Delayed submission of witness statement and evidence

[legalfun]

England

I was advised to post on here.

I am assisting my aunt in legal action against an eviction specialist.

We started a money claim which has escalated to a court hearing on 1 April following a non-attendance for mediation by the defendant (despite agreeing to it).

I read the court order document wrong and did not realise we needed to submit all documents before 20 Feb as opposed to 14 days before the hearing.

I gathered the documents as quickly as I could with my aunt but it was 4 March by the time the court and defendant had received it.

We are yet to receive any documents from the defendant.

I am still concerned this will simply get thrown out and hence be in favour of the defendant. What is the likelihood of this happening? Any further action for us to take or we should just wait and attend the hearing?

[Pezza54]

2 weeks to the hearing so your aunt should have recently paid the hearing fee

The defendant failed to take part in mediation. Was mediation compulsory? It was made compulsory on the small claims track late last year

The defendant still hasn't filed or served their witness statement and is now at serious risk of court sanctions. Do you know if anything has happened to the defendant?

IMO you should both definitely attend the hearing to see if the defendant turns up and if he does, whether the judge allows him to present his witness statement

[legalfun]

Yes aunt paid the hearing fee 2 weeks ago, a couple days before we submitted the evidence. She received the receipt for the fee as well.

The defendant is a company. The rep of that company who I had been dealing with started ignoring my emails for a resolution to my complaint which led to the court claim.

They requested an extension for their defense a day before it was due and then submitted a defense a day before the next deadline.

Mediation was mandatory.

The defendant has shown a pattern of not caring.

We will be going anyways as we haven't been told otherwise but have read of some cases being struck out even though the defendant also did not file a witness statement so concerned about that.

[legalfun]

I am pretty concerned about this. When I submitted the evidence and witness statements I explained that my aunt is a nominal cliamant since her husband and I were dealing with the defendant in the service they provided. I explained that she has also been poorly due to recent major surgery and I insisted on handling all the matters I'm allowed to.

Ultimately it's her responsibility as the claimant but it's my fault.

I have read here I should be applying for relief from sanctions using the Denton principles (CPR 32.9)