Didn't receive paperwork from the court (small claims)

[CMan007]

Alrighty it seems to work now.

I sent off my N244 application and witness statement over the bank holiday weekend and just received an email saying that they want me to send three copies of the application and witness statement. The Court doesn't have e-filing. It also mentions if the court doesn't have a hearing listed in the next 10 days the Court will not print them.

They didn't mention this when they called me to collect payment when I initially sent it off. This is either a generic email or they want my application to have a hearing despite me specifying that I don't want it as a hearing.

[CMan007]

I can't seem to post here

[JK2054]

Yea just google about witness statement formats they're all teh same really.

[CMan007]

I think I need to write more than the box provided. Is there a specific form or template for the witness statement? Can I write it on a blank page?

[JK2054]

You will need to provide good reason, but nothing too huge, because the reality is you will have to prove the amount at trial.

Think about when you start your claim, you just add the reason there, its the same principle.

[CMan007]

Do I need to substantially elaborate the reasoning in depth for changing the claim amount? I might have enough space in the evidence box to articulate my reasoning.

[JK2054]

Yeah or you might want to do a witness statement at this stage so you can write more than just hte box

[CMan007]

Ah yes, so for question 3 on the form I'll add something along the lines of: "(2) The claimant would like to change the total claim amount from to £xxxx."

Then I will elaborate in the evidence box section.

[CMan007]

Is it correct that I will be amending my statement of case.

[CMan007]

So it makes sense to not make the complaint but to amend my N244 application and add the additional amount to the total claim amount.

[JK2054]

you can amend it its an n244 form.

However, if you are doing that I sugest you do the £303 application, apply for restoration and apply for the change in amount as one applicatiom

[CMan007]

If I also want to sue the defendant for the tax that he deducted from what he did pay me (and did not pass onto to the HMRC) would it make sense to make a new claim or can I restore and amend my current claim?

[CMan007]

Thank you very much, this is extremely clear and helpful. It is slightly surprising that I should make a complaint immediately but to be fair I was told its £303 and that's that.

I assume I make my complaint here:

https://hmcts-complaint-form-eng.for...ustice.gov.uk/

[JK2054]

no you shouldn't email the court. you should use the complaints form if you are going to contact them about this, so it goes to a manager

No it doesn't make sense to ask whether an updated defence was submitted, because a claimant not paying trial fee is a more serious breach. Similarly, asking whether you missed other paperwork isn't relevant to this (unless you have more than one claim) because I can tell you from experience there would be the trial fee letter then if not paid it would be the strike out letter, nothing else. The outcome of prelim hearing would have been sent in the same envelope/grouped together

No you have not understood correctly for the lasst bit. I have set your options out below hopefully more clearly

Option 1: You pay the £119/£303 the court require to reinstate the claim. You then pay the hearing fee and your claim will continue as normal. if you win you get back your £205 (issue fee) + your £119/ £ 303 (application to reinstate fee) + your hearing fee.

Option 2: You start fresh proceedings. You have to pay the £205 issue fee again plus a hearing fee. if you win you will get back your £205 issue fee and your hearing fee but you will not get back your original £205 issue fee. (so if you win you would still lose your £205 issue fee for your first claim).

Essentially, if you start fresh proceedings, you lose any court fees for claim one. If you pay to reinstate claim one, you will get back all your fees (including the application fee) if you win your hearing.

[CMan007]

So I think the best course of action is to email the court and clarifying that I am making an application without notice to reinstate after strike out. Hopefully they will respond via email.

Does it make sense to email asking about whether or not the defendant submitted his updated defence? And whether or not I missed any other post from the court - as I didn't receive a letter after the preliminary hearing about the preliminary hearing?

Am I right in assuming as things stand I would have to pay £303 on top of the claim fee to issue fresh proceedings?