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

[JK2054]

Responding to earlier posts.The last two letters that I received was the Notice that the hearing was vacated last week and a letter informing me of the preliminary hearing received back in January. I didn't receive any correspondence after the preliminary hearing about that hearing.

The defendants company is a one man band. I am sure he will just fold the company if it were found that I contracted to his company and not him personally. I know the defendant through my friend of long standing who was screwed over by him as well. The defendant didn't present himself as a director of a company when I communicated with him prior to the job.

The judge said he wanted to add the company as an additional party and asked if I agree to that. Which I did.

As the defendants original defence was that I was contracted to his party and not him. Im unsure what his updated defence

One thing I found out after initiating proceedings was that he deducted tax from my pay but did not pay it on my behalf. Ideally I would have claimed for the tax that he deducted from what he paid me in addition to my claim.

Do the court reply to emails? How do I complain? You would think a court fee is a set fee. How can I find out if a procedural error was made?

Yea court fees are set fees. application without notice is £119 not £303. I don't understand why they are charging £303. I think maybe its because some court staff are unaware that reinstating after strike out and setting judgement aside are different. Some think its the same.

To complain you just google HMCTS make a complaint, but the problem is, when it comes to court fees, most complaints are just closed based on the fact that the court makes more money from the £303 fee so they will want that, but for £180 I'd say its worth a shot. Even if it fails you can still pay the £303 and know you tried. When you win you'd get your £303 back anyway

[JK2054]

WOW Very worrying

Yea very worrying indeed that you're getting so much wrong, and a paralegal is having to correct you on the fact a court finder exists...

[CMan007]

I can't seem to edit my post. What I meant to add was that my friend considered the defendant as a friend he knew him for 5-6 years and worked with him many times.

[CMan007]

Responding to earlier posts.The last two letters that I received was the Notice that the hearing was vacated last week and a letter informing me of the preliminary hearing received back in January. I didn't receive any correspondence after the preliminary hearing about that hearing.

The defendants company is a one man band. I am sure he will just fold the company if it were found that I contracted to his company and not him personally. I know the defendant through my friend of long standing who was screwed over by him as well. The defendant didn't present himself as a director of a company when I communicated with him prior to the job.

The judge said he wanted to add the company as an additional party and asked if I agree to that. Which I did.

As the defendants original defence was that I was contracted to his party and not him. Im unsure what his updated defence

One thing I found out after initiating proceedings was that he deducted tax from my pay but did not pay it on my behalf. Ideally I would have claimed for the tax that he deducted from what he paid me in addition to my claim.

Do the court reply to emails? How do I complain? You would think a court fee is a set fee. How can I find out if a procedural error was made?

[Pezza54]

WOW Very worrying

[JK2054]

Yea i work for a law firm but im oblivious to CPR. Completely correct well done

[Pezza54]

Just worried about your advice. You seem oblivious to CPR

[JK2054]

Why are you advising peopel to do money and do things they haven't been told to do.

THat is possibly the worst advice ever. Oh wait your advice is wrong by standard i forgot.

you are never getting 8% on a defended claim be real

[Pezza54]

This is what I would do, but it is your decision what route to take.

Start a new claim for £205 court fee. Be prepared to lose the original £205. Interest at 8% p.a. (which a claimant can add to their claim) on £3.3k is £264 per year

You would need to file a new claim form and rewrite your Particulars of Claim

If the judge definitely said at the preliminary hearing a second defendant needs to be added (not substituted) your claim form and poc should include for 2 defendants. Make sure you claim your money from the correct defendant (sounds like the limited company)

Check the firm's financial position at Companies House Register

I am not convinced that making an application based on non receipt of court documents will succeed. If the defendant objects you could end up going to a hearing for a decision on your application

Under this route you will have more time to redraft your poc

[JK2054]

ok given that i'd recommend paying the £303. That's because if you pay it and win you get your £205 issue fee plus your £303 application fee back. If you were to start a new claim afresh, you'd have to pay £303 again, but you couldn't recover your £205 for the first claim even if you won the second

(i.e by paying the £303 if you win your case you get back your £303 and your £205 issue fee but if you start a second claim you cant get back your original £205)

However, I'm really not sure what game the court are trying to play. you could consider making a complaint to the court and wait for the outcome of that. You should make clear that you are applying for without notice application where no other fee is specified, and the civil fees order dictates it to be £119. You should remind them you are not setting aside a judgement/order and see, they may give you it for £119 as they should.

