Court Claim Name/Amount Details Incorrect - Advice Please?

[MrsMEC]

Hi

I am a Sole Trader and have received a County Court Claim (via the County Court Business Centre) to do with some outstanding business invoices.

I would welcome some advice please on how to respond/deal with it. The queries I have are as follows:

1. The Defendant name (me) is shown as "Ms Joe Bloggs T/A One Two Three Plymouth". It should be "Mrs Joe Bloggs T/A One Three South West" (no "two" and "South West" instead of "Plymouth")

2. The amount of the claim is incorrect. It takes account of an invoice I paid over two weeks before the claim date. The two other invoices are owed, but the amount of one of these is also incorrect (as it was adjusted for an overcharge). The interest is therefore also incorrect.

3. The claim shows a court fee of £410.00 as the amount shown is just over £5000. Due to the errors though, the amount owed would mean that the court fee should only be £185.

I was going to file an acknowledgement of service, but am now thinking I should contest the claim in some way to have it cancelled and would welcome some advice on this on whether there is justification for this? Cancelling the claim would also allow me time to settle the outstanding amount, without fees/interest incurred.

Many thanks in advance.

J

[charitynjw]

The claim form should be addressed to the personal name, but in the case of a sole trader, t/a [xyz] can be added for clarity.

Imho, it would seem that the Claimant is claiming against a non-existing entity.

[MrsMEC]

The claim form should be addressed to the personal name, but in the case of a sole trader, t/a [xyz] can be added for clarity.

Imho, it would seem that the Claimant is claiming against a non-existing entity.

Thanks for your response.

The court could argue that the claim has reached me though, and my 'name' part of the details is correct. Although they've got my business name wrong I am a sole trader. So i'm just concerned that it's a weak argument.

The details of the claim are all wrong though. Once invoice was paid a while ago (and they show the wrong amount any way). Another invoice is showing the incorrect amount. The 3rd invoice is correctly shown. This means that the interest calculation is wrong and the fees charged are wrong too.

Even if I file a part Admission/part Defence, surely they should get the claim right in the first place, and it is not for me to calculate their interest and fees?

I cant seem to find anything online that tells me how a Defendant can get a claim cancelled either...

[Amethyst]

It is a weak argument, the claim is against you, as a sole trader and the t/as is just to show it relates to the business. You should bring it up but the business isn't a separate legal entity to you so tbh it'll be minimal. Nicely shows a lack of attention to detail though, which also seems to be the case in their issuing the claim after most of it has been paid.. You should inform the claimant and the court that the t/as name is wrong but I'd suggest doing that as you go through acknowledging the claim.

(On your question though - For a Defendant to get a claim 'cancelled' it would require an application to the court to strike the claim out as being without merit etc - this costs an application fee of £255 and I don't think you have grounds for that )

Your first step is just to acknowledge the claim - do with intend to defend in full - and it is not binding - you can do admission/offer/already paid later on.


Can you type out the particulars of claim ( leaving out anything identifiable ) - do you have copies of the invoices and evidence of the payments you have made against them already ?

[MrsMEC]

It is a weak argument, the claim is against you, as a sole trader and the t/as is just to show it relates to the business. You should bring it up but the business isn't a separate legal entity to you so tbh it'll be minimal. Nicely shows a lack of attention to detail though, which also seems to be the case in their issuing the claim after most of it has been paid.. You should inform the claimant and the court that the t/as name is wrong but I'd suggest doing that as you go through acknowledging the claim.

(On your question though - For a Defendant to get a claim 'cancelled' it would require an application to the court to strike the claim out as being without merit etc - this costs an application fee of £255 and I don't think you have grounds for that )

Your first step is just to acknowledge the claim - do with intend to defend in full - and it is not binding - you can do admission/offer/already paid later on.


Can you type out the particulars of claim ( leaving out anything identifiable ) - do you have copies of the invoices and evidence of the payments you have made against them already ?

Hi - thank you for your response.

I have attached a redacted copy of the claim.

I was planning on sending a response to the Claimant's Representative along the lines of:


Sir,

We refer to your letter dated 18^th March 2019 and the subsequent County Court Claim of the same date, both received today.

Please note the following inaccuracies with your claim, namely:

1. Invoice 011118 £2340 – The amount was amended to £2300 as one item was not ours.The invoice was paid on the 8^th February 2019 by bank payment.

2. Invoice 031218 £1755 – A part payment of £755 was made on the 19^th March by bank payment.

3. Invoice 020119 £1260 – The amount was amended to £1170 as one item was not ours and one item had been duplicated.

4. The interest and fees charged are both incorrect.

5. The ‘Defendant’ details are incorrect and not a recognised legal entity. We are Mrs Joe Bloggs T/A One Three South West.

6. We are surprised that you have cited invoice numbers within the claim details as the ones we were issued with by the Claimant neither have an invoice number or are made out to our legal entity name, therefore please provide copies of the invoices that you refer to which we assume will be used in evidence.

Under the circumstances we respectfully request that you cancel the claim, where you are at liberty to then re-issue it as you see fit. We will of course be defending the claim, not least on the points made above.

We await your response.

Yours sincerely