acknowledgement of service not received at court

[moatmeister]

Got a claim form that I intended to defend. Sent the acknowledgement back within the time scale but not by recorded post and have no proof of postage. Sent valid defence by recorded within 28 days but was not accepted by court on the grounds of outside 19 days because they did not receive acknowledgement of service to extend the time period even though I sent it. Obviously its a good idea to use recorded delivery but no where does it say that you must.

Judgement issued automatically against me. I would still like to persue it. What is the legal position here? If they post out claim forms by regular post the information is deemed to have been served after 5 days. Does it work the other way round?

[Nikolai]

Re: acknowledgement of service not received at court

Apply for Judgement to be set aside on the grounds that you fully intended to defend but that the court did not receive your A of S. It would help if you had kept a copy of the A of S you sent back to the court - if you have one attach it to your application. Also (and in any event) attach a copy of your defence so the court can see you're not messing about.
At the same time as you apply to the court write a letter to the claimant explaining what has happened, that you are now applying to set aside the default judgement, and invite them to consent to your application. If they do so there's no need for a hearing and the court should deal with the set aside in the absence of both parties. If they don't consent, raise the question of costs with the District Judge when you go to the set aside hearing. You are likely to succeed in getting the judgement set aside, and if you then show the DJ the letter you wrote to the claimant, the judge may order the claimant to pay your costs of attending the hearing.
There is no obligation in the Civil Procedure Rules to use recorded delivery or any similar service. Ordinary post is fine. It does help if you keep copies of everything, as papers do sometimes go walkies.......(as you've found out).

[moatmeister]

Re: acknowledgement of service not received at court

Cheers. I will act accordingly and report back!