**won** Hello, and woe! - Court Claim for 'dangerous' DIY...

[swiss_toni]

Not great to be honest. Well, worse for Claimant I suppose but hey.

He lost - easily - with the judge taking time to explain why his claim was hopeless. He was dressed like a tramp. I got out easily afterwards and because I live over the road took an unmarked path, so we didn't speak once.

Why not great?

Virtually no costs, as despite my 3 letters telling him to discontinue, he was ruled not unreasonable.

I got my £255 back (or will, ha ha), but despite the fact I explained I could not take a half day (agency/bank staff will already have been drafted to fill my place) AND had my proof of loss of earnings letter, he explained it was capped at £100? He even made out he was doing me a favour, as he said this was actually a striking out hearing and not a full small claim??

[jaguarsuk]

Not great to be honest. Well, worse for Claimant I suppose but hey.

He lost - easily - with the judge taking time to explain why his claim was hopeless. He was dressed like a tramp. I got out easily afterwards and because I live over the road took an unmarked path, so we didn't speak once.

Why not great?

Virtually no costs, as despite my 3 letters telling him to discontinue, he was ruled not unreasonable.

I got my £255 back (or will, ha ha), but despite the fact I explained I could not take a half day (agency/bank staff will already have been drafted to fill my place and there are only so many ambulances so no point coming in later...) AND had my proof of loss of earnings letter, he explained it was capped at £100? He even made out he was doing me a favour, as he said this was actually a striking out hearing and not a full small claim??

This is the issue with small claims, any fool can file them and even when they are wrong they can pretty much walk away scott free.

You'll get your £255 and £100 of expenses, so you have cost him something and the claim is now done.

Hopefully he'll just pay the order, but if he doesn't then you'll have to instruct bailiffs to recover the costs you have been awarded.

Try to focus on the positives.

[swiss_toni]

Yeah except the Judge put the idea in his head (when explaining what CoAs would and wouldn't work and why) that although negligence and contract were dead, Fraud might just wing it!!

Though to be fair he did say 'I make no judgement on what Mr Defendant has done, of course, and would not actually recommend going down this route without robust legal advice and, of course, your new evidence...'.

I take it the Judge was correct then about the loss of earnings?

I agree I am not too bothered, the judge was otherwise fair and did try and tell the idiot WHY he lost, despite the fact the guy kept saying 'I thought the court would check this for me' etc...

[Amethyst]

Because he stopped short of ruling the claimant was unreasonable then yes Costs would be limited to actual expenses - normally under £100 ( you did ok considering you didn't have any travel /parking only the day off work ) ( unless it was deemed unreasonable you don't get LIP hourly rates for prep etc )

What is the 'new evidence'?

[swiss_toni]

Ah no re. new evidence he was just explaining that in order to actually bring a fraud claim (he was just humoring the Claimant) then not only would he need proper legal advice, he would have to get much better evidence than what he currently had - and he even (correctly) said that if work had already done to the house, that would be impossible

[Amethyst]

Ahhhh, makes sense, good on the judge ... let's hope that will be the end of it but somehow I doubt it. Expect a random claim for 'fraud' lol....

Anyway, when the order comes through from court ( probably take a couple weeks ) you can write to claimant requesting payment of the costs and go from there. Costs are actually payable within 14 days from judgment ( today ) so you can look at enforcement if you wish after 14 days are up ( you'll need a copy of the order first though ) Personally Id wait till you have the order then write to him with a copy and give him payment details and a clear deadline (7-14days) before going to enforcement ( likely obtain a warrant of control ).

[swiss_toni]

Ok thanks for that advice. I think the judge has persuaded him there would be no point trying the same case against my parent though. But as for the fraud angle, we'll see!

I previously thought payment would be rapid but the Claimant has very recently moved jobs from consumer finance (where I imagine a CCJ or even the threat of one would be an utter no-no) to the local NHS trust (non-finance, non-clinical), so there would be absolutely no knock-on effect for him with any ongoing civil issues. i.e. I can just imagine how he will try and drag it out.

But hey ho. Lets see what happens.

p.s As this claim was started in new-style Moneyclaim, will it revert there so I can log in & download the order etc... or has my striking out order broken the link? At the moment the moneyclaim account is stuck on 'you've agreed to medication'.

