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**DISCONTINUED**Witness Statement not received - Court Date 14/07/17

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  • #46
    Re: Witness Statement not received - Court Date 14/07/17

    The Claimant has not been in contact with me at all and certainly has not asked me to consent to any amended pleadings or for the case to be adjourned.

    Their Witness Statement is full of errors, it arrived late and now the case has been adjourned for which I presume allows them more time to prepare, correct their Witness Statement or find more paperwork from the original lender.

    In all fairness I feel the judge must be siding with them at this early stage to allow the adjournment.

    Comment


    • #47
      Re: Witness Statement not received - Court Date 14/07/17

      Originally posted by Head_Burried View Post
      Their Witness Statement is full of errors, it arrived late and now the case has been adjourned for which I presume allows them more time to prepare, correct their Witness Statement or find more paperwork from the original lender.
      Or consider whether you should to file an Amended Defence following their late disclosure of documents.

      Try to see this as a possible opportunity not a disaster.

      Di

      Comment


      • #48
        Re: Witness Statement not received - Court Date 14/07/17

        Originally posted by Diana M View Post
        Or consider whether you should to file an Amended Defence following their late disclosure of documents.

        Di
        Hi Di,

        I have filed an Amended Defence following the late documents and also highlighted all the errors in their Witness Statement. I sent this 1st class recorded on Saturday so the court would have received it on Monday. The letter I received today was posted 2nd class so would have been sent out Monday also. I presume the Judge received Lowell's request to postpone before my amended defence.

        Is there a chance the Judge could change his decision after reading my defence and I could hear something different in the next couple of days?

        Comment


        • #49
          Re: Witness Statement not received - Court Date 14/07/17

          Originally posted by Head_Burried View Post
          Upon reading an application from the Claimant

          IT IS ORDERED THAT

          1. The Hearing of the 14 July 2017 is vacated.
          2. The matter be re-listed to the first available date after 11 August 2017.

          On a separate page I have a new court date in September.

          It also says:

          Any party affected by this order may apply to the court to have it set aside, varied, or stayed. Such application must be made in accordance with CPR Part 23 within 7 days of service of this order by 4.00p.m on the 7th day.

          I have a couple of questions if you don't mind answering:

          1) Should I take this as good news or bad news that the court has sided with Lowell to adjourn the case.

          2) Should I respond and if so how? What is the difference between set aside, varied, or stayed?
          I've not seen the actual Order but from what you say the court has vacated/adjourned the hearing and re-listed it. It says the decision was made "upon reading an Application from the Claimant" which may have been a no-notice application (it wasn't served on you).

          Since you weren't involved in the Application (presuming there was one) the Order goes on to say you have seven days to react telling you your options (set aside, stay, vary).

          I don't see that as the DJ necessarily taking sides with the Claimant.

          Di

          Comment


          • #50
            Re: Witness Statement not received - Court Date 14/07/17

            Originally posted by Head_Burried View Post
            Hi Di,

            I have filed an Amended Defence following the late documents and also highlighted all the errors in their Witness Statement. I sent this 1st class recorded on Saturday so the court would have received it on Monday. The letter I received today was posted 2nd class so would have been sent out Monday also. I presume the Judge received Lowell's request to postpone before my amended defence.

            Is there a chance the Judge could change his decision after reading my defence and I could hear something different in the next couple of days?
            I suggested earlier in your thread that you should consider an Amended Defence but you didn't post that you were going to do that (on Saturday).

            But did you get consent from the Claimant to file it and if not did you make an application to the court for permission to file an Amended Defence?

            (Did you serve a copy of your Amended Defence on the other side?)

            Di

            Comment


            • #51
              Re: Witness Statement not received - Court Date 14/07/17

              Originally posted by Head_Burried View Post
              Is there a chance the Judge could change his decision after reading my defence and I could hear something different in the next couple of days?
              No.

              And depending on your answers to my previous questions you will need to discover if the court is prepared to accept your Amended Defence.

              You have work to do

              Di

              Comment


              • #52
                Re: Witness Statement not received - Court Date 14/07/17

                Originally posted by Diana M View Post
                I suggested earlier in your thread that you should consider an Amended Defence but you didn't post that you were going to do that (on Saturday).

                But did you get consent from the Claimant to file it and if not did you make an application to the court for permission to file an Amended Defence?

                (Did you serve a copy of your Amended Defence on the other side?)

                Di
                I didn't actually realise I needed consent from the Claimant or an application to the court.

                All I did was write a new Witness Statement and at the start my first few paragraphs were as follows:

                1. I make this Witness Statement in support of my defence in this claim. The matters set out below are within my own knowledge, except where I indicate to the contrary.
                2. This is a Supplementary Witness Statement in addition to my original Witness Statement dated 27th June 2017.
                3. I have produced this statement in response to the Claimants Witness Statement dated 30th June 2017.
                4. I did not receive the Claimants Witness Statement until 4th July 2017 which was after the fourteen days ordered in the Directions that applied to the Claim.

                I sent a copy to both the court and the Claimant. Have I made a big mistake?

                Comment


                • #53
                  Re: Witness Statement not received - Court Date 14/07/17

                  Originally posted by Diana M View Post
                  No.

                  And depending on your answers to my previous questions you will need to discover if the court is prepared to accept your Amended Defence.

                  You have work to do

                  Di
                  How do I find out if the court will accept my Amended Defence?

                  Also, I'm happy to work on it I just don't know the best way to proceed.

