No record of defence being filed

[Toasty]

Hi,
Somebody started a MCOL claim against me and I have defended and also submitted a counter claim, and it has now been transferred to a local county court. I have also completed an allocation questionnaire.

The other party sent me a copy of their allocation questionnaire and also a document, which they had titled as their defence to the counter claim. There was no defence form included, and no statement of truth on the document.

I have spoken to the court, and they have told me that there is no record on their system of a defence being filed, but that all the paperwork is with the the DJ, and so they cannot confirm whether there is a defence present in that paperwork.

I think it is likely that the other party sent the same paperwork to the court as they did to me, with or without a statement of truth. I didn't ask if the court had a record of the other party's allocation questionnaire.

I am wondering whether it would be sensible to apply for a default judgement, on the basis that the court staff could find no record, on their system, of a defence being filed.

The deadline for the defence and allocation questionnaires was 4 weeks ago.

[Amethyst]

If you file for a default judgment on the counterclaim then it is likely to be applied to set aside that judgment and the part 20 defendant ordered to add a statement of truth to their defence. So what I would do is write to the other side, acknowledge receipt of their defence ( because, basically, you have received it ) and point out to them that they haven't included a statement of truth with the defence and they should refile and reserve the defence in compliance with PART 22 CPR else you may ask the court to strike the defence out and file for a default judgment ( giving 7/14 days) Just looks better on you in the long run and saves a palava of a set aside getting in the way of proceedings.

There isn't any requirement for the defence to be on a 'defence form', only the statement of truth.