N180 Defendant Form

[pyb13]

Hello,

I'm the claimant in a small claims case and we're currently at the DQ stage following the other person's part admission which I didn't accept. I have completed the N180 and returned copies to the court and the defendant. I have some questions about the defendant's responsibilities as follows:

1) Is the defendant required to send me a copy of their completed N180 or will the court send me a copy?
2) Will the defendant's deadline for submission of their N180 be the same as the one I was given?
3) When the court receives the form from the defendant, will it be updated in the claims history of MCOL?

Many thanks

[Amethyst]

Hello,

I'm the claimant in a small claims case and we're currently at the DQ stage following the other person's part admission which I didn't accept. I have completed the N180 and returned copies to the court and the defendant. I have some questions about the defendant's responsibilities as follows:

1) Is the defendant required to send me a copy of their completed N180 or will the court send me a copy? YES THEY SHOULD, BUT THEY DON'T ALWAYS AND IT'S NOT FATAL, ONLY FAILING TO SUBMIT TO COURT IS.
2) Will the defendant's deadline for submission of their N180 be the same as the one I was given? YES SHOULD BE.
3) When the court receives the form from the defendant, will it be updated in the claims history of MCOL? YES IT SHOULD DO.

Many thanks

( sorry not very exact, yes thatis what should happen, but the court is a law unto itself and often terribly behind in updating MCOL so best to give it a few days from the deadline and then give court a call, if the other side fails to submit their DQ then the court normally gives them a warning to submit in the next 7 days or be struck out )

https://legalbeagles.info/library/gu...uestionnaire//

[pyb13]

I completely understand it's not exact but really appreciate the info. It's useful to know what "should" happen so I can follow up accordingly. Thanks very much for your help

[pyb13]

I contacted the court today and they confirmed the N180 deadline for the defendant is the same as mine. They are running approximately 5 working days behind so they cannot verify if it has been received yet. The defendant has not sent a copy to me and when I asked about this I was advised to contact the defendant as there is a £10 charge to get a copy from the court.

I will wait until next week to see if the defendant has even returned the a copy to the court before making contact. However, the person is an ex-friend so not sure whether I will get a response even if I do email! If there is no response and I need to get a copy from the court, will I be able to claim back the cost (assuming I win the case) since it would be directly due to the defendant not following the process/responding to my request?

A couple of other questions on the process:

1) I paid the initial fee to the court when I started the claim process. My understanding is that the next fee to pay will be for the hearing. Will the court write to me when I need to pay this? I assume it will be due once the DQ's have been dealt with and it's confirmed as small claims track?

1) When I started the process, I served additional particulars of claim on the defendant and filed form N215 with the court. If the claim ends up in court (I have opted for mediation), will the court tell me if they want me to send them a copy of the additional particulars or will I just include the relevant information as part of my witness statement?

Thanks

[Amethyst]

Oh things always get messy when it's friends/family .... and 5 days behind isn't too bad for the court backlog tbh - must be a quiet time of year

So your questions

1) Yes indeed after both questionnaires are received and the claim is allocated and sent to the relevant local court, that court will issue directions / hearing date - this will give you the date by which you have to pay the hearing fee by ( and when to exchange witness statements etc ) I wouldn't stress too much about getting a copy of their copy, they often just don't say anything, but you can mention that you haven't in witness statements later if need be.

2) Did you not send the additional particulars to the court with the N215 service form ? If not, well, you should have.... so may be worth just doing that now and referring them to the N215 you already filed so it can all be put together before being sent to the local court.

[pyb13]

Thanks Amethyst. Yes it's definitely messy!

I didn't file the statement of particulars with the court because it says not to in the MCOL user guide. There's a section explaining everything about the N215 and at the end it says "Please note the court does not require copies of the additional documentation you wish to serve upon the defendant at this time."

I assumed it was because they would only be interested in seeing those particulars if the claim progressed to a defence. Hence my question today about how/when they would let me know if they needed it. I can send a copy to the court and include a covering letter referencing the N215 already submitted. Do you know if it's ok for me to email the particulars to the court or will they require a hard copy?

[Amethyst]

You're right ( had to check sorry )



And checking the specific moneyclaim online cpr it is correct - you file the particulars after transfer ....


So you file the particulars with the court within 7days the case being transferred...

apologies if I worried you there - I forget MCOL is a bit weird xxx
xxx

[pyb13]

Fantastic - thanks so much for checking and confirming Amethyst, really appreciate it. It doesn't actually say anything on the N215 form, it was buried in the (very long!) MCOL instructions as a little line right on the end of the section that would have been easily missed. I complete understand why you may not have known it off the top of your head especially when there's so many processes to remember! I only noticed it at the time because I read every form and instruction about 25 times to make sure I didn't do something wrong lol xx

[Amethyst]

Have you had an acknowledgement that they received the n215 ? - just as if you used the email address in that claimant guide it may not be correct as they've ditched the gsi emails - might be worth checking although I'd expect you can submit a copy of the n215 you did file when you submit the particulars you served after transfer just as back up

[pyb13]

I sent it to the CCBC address (CCBC@Justice.gov.uk) and received their auto response saying "thank you for emailing the CCBC" etc. I didn't get any other acknowledgement. I can't for the life of me find my sent email but I know the auto response was for the N215 because I have the PDF form saved in a folder for the same date and that's all I emailed the court about. Annoyingly MCOL doesn't show a complete transaction history, just key activities relating to the defendant. I think I'll give them a call later to make sure they do have it on file!

[Amethyst]

It should be fine, I just worried a little when I saw that the MCOL guide for claimants still had the old address in, but you'd expect (hope) they'd have had email forwarding set up lol. You sent it to the newer email address anyway