Acknowledge of Service without a Particulars of Claim - CCMCC

[jaguarsuk]

Thanks Jaguarsuk, Of course this must mean we cant do our counterclaim yet i guess. Should we wait for this to be resolved before doing our claim on him for a full refund of money for poor work and goods not as described ?

You will file your counterclaim if/once the judge directs filing of the defence.

If the judge strikes out your claim or it remains stayed then you would have to file your own separate claim.

[Ssssssssss]

If he never files then the claim will just remain stayed until such point as a court officer wants to dispose of the paper work and strikes it out of the courts volition. If he wanted to lift the stay at some point he would have to make an application to lift it costing him £255 to do so.

You do not have to file a defence yet, the judge will make further order of directions to file the defence if he files compliant PoC.

Thanks Jaguarsuk, Of course this must mean we cant do our counterclaim yet i guess. Should we wait for this to be resolved before doing our claim on him for a full refund of money for poor work and goods not as described ?

[jaguarsuk]

If he never files then the claim will just remain stayed until such point as a court officer wants to dispose of the paper work and strikes it out of the courts volition. If he wanted to lift the stay at some point he would have to make an application to lift it costing him £255 to do so.

You do not have to file a defence yet, the judge will make further order of directions to file the defence if he files compliant PoC.

[Ssssssssss]

What did your letter say ? It seems to have been treated as an application for the Claimant to file proper particulars ( normally an application sets you back £255 lol )

The claim is on hold until the Claimant files his particulars of claim, doesn't give any timescale or sanction, also doesn't order the Claimant to serve the particulars on you ( although filing is within 7 days from service so he should serve first).

So if he wants to proceed he will need to file compliant Particulars with the court, at which point I'd expect the court to issue further directions as to your defence. Unless he disputes that he hasn't complied with 7.4(3) in which case he can apply to set aside the order ( within 7 days).

In any event, from your side, the claim is on hold, and there should be a bar in place preventing the claimant obtaining any default judgment until particulars have been served and filed and directions given for defence.

One more Question, does this mean that my 28 days to file defence is delayed too ? As in, i have to resume the counting of days once i receive the particulars ?

FYI - the date of service on the claim form was 4th September

[Ssssssssss]

What did your letter say ? It seems to have been treated as an application for the Claimant to file proper particulars ( normally an application sets you back £255 lol )

The claim is on hold until the Claimant files his particulars of claim, doesn't give any timescale or sanction, also doesn't order the Claimant to serve the particulars on you ( although filing is within 7 days from service so he should serve first).

So if he wants to proceed he will need to file compliant Particulars with the court, at which point I'd expect the court to issue further directions as to your defence. Unless he disputes that he hasn't complied with 7.4(3) in which case he can apply to set aside the order ( within 7 days).

In any event, from your side, the claim is on hold, and there should be a bar in place preventing the claimant obtaining any default judgment until particulars have been served and filed and directions given for defence.

Hi Amethyst,

We didnt actually write a letter. We just phoned money claims and spoke to someone to say that we had filed an AOS but there was nothing on the form saying that POC would follow or otherwise and we wanted the court to know this and that we filed the AOS only because we were told to by their staff even though we said we dont have a POC or any idea if one is to follow. The guy at the money claims must have taken it upon himself to put this before the judge and then we got this letter as described above this morning. We weren't actually expecting it and certainly didnt pay the £255 for the application !!!!

So i guess, we are in limbo now but how long do we have to wait for him to file and also what if he never files a particulars ?

Thanks in advance btw - everyone on legalbeagles has been amazing !!

[Amethyst]

What did your letter say ? It seems to have been treated as an application for the Claimant to file proper particulars ( normally an application sets you back £255 lol )

The claim is on hold until the Claimant files his particulars of claim, doesn't give any timescale or sanction, also doesn't order the Claimant to serve the particulars on you ( although filing is within 7 days from service so he should serve first).

So if he wants to proceed he will need to file compliant Particulars with the court, at which point I'd expect the court to issue further directions as to your defence. Unless he disputes that he hasn't complied with 7.4(3) in which case he can apply to set aside the order ( within 7 days).

In any event, from your side, the claim is on hold, and there should be a bar in place preventing the claimant obtaining any default judgment until particulars have been served and filed and directions given for defence.

[Ssssssssss]

OK so this morning we received a general form of judgement or order from the court. I am not sure what it means or what time limits it sets out for this builder to file a particulars now...????


IT says

Before Deputy District Judge XXXX

Upon reading a letter from Defendant
IT IS ORDERED THAT

1. The claim is stayed until the Claimant complies with the provisions of Rule 7.4(3) of the Civil Procedure Rules 1998 by filing a copy of the particulars of claim.

2. Because this order has been made on the application of a party without noticed of the hearing being given, any other parties have the right to apply to have the order set aside, varied or stayed. A party making such an application must send or delivery the appllication to the court ( together with any appropriate fee) to arrive within seven days of service of this Order. If the applcation is one which requires a hearing, and

(a) the party making the application is the Defendant; and
(b) the Defendant is an individual,
then upon the filing of the application the claim will be transfered to the defedants home court. In all other cases requiring a hearing the claim will be transferred to the preferred court.

[des8]

Ssssssssss this is now the only thread on which you should post about this case

[Ssssssssss]

Quick question Kati, should i post anything about my case into the same thread as this one ? I think you've merged two separate questions / issues into one. I don't mind this but please do let me know if i should post anything else about my case here or it should be subject based ?

[Ssssssssss]

It does appear he is using WP incorrectly and so without effect.
Please do not open numerous threads on the same subject, as it will only cause confusion

Kati can you merge this with Ssssssssss other thread

Apologies Des8, Kati, Was not done to cause any problems. I was just trying to create a new thread as i wanted to simplify what i was asking without all the details and be more direct. Apologies if its caused any confusion.

i've just re-read the claimants statement of case and just seen that he has made a tiny reference to one of the letters he marked as WP so i think that therefore means i can use it now without worry !

[des8]

It does appear he is using WP incorrectly and so without effect.
Please do not open numerous threads on the same subject, as it will only cause confusion

Kati can you merge this with Ssssssssss other thread

[des8]

Why not?
Seems reasonable to me

[Ssssssssss]

For the purposes of using Without Prejudice, what does a "genuine attempt to resolve the dispute / genuine offer to settle" mean ?

Could it be used if our builder says he will fix a couple of minor faults in our bathroom but nothing else ?

Or does it mean that its meant to be something that would settle the entire claim / matter ? e.g. a monetary settlement ?

[Ssssssssss]

I believe what should happen if a judge sees a WP letter, is that he (the judge) recuses himself and the case is heard by a different judge.

If the WP letters are just a rehash of what was written in other letters I would just omit them from the WS as they will only lengthen your WS without adding anything to the argument.

The WP letters i think have been sent as WP because the claimant has made accusations in them and fabricated conversations. I suspect that is why he used the WP at the top. The trouble is our responses may be WP - including our response which asked him if he would use an ADR scheme and also asks him for specific information.

Should i just say we asked him to use an ADR scheme anyway regardless of the fact its in our response to his WP letters ?

[des8]

I believe what should happen if a judge sees a WP letter, is that he (the judge) recuses himself and the case is heard by a different judge.

If the WP letters are just a rehash of what was written in other letters I would just omit them from the WS as they will only lengthen your WS without adding anything to the argument.