if you have had the opportunity before hand.

 

You may want to speak with the court directly and ask for a continuance since you have not had any witness statements from the their witnesses.

 

re getting the claim struck out, its possible but unlikley imho, but i would definitely speak with the court beforehand.

 

JMHO

 

Glenn

[veryannoyed]

Hi Glen

 

Yes, AQs were sent out and returned, I also sent a seperate letter to the court manager as I have consistently tried to settle this out of court, but the claimant and their solicitors are being deliberately obstructive - basically they will not send me any evidence of me ever having placed the orders (for advertising in a publication) they claim I owe payment for. I put in my defence that I had repeatedly asked by phone and letter to both the claimant and their solicitors for information such as copies of any invoice, order form, signed off artwork etc., but they will not send me anything (so either they haven't got anything, or are forcing me into court in order to unfairly rack up costs against me). I was surprised to hear they intended to bring 2 witnesses, as I can't think what could have been "witnessed" and was looking forward to seeing their statements, but as I say not a single word from them.

 

I suppose there is the minute chance it was a scare tactic from them and maybe they won't even turn up at court?

 

If they do show up, and provide "evidence" at the hearing which I have not had chance to review, and judgement is made against me, I cannot see how it can be fair that costs would be awarded against me, as I have made every effort possible to settle out of court, simply I do not recognise what the amounts being claimed are for, and have asked the claimant to clarify - they refuse to do so, so I do not see why I should pay for something without them supplying a single shred of evidence that I owe them anything?

 

Can the claimant get away with saying "well, we definately posted the statements 14 days ago, they must have got lost in the post" ?

[Glenn UK]

so when the claim was allocated and i presume you got notification were there any directions from the court as to witness statements?

 

As far as im aware they have to provide copies of any evidence they wish to use against you ans you have to provide info about your defence.

 

I would definitely ring the court, ultimately if you turn up at court having made the effort to bring this to the courts attention then when you ask for a continuance based on the need to see the evidence against you then i think theres aevery chance you will get one.

 

In the event thye dont and proceed with the hearing then if you loose ask for permission to appeal on the basis of the lack of preperation time.

 

im sure theres a relevant CPR for this somewhere.

 

ring the court now though find out what they say. then maybe post back

 

Glenn

[veryannoyed]

Yes, on the notice of allocation thing it says that witness statements etc. should be provided 14 days prior to the hearing. I don't actually have any "evidence" as such, just the letter that has already been sent (recorded, obviously) to their solicitors - I can't actually prove the phonecalls as I don't have any recordings of them... I suppose I might be able to prove I have phoned their number if I look hard enough through phone bills, but then that doesn't prove anything of worth in any case.

 

I am going with the assumption that the burden of proof of any debt is on the claimant, any other scenario is logically nonsense, since I can't prove that I don't owe santa claus £1million

 

I will go down the court house in a bit and seek advice - it is only down the road - will post back what they say.

 

Thanks for the advice Glenn

[Glenn UK]

Good luck and let us know how things go

 

Glenn

[StormWarrior]

"basically they will not send me any evidence of me ever having placed the orders (for advertising in a publication) they claim I owe payment for"

 

IMHO If they cannot show a contractual basis for the claim, they will stuggle. and if you are sure that you didn't order, then go to the court hearing, and if they don't have a contract they are gonna look very silly, to say the least!

 

And don't forget to ask for costs, based on thier lack of case !!

[veryannoyed]

The chap at the court reception just told me to tell the judge that I have had no copies of the witness statements or other documents, though he couldn't give any legal advice (as they never can) he said "it's their fault if they haven't sent you anything"

 

StormWarrior: - I'm not 100% sure no, as I have placed ads before in the publication, hence me asking numerous times for them to clear up exactly what the alleged debt is for - I suspect it could be for ads already paid you see, or even for ads placed by other businesses at this same address (it has happened before that ads I placed have been invoiced to other businesses here and vice-versa) ... I'm quite happy to pay for anything I've genuinely ordered, as I have said to them, their solicitors and the court, it is just that they and their solicitors will not send me any evidence whatsoever! - nor it seems have they sent any to the court...

 

All I am concerned about is them producing some evidence at the last minute, thus me loosing a court case that need never have been brought to court in the first place, and me then being ordered to pay their solicitor and court costs. The only real "proof" I've got of offering to settle (that I can show to the judge) is my recorded delivered letter to their solicitors when they first said they would take it to court - so I don't know if that will be enough to show the judge that I have tried to settle reasonably out of court?

 

It is all very bizarre! ... I shall keep you posted as to what happens in the morning - could be interesting!

[Tobes]

That letter should help, if you asked for proof and indicated or implied that if proof were forthcoming you'd pay.

 

Either way, if they haven't sent any proof whether asked for or not, and they then surprise you with it at the court and you lose, assuming you can pay, I'm not sure that they would get costs - they're meant to include everything in a bundle and send it to you before court so you can truly assess their case...unless this is just a pre-hearing meeting?

[veryannoyed]

nope, not a pre-hearing, in the allocation notice it stated that the documents should be sent 14 days before... so we shall see what happens in the morning!