                  Comment


                  • #54
                    Re: Witness Statement not received - Court Date 14/07/17

                    Er if thats right, and the application wasnt served, then that surely may warrant an application under CPR 23.10
                    I work for Roach Pittis Solicitors. I give my free time available to helping other on the forum and would be happy to try and assist informally where needed. Any posts I make on LegalBeagles are for information and discussion purposes only and shouldn't be seen as legal advice. Any advice I provide is without liability.

                    If you need to contact me please email me on Pt@roachpittis.co.uk .

                    I have been involved in leading consumer credit and data protection cases including Harrison v Link Financial Limited (High Court), Grace v Blackhorse (Court of Appeal) and also Kotecha v Phoenix Recoveries (Court of Appeal) along with a number of other reported cases and often blog about all things consumer law orientated.

                    You can also follow my blog on consumer credit here.

                    Comment


                    • #55
                      Re: Witness Statement not received - Court Date 14/07/17

                      Originally posted by Head_Burried View Post
                      How do I find out if the court will accept my Amended Defence
                      Well from what you say you haven't filed an Amended Defence (you got the vocabulary/words wrong which is easily done as a Litigant in Person).

                      What you say you've filed is a Supplemental Witness Statement which you also served on the other side.

                      It's difficult to know whether the DJ had sight of that WS when he made his decision to agree to the adjournment because courts aren't always brilliant/punctual when it comes to shuffling papers around the system.

                      If he (DJ) didn't have your WS in front of him then it probably won't be looked at until just before the Trial (in September) or even not until the Trial takes place since it will form part of the evidence in the Bundle.

                      I would ask the court if they received a formal Application to adjourn the hearing so you've got all the facts in front of you before deciding what you could/should do next.

                      When/what date in September is the hearing and how long has been allowed for it?

                      You appear understandably spooked by the Order, but like I said earlier, it may be a blessing in disguise because the alternative was to attend the Trial this week and battle it out as a LIP while the other side may have fielded counsel due to the sum claimed.

                      If you had gone to the hearing (which now isn't going to take place) with legal representation I would expect them to have resisted the adjournment and possibly argue that the court should not allow the Claimant's evidence to be admitted since they filed it late (according to you). And if the Claimant asked the DJ to give them permission to amend their POC I would fight to resist that too!

                      Di

                      Comment


                      • #56
                        Re: Witness Statement not received - Court Date 14/07/17

                        Hi Diana,

                        The second WS that I did was a Supplementary WS and I sent it to both the court and the Claimants Solicitors. I presume this is okay?

                        I have just called the court and they received an Application from the Claimant which the judge approved.

                        The hearing is for 22nd September and they have allowed 90 minutes for it.

                        I'm only spooked because I was happy and prepared to fight my case this week. I feel because it has been adjourned it allows Lowell to find any more paperwork to help their case. Also because I have sent them my Supplementary WS they will see all the mistakes I have highlighted and will rectify them before the new Hearing date.

                        Any ideas what my best plan of action would be now?

                        Comment


                        • #57
                          Re: Witness Statement not received - Court Date 14/07/17

                          Hi all,

                          My 7 day deadline is fast approaching. Is it worthwhile for my applying for the case to be set aside/varied/stayed? Or I am just better to wait till the hearing in September.

                          Any advice or information would be greatly appreciated.

                          Comment


                          • #58
                            Re: Witness Statement not received - Court Date 14/07/17

                            @pt2537

                            Comment


                            • #59
                              Re: Witness Statement not received - Court Date 14/07/17

                              UPDATE:

                              Just to give you an update I received a letter a couple of days ago from Lowell advising they are going to Discontinue the Claim and no further action will be taken.

                              Firstly, I would just like to give a massive thank you to those who helped and offered advice on this thread.

                              Secondly, if anybody is reading this in the future after receiving a Claim Form from the Northampton County Court Business Centre and are planning to defend against Lowell I would like to offer the following advice:

                              It is not a two minute process and Lowell will not go away just by defending the claim. At each point in the process it will require work and you need to make sure you have everything in order and everything is correct. Nobody is going to do the work for you but members of this forum will give up their time and offer advice and support. It will be a long process (in my case it has gone on for 10 months) and it will most likely cause stress and sleepless nights. At many stages I did feel like throwing the towel in and offering a settlement but thankfully I didn't. Most importantly though they can be beaten if you do your homework.

                              Comment


                              • #60
                                Re: Witness Statement not received - Court Date 14/07/17

                                Originally posted by Head_Burried View Post
                                UPDATE:

                                Just to give you an update I received a letter a couple of days ago from Lowell advising they are going to Discontinue the Claim and no further action will be taken.

                                Firstly, I would just like to give a massive thank you to those who helped and offered advice on this thread.

                                Secondly, if anybody is reading this in the future after receiving a Claim Form from the Northampton County Court Business Centre and are planning to defend against Lowell I would like to offer the following advice:

                                It is not a two minute process and Lowell will not go away just by defending the claim. At each point in the process it will require work and you need to make sure you have everything in order and everything is correct. Nobody is going to do the work for you but members of this forum will give up their time and offer advice and support. It will be a long process (in my case it has gone on for 10 months) and it will most likely cause stress and sleepless nights. At many stages I did feel like throwing the towel in and offering a settlement but thankfully I didn't. Most importantly though they can be beaten if you do your homework.

                                Just reading this has made me more confident in pushing ahead in my own case. Thanks

                                Comment

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