Discontinue, Dismissal or Strike Out

[GBExile]

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Can someone please inform us minions what the legal difference is between:

A dismissal
A strike
& A discontinuance

And the possible consequences of the above.

In the past 2 years I have "beat" in court 5 companies out of 5 for the grand total of over £4k (not bad for a £15 contribution to the site & about £100 worth of special/recorded delivery letters).

I have had 3 strikes & 2 discontinuances but I still do not know what the meaning is (& more importantly the possible repercussions of each verdict). I am quite sure we all do not need being bitten on the backside after a "win".

I think legalbeagles need a pinned post about what each verdict actually means.

Thanks GBEXILE.

My thanks to AMETHYST & DIANA M whose information I read & won each case on the back of.

[Amethyst]

You're alright xxx

Strike out - the court strikes out the case and the claimant can apply for relief from sanctions ( usually a strike is due to something procedural not done or dodgy particulars of claim )

Dismissal - is the court deciding there's no case to answer and the other side would have to appeal as it's a judgment

Discontinuance - the party decides to give up and stop the claim, if they do it after a defence has been filed they have to apply to court for permission to bring the case again.

Dunno about a link saying that clearly though, I'll have a look at the CPR.

Discontinuance is Part 38

Dismissal and Strike is case management I think. ( CPR 3a for striking out statement of case ie. "The court may strike out a statement of case, where certain conditions are satisfied, and it make any consequential order it considers appropriate. The striking out of a case effectively removes the party whose statement it is from the proceedings." )

[Diana M]

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Oh your post has gone and I was going to reply to it.

One important point is that the court has no power to Order a Discontinuance. Only one or other of the parties can serve a Notice of Discontinue on the other party which is also filed at court for admin purposes only.

It's also possible to discontinue only part of a Claim or Defence and leave the rest in the proceedings.

For example, we had a case recently where the Claimant discontinued the claim for interest on the debt (when they realised they weren't entitled to it) which reduced the claim by £4k so it was then allocated to the Small Claims track not Fast Track because the claim was under £10k (without the interest element of the claim).

Di

[GBExile]

Oh your post has gone and I was going to reply to it.

One important point is that the court has no power to Order a Discontinuance. Only one or other of the parties can serve a Notice of Discontinue on the other party which is also filed at court for admin purposes only.

It's also possible to discontinue only part of a Claim or Defence and leave the rest in the proceedings.

For example, we had a case recently where the Claimant discontinued the claim for interest on the debt (when they realised they weren't entitled to it) which reduced the claim by £4k so it was then allocated to the Small Claims track not Fast Track because the claim was under £10k (without the interest element of the claim).

Di

So a strike or dismissal prevents the reinvention of another court case?

[Amethyst]

Oh I just look like I was rambling inananely now you deleted the question - could always just put this on a new thread if you want to get into nitty gritty whatnots? Okay done that so go for your life

[GBExile]

Oh I just look like I was rambling inananely now you deleted the question - could always just put this on a new thread if you want to get into nitty gritty whatnots? Okay done that so go for your life

Undeleted x

[Amethyst]

In the past 2 years I have "beat" in court 5 companies out of 5 for the grand total of over £4k (not bad for a £15 contribution to the site & about £100 worth of special/recorded delivery letters).

I have had 3 strikes & 2 discontinuances but I still do not know what the meaning is (& more importantly the possible repercussions of each verdict). I am quite sure we all do not need being bitten on the backside after a "win".

I think legalbeagles need a pinned post about what each verdict actually means.

[

Yes you're likely right as we do have a lot of 'can they come back if they discontinue' type questions. I'll put it on the list But well done on getting all those cases sorted - were they all struck/discontinued after you'd filed your defence ? and what were the reasons for the strikes ?

[GBExile]

They were all after the basic defences were sumitted

Zebit - Asset Collections & Investigations - After filling the defence the court stating we cannot form a full defence as AC had not sent the "forms". The court then ordered that Asset Collections send all of the basic account information to me within 28 days. They didnt. I wrote again to the court & they issued a strike. I suggest everyone writes to the court if the claimant is not playing ball.

Lloyds Credit Card - Lowell - Outstanding debt of £1000 that lloyds used to raid my partners lloyds bank account for every month without permission for about 8 years. After defence stating no "forms" supplied waited 28 days & wrote to the court saying no "forms" received still. Court ordered Lowell to produce "forms". Lowell did not do so within the 28 days. Wrote again to the court saying still no forms then they issued a strike.

Quick Quid - Motormile Finance - Moriarty Law. Received all "forms". Left our witness statement until the penultimate day for the court & Moriarty Law. Pointed out that the money was in dispute with the FOS & the FOS agreed the amount was incorrect & that MMF were fined by the FCA for failing due diligence, the amount now outstanding was minimal & other important factors I cannot list as will identify us. Strike for not supplying witness statements to court/us in time & for not paying the hearing fee.

"forms" = contract, notice & full account details including activity.

I have found that although account/transaction history is not listed on their claim details you can ask it from the claimant via the standard letters. Each order the court sent to the claimant did indeed require them to produce the history of the account.

When I have stated I in the above it is because I was doing it all for my partner.

And I will say (contrary to a couple of peoples views on the matter) the court does indeed take into account letters written pointing out the claimants failure to respond to legitimate requests for information. Whether these letters have a genuine legal status is another matter. But my experience is the courts have indeed further ordered the claimants to produce all account details relevant to the case after our requests.

Happy Bank Holiday to all the defenders & take the b/h weekend off & try not to worry because there is nothing you can do until Tuesday apart from a bit of research maybe.