Help - received a N244

[Kurdswife]

Hope someone can help
me. I have received a N244 for a personal injury claim that I am disputing against. I own a barber shop and have self employed staff. We have been accused of causing a burn to a custom yet who we have no knowledge off...I have now received a N244 application notice and a hearing date in 3 weeks! There is no form
to respond what do I have to do. Thanks

[des8]

Do you not have Professional Indemnity insurance?
If so report to your insurers immediately.

If not post up full details of the form you have received (either a redacted scan or word for word copy)

Is this the first you have heard of this incident?

[Kurdswife]

No I don’t have insurance. I had a letter about 4 mths ago from one of year no win no fee solicitors and I replied and told them I had no idea who this person was

the notice of hearing is for pre action disclosure application
there is a draft order attached stating:
we provide our liability response details of employee who did the hair cut and their training records
process doc of treatment
consent form signed by client to have the treatment and a list of other things to do with the treatment. And we pay for this application cost

i have already told them that we don’t do the treatment the man is claiming and haven’t done for over a year
this is madness we have no clue who this person is and we have no record of any incidents.

[des8]

So the "claimant" is taking this route as they are unsure if it is viable for them to issue a claim, and want your disclosure to assess their position.
You should have received enquiries (not just one letter!) prior to this setting out what they want disclosed and why it is relevant,

You need to write a statement to the court (copy to applicant) pointing out
!)You have no knowledge or recollection of the claimant
2) The treatment alleged has not been provided by you since dd. mm. yyyy
3) there is no signed consent form
4) without positive identification of any employee who carried out this alleged treatment you cannot provide their training records
5) you have no record of any such incidents
6) you dispute entirely any liability

This statement needs to include a statement that you have searched your records such as your injury book and consent records;as duty required,
Also identify yourself and explain why you are the correct person to make this statement
Finally verify it with a statement of truth

Normally the party wanting documents would be expected to pay the associated costs (so the no win no fee solicitor is acting normally ie bullying the opposition!)

tagging pt2537 for a more professional response

[Kurdswife]

Thank you so much. So do I send the response to the court and the solicitors?

[des8]

Yes, but leave it for a couple of days to see if pt2537 is going to make an input, as he is a lot more knowledgeable than I

[Kurdswife]

Again thank you. In the order it also says that we should pay their cost for the application? How can we dispute this too...we are a small family barber shop and this will end our business.

[des8]

That order is what they are asking the court to make.
So you can add a point 7) that it is normal practice for the party making the application to pay any associated costs, and that you trust the court will not make an order on this point

[pt2537]

Hi. I am away on holiday at the mo.

1. 31.16 applications normally leave the applicant to pay costs unless there is a good reason to depart from the rule. See black v sumitomo.

2. Have they asked for the documents they want and have they identified their relevance before making the application

3. What does their application actually say?

[Kurdswife]

Thank you especially as you are away. The application says we have failed to comply with ore action protocol as we have not disclosed the required documents. We responded to their first letter and said we have no knowledge of the incident or their client so how can we provide what they are asking for.
Ill prepare the letter and send, see what happens

[Amethyst]

Prepare a witness statement responding to the application, rather than a letter, and file with the court as well as sending it to the claimant. If you can type out the full wording of the application and draft order we can give you a hand.