[jaguarsuk]

Ok thanks for that advice. I think the judge has persuaded him there would be no point trying the same case against my parent though. But as for the fraud angle, we'll see!

I previously thought payment would be rapid but the Claimant has very recently moved jobs from consumer finance (where I imagine a CCJ or even the threat of one would be an utter no-no) to the local NHS trust (non-finance, non-clinical), so there would be absolutely no knock-on effect for him with any ongoing civil issues. i.e. I can just imagine how he will try and drag it out.

But hey ho. Lets see what happens.

p.s As this claim was started in new-style Moneyclaim, will it revert there so I can log in & download the order etc... or has my striking out order broken the link? At the moment the moneyclaim account is stuck on 'you've agreed to medication'.

No as it has moved to a local court your order will be paper via the post.

If he tries to drag out paying this order he's even more of a fool than we think, if you have to apply for a Warrant of Control it'll cost £100 which will be added to the judgement. If the bailiffs then have to go visit him they will add their costs to the judgement amount owing, basically the longer he drags it out he's only hurting himself.

[Aukey]

On the bright side, least the ball is in your court now and he's the one who is going to wonder what's going to happen next......

[2222]

I'm not too surprised at the outcome. Even though most people (and quite possibly the judge) would think the claimant has acted unreasonably, I'm not at all surprised that the judge ruled that it was not unreasonable. The reason behind it is that judges often try to find a middle course, so that neither party comes out too badly. As it is, the claimant has paid his court fees, he now has to pay yours too, as well as £100 of your expenses. That's a fair whack for him to have to bear, however daftly he's behaved.

The fact it's left you uncompensated for all your hours of drafting is a by-product of the judge steering this middle course. It happens all the time, I'm afraid.

At least, whilst you've lost a day's pay, you only spent an hour of it in court and it's a lovely sunny day!

[GBExile]

Well done.

I thought he was too ill to deal with everything including working for the NHS?

[swiss_toni]

To be fair he looked dreadful, jaundiced++ - and I can confirm he's gone from an management job at executive pay with a 40 mile round commute to what appears to be a low-middle grade admin job where he can walk over the road to work - due to his unusual name his linked in page is top result of google in case that looks a bit stalky.

Ok it is stalky but all for the right reasons.

[GBExile]

To be fair he looked dreadful, jaundiced++ - and I can confirm he's gone from an management job at executive pay with a 40 mile round commute to what appears to be a low-middle grade admin job where he can walk over the road to work - due to his unusual name his linked in page is top result of google in case that looks a bit stalky.

Ok it is stalky but all for the right reasons.

Well, from what I have read he had a chance of a claim unless he had the correct evidence. He provided no evidence to show the work was dangerous. No photos of the original work, no separate quotes & no expert witness to the regulations.

All he had was the word of one electrician that cannot be relied upon because they may have been after as much money as possible.

That is why the Judge gave him an easy time. Because if he had approached it in a logical manner then he may have had a case. Certain electrical work is regulated the same as gas & it is important to remember this.

Anyway, time to move on with your life.

[swiss_toni]

I feel you may not have read or understood the case. He had not a hope of proving anything, because everything he claimed was either a misunderstanding, assumption, or pure hearsay.

In 1995 I became a qualified electrician, and from 2004 to 2007 I was Part P registered. This is why the claimant firstly assumes I have 'done all the work in the house' especially the consumer unit. This is utterly wrong and was easy to prove today. I tested the installation in 2007, passing it based on the regulations appropriate to the age of the installation, as is correct. The Claimant then had 11 happy years until one of the circuit breakers overheated; at which point everything and anything that could be said, but notably not proven, was thrown at me in an attempt to clain nearly £2.5k.

The judge made it clear today that there was no basis for a claim. There would also be no chance of obtaining 'the correct evidence' as no such evidence exists.

I'll say it again, if you are claiming to be an electrician yourself, your grasp of the regulations and Part P is worrying.

[GBExile]

Ok. Tell me this. What makes you a qualified electrician? What qualifications do you actually have? Only asking out of interest.

I think from what I have read is that you could not sign off with the council for work that you did.

I doubt you are a qualified electrician but a domestic installer without the qualifications to sign off & test & submit the compliance & testing certificates to the council to comply with building regulations.

No offence to you. But you never answered & avoided my previous statement about the above.