Can / should I continue with counterclaim?..

[Waddersemm]

Hi my old commercial landlord wanted to take me to court. I have fiercely denied his allegations and also put in a counterclaim for the problems I had during my tenancy that lost me money,time and business. However since filing the claim against me he hasnt returned any paperwork or met any court deadlines. I dont think he ever intended to go through with it and has wasted the judges /courts time and mine. I'm wondering can or should I continue with my counterclaim? I'm not too bothered about the claim for all the problems as it was over two years ago but hes needlessly cost me money for filing the counterclaim and a meeting with a solicitor so I would like to at least claim that back if I can. I have no idea what I'm doing so any help is much appreciated!!* Thanks Emma!

[luxardo]

I assume :-

He issued a claim though the county court system ?
You responded within the timeframe and indicated you denied you owed the money and had a counterclaim ?
He has made no response at all to the court ? How do you know this ?
Have you been sent the directions questionnaire and completed them ?
I assume you have not received his response ?
He has made no application to discontinue the case ?

How strong a case is your counterclaim ? Have you actually lost any money that you can quantify ? If you are just claiming you "may have lost business as a result of his actions" it's not quantifiable and difficult to prove. Is it a case of you would not have made the claim but for him making his claim first ?

Normally the court will strike out the claim on the grounds the claimant has not complied with the orders of the court and that will be the end of the matter if it happens. The court may also order at this point that he pays court fees and your costs.
If they don't award you costs you can apply to have this order set aside on the grounds it would result in an unjust result for you by denying you an enforceable costs and counterclaim order.

The court has a wide range of powers to deal with this sort of thing and it depends on the judge really.They can even order that he come to a court hearing to explain why he did not comply with the court's requests. He may be told to pay your costs at that hearing or if he does not attend.

You really need to find out at what stage the case is at by contacting the court.
If he has simply abandoned the case I see no reason why you shouldn't let your solicitor deal with this as all costs will be awarded against him.

[Waddersemm]

Hi thank you sorry I didnt see this sooner! So it went to court. He had still provided nothing apart from brief overview. He was struck out again and I won my counterclaim!* I finally thought it was all over. Hes now emailed me saying hes going to appeal my countercaim decision and reinstate his case....for a third time!! I'm so sick of this *