The problem is that some courts are difficult, and frankly no matter if its right or wrong they will do what they like because you really have no choice. Its not like a shop where you can go elsewhere, you have to pay the court fee to them or you cant make an application, and some courts take advantage of that. I'm not sure whcih court yours is, perhaps its one of the big ones, if so it wouldnt suprise me.

[CMan007]

Sorry, Im at work. Claim is for £3,290.00

[JK2054]

how much was the claim valued at?

[JK2054]

no thats not true. its civil fees order for without notice application.

[CMan007]

I have an update. I received a phone call from the court to take payment and I was told the fee for relief of sanctions is £303. I didn't pay it. I tried to argue that it should be £119, eventually the person on the phone passed me onto the court clerk who was adamant that the fee is £303 if I want relief from sanctions. Unsure what I should do

[JK2054]

well I tried to be polite but clearly your too ignorant.

Court claims arent a textbook of the CPR, not least small claims. Courts have a practically unlimited discretion when it comes to small claims. If the court of its own motion adds a second defendant, claimant could care less about waht the CPR says. Unless he is directed by an order to serve the claim form on the 2nd defendant, or amend it, that is that. Its quite simple. The fact you don't know that is unsuprising because clearly you don't know a lot about the law or legal system, instead you try and guess like you do.

Your post does not cover when a judge orders the addition of a second defendant, because you are saying its OP's job to amend and serve the claim form, when he was not told to, that is not true. So clearly you do not know what you are talking about. I am not incorrect you are.

Again are you seriously trying to question me being right when I've spent pratically this whole thread correcting your absolute rubbish of incorrect information you have supplied?

Let me make it clear to you pezza, I have been through this court system probably over 200 times, I have appeard in front of judges at least 50 times. Given that I've registered for reinstation of 6 claims for non payment of trial fee via an application, and each has been reinstated, I think you will find I am 100% confident in my answer. May I say that unlike you I would not post to someone else's thread offering information unless I was 100% sure it was correct. Maybe that is something you should take up so you stop giving people the wrong advice.

As you would know if you had any sort of legal experience like you seem to claim you do, although may i say that itself is hindered by the fact you said you give legal advice, when you clearly don't, judges in small claims have a large discretion, they can make any order they deem appropriate. If a claimant doenst pay a trial fee, makes an application to reinsstate because they didn't get paperwork, that is simple as that, and no normal judge will refuse it. You seem all too focused on CPR which shows that you clearly have no real life experience, because if you did you would know that small claims really don't focus on CPR much, if at all.

So as I said earlier, please for the sake of avoiding giving the OP the incorrect information, do not post anything unless you are 100% sure it is both corrrect and relevant, because you have shown throughout this thread that you have basically no idea how things work in real life, and are simply trying to copy and paste from a government website because you think it looks good, or makes you look like you know what you're doing. The OP in this thread needs practical and real advice, and may I suggest that isn't going to come from someone who suggests calling a bulk CNBC number to get a court email address, nor is it going to come from someone that thinks you call the court directly to pay a court fee. Both of these things tell me that, like I already knew, you have absolutely no real life experience or knowledge, so please for the sake of the OP if nothing else, do not post anything unless you are 100% sure it is both correct and relevant, because frankly you are just going to confuse OP and mislead him with the wrong information because you don't yourself know whats right