First time going to court and I’m unsure on how to proceed

[MarkoLima]

spam post reported

But why? I'm not a spam bot!

[atticus]

Your linking to a totally irrelevant article on some Florida site is typical of spam posters to this UK law discussion forum. And I never said that you are a bot: spammers can be human, too!

[Toteme]

No reply from the court yet, when is the latest they will agree to change a date?

The defendants solicitor did reply to my email with a few documents, including an N260 statement of costs of over £2,000. I suppose this might be why they are claiming my claim was made without merit and I am abusing the court process? Would that be considered unreasonable behaviour?

I have to confess I never gave the fee side that much thought because if anyone is behaving unreasonably it is them. I always thought my case was very straight froward. Even the courier was dismayed I had to take them to court and they were quite annoyed with the company using them as an excuse.

[R0b]

If you haven't heard from the court, you may want to follow up by telephone and ask them to confirm if they have received your email and see if they can put your request in front of a judge for review. No guarantees that it will happen but if you don't ask you don't get.

Can't comment on the point you made about the solicitors replying to your email as I don't understand the context, so you're going to have to supply more information. If you're suggesting that it's an abuse of process to submit a statement of costs then no, I would not consider that an abuse. The court has discretion to award costs.

If there is a procedural error or non-compliance with the Civil Procedure Rules then yes that could be an abuse of process and/or if your particulars of claim don't contain a sufficient statement of facts to enable the other side to understand the case, then that could be a reason to strike out on the basis of no merit or disclosing no grounds to bring a claim. Having said that, the courts have stated on numerous occasions that strike out is a draconian method and should be used as a last resort and the more appropriate approach would be for the breaching party to have an opportunity to take remedial action.

[Toteme]

I had also emailed the solicitor to say I couldn't attend the hearing and they responded with the N260 statement and hearing bundle.
I think my Google skills may have let me down. I thought I had read N260 could only be issued in the small claims court if one side was claiming unreasonable behaviour? Which is why I thought it might be why the defence said my claim was made without merit and I am abusing the court process?

Maybe I should stop trying to Google because it keeps making me more anxious. I will write a script and telephone the court tomorrow morning.

[R0b]

I'm really sorry but I am still struggling to understand what you are trying to say. Not attending court has absolutely nothing to do with your claim being made without merit or abusing the court process. Strictly speaking, applications made using an N244 are known as Part 23 applications which generally falls outside of the small claims track, but you are right that when claims are allocated to the small claims track, the general rule is that costs are not recoverable. Having said that, I have seen judges refuse to depart from the small claims costs rules when a case has been allocated and it happens more often than not.

Arguably, there isn't anything I am aware of in the rules that says Part 23 applications are subject to the small claims track costs rules. However you could argue that as the case has already been allocated, the no costs rules extend to the application being made and so they should not be awarded their costs if successful.

As we have not seen the application and the witness statement I can't really help much other than to speculate why they have decided to go down this route. Either you may be holding something back from us, perhaps unintentionally, or the only other logical conclusion is that the other side's legal representatives are barking up the wrong tree with this application.

As you are not going to be present to rebut anything the other side will say on the day and if you can't get the hearing vacated for another day, all you can do now is hope your witness statement is good enough to persuade the judge not to strike out your claim. Worst case, the judge does strike it out and you will have the option to set it aside and/or appeal the decision at an additional cost, or you suck up the loss and pay what the court orders, if anything.

[Toteme]

I phoned this morning and couldn't change the hearing date. They did confirm they had received the witness statement and my reason for not attending was acceptable.

My witness statement is straight forward. I start with the date I placed the order, then when I requested and sent the return. Then summarise how I spent a few months contacting the company about the return and the courier. I did state it was a free returns service, the tracking results, company has the contract with the courier and when the courier introduced their digital proof of postage to avoid any doubt. Then the company's terms and conditions. Everything is backed up with evidence.

There's nothing more to it. I'm afraid I'm not the only one of their customers having the same issue either. I did think perhaps it was a case of the solicitor representing their clients wishes even if they knew their client was in the wrong? I suppose if they acknowledged the digital proof of postage is genuine they wouldn't have any defence at all?
But that still doesn't explain why the return tracker on their website acknowledges the return is with their courier and when I mentioned this to them they never acknowledged it. To be honest it still baffles me.

I get a bit flustered on the phone and can't quite remember everything that was said, will I receive a phone call of the outcome from the hearing and then judgement in the post?

[R0b]

If the hearing goes against you, I would expect the claimant to come back to you pretty quickly to confirm the outcome. Otherwise you should expect the order to be issued by post but that can sometimes take a couple of weeks. If you hear nothing back, try calling the court next week to see if they have an update on the court record as to the outcome and confirm that way.

[Toteme]

I phoned the court this afternoon and have been awarded the summary judgement. I have to wait for the judgement in the post to find out the full details but is this the end of it now? Can the defendant appeal or try to reinstate the claim?

[R0b]

That's an excellent result, I take it you did what I suggested and mentioned in your witness statement to invite the court to grant summary judgment?

Short of the defendant making a appeal, the summary judgment is the end of the road. Appealing a summary judgment is generally difficult to overturn since if involves the court's discretion based on the facts and the arguments made at the hearing so appellate courts are reluctant to overturn those kinds of decisions unless, for example, the decision was so wrong that no other judge would come to that conclusion or if the judge failed to take into account certain evidence or facts that would have materially altered the decision.

You will have to wait and see what the judge has awarded as it may be the judge gives you the compensation but not the costs of your application. Whether you want to contest those costs you've incurred would be an appeal but you might be happy with the win and decide not to appeal those costs. Expect to wait a week or two for the order to come through, the courts can be somewhat slow at times.

Also, how much was the amount you were claiming for? The potentially tricky next step will be trying to get the defendant to pay up.

[Toteme]

Yes I did, thanks for your help Rob! I wouldn't have known to request it or resend the witness statement otherwise.

I did think my case perhaps wasn't the best use of the courts time but the defendant would not budge and I knew they were in the wrong. Originally myself and the defendant did agree to go without a hearing until their solicitor got involved. I still don't quite understand their behaviour other than they were trying to make the process as confusing and difficult as possible?

For anyone interested the company involved is Zara. I know it's a bit superficial but I gained weight when having treatment for cancer, I work from home and had shut myself away for a long time. I ordered clothes from them as I just wanted to feel more like my old self again. I would say to anyone thinking of shopping online with them to Google reviews first or look them up on social media, they seem to have a nasty habit of not refunding customers.

It was £380, considering they have a big office in London and physical retail stores it shouldn't be too hard to enforce? How long should I wait to contact them about the payment?

[Celestine]

Great result - well done Toteme. Excellent advice from rob
What solicitors firm threatened you with costs in a small claims matter?

[Toteme]

It was Freeths.

I hadn't realised I accidentally skipped two pages at once, it was actually £6.5k they were claiming in costs.

[MaryS57]

Hi. I'm so glad that it went well and that justice was served. In view of the totally unacceptable behaviour of this company, I'm wondering if it is worth reporting your experiences to trading standards and/or perhaps to your local MP? Such companies need to be pulled up immediately - for the benefit of all consumers.