Final hearing today

[Nirvana]

Hi All, recently discovered this forum but I was already a fairly long way into defending a claim, so no previous posts on this site.

Quick bit of background

Claimant didn't send a LBA
Lied about her address on the initial claim form and all communication going forward (Royal Mail redirect in place)
Claimant refused ADR
Ignored all requests for further information and would not engage in any way.
Claimant missed first Dispute resolution appointment, citing "incorrect number" as the reason. The claim was struck out but then reinstated upon her appeal.
Witness statement was spurious, at best, mostly baseless and malicious in content.

I have tried to stick to Practice direction and have cited various

The DJ skimmed both statements, dismissing 90% of the claimant's document as irrelevant which pretty much left her word as "proof"
My own statement contained various bullet points on PD (Process, Address, refusal to engage etc) which the judge said was "irrelevant"

I successfully defended part of the claim, but lost other parts.

The claimant had completely ignored all pre-action protocol but the DJ then went on to award costs as well

I'm flabbergasted to be honest. I was almost certain that it would be an open and shut case in my favour and a very possible contempt of court finding against the claimant.

I had no idea a DJ could just dismiss practice direction as "irrelevant", otherwise what is the point of it?
Is it worth appealing the decision or am I wasting my time?

[MIKE770]

Celestine

[atticus]

The OP tells us nothing about the nature of the claim or his grounds for contesting it.

[Nirvana]

The OP tells us nothing about the nature of the claim or his grounds for contesting it.

The claim was a private money dispute between two individuals..
I can live with the claimant's witness statement not being challenged over clear dishonestly, notwithstanding that I was able to point out obvious attempts to mislead the court.

Obviously, I don't think the judgement was fair but appreciate that is not grounds to appeal in and of itself.

My problem with the judgement was that the DJ completely dismissed PD as "irrelevant" and I imagine that would be my grounds to contest it.

I'm also not particularly thrilled about having to pay costs for a case where pre-action protocol was completely ignored.

[atticus]

We still know nothing about the strength or weakness of the grounds on which you contested the case.

[Nirvana]

The claimant paid for some repairs to my home, in lieu of contributions for food, utilities, council tax etc etc. We agreed this at the time, nothing was written down.
The claim stated that I had verbally agreed to pay this back.
Since there was no hard or electronic (text, email etc) evidence of any agreement, this came down to my word versus hers. The claimants witness statement was a pack of lies and mud slinging, mostly completely irrelevant to the case but countered regardless, with proof. The JD just said the paragraphs were irrelevant without any consideration to the honesty of the claimant's overall statement.
My supporting evidence also showed regular payments from her to me, 50% of bills (evidence of a contract of sorts) which stopped on a particular date.

No LBA contra to CPR Pre action para 14-18
No agreement was produced by the claimant. contra to CPR 16.5(4) (JD said this was irrelevant)
Pre-action protocol was completely ignored
All requests for information were ignored by claimant
Claimant refused ADR
Claim was issued from an address the claimant didn't reside in or carries on business contra to CPR PD 16 2.2 (JD said this was irrelevant)
Claimant continued to use the same address contra to CPR Rule 6.23 (JD said this was irrelevant)
Claimant produced a heavily doctored bank statement with a clear attempt to mislead the court. This was ignored.

So my question is, are the JD comments about CPR being irrelevant true?
I'm confused at to why costs were awarded, since I had absolutely no choice about going to court due to the claimant's behaviour.

Do I have any grounds to appeal or am I wasting my time?

[atticus]

I still cannot say whether an appeal would have good prospects of success. You appear to think you have grounds to appeal, but you must understand that appeals are difficult.

Your argument appears to be that your evidence was not properly considered. While I may be wrong, I wonder if you spent so much effort arguing procedural points that your arguments about the facts and evidence in the dispute did not get proper weight. Remember that the DJ had to decide on the balance of probabilities: which version of events is more likely to be correct?

I sense a good deal of bitterness. Were you previously in a relationship with the claimant, or have I put 2 and 2 together and made 5?

Here is some general guidance about appeals:

https://www.gov.uk/government/public...ly-cases-ex340

Here is the form for applying for permission to appeal:

https://assets.publishing.service.go...9/n164-eng.pdf

[pt2537]

The claimant paid for some repairs to my home, in lieu of contributions for food, utilities, council tax etc etc. We agreed this at the time, nothing was written down.
The claim stated that I had verbally agreed to pay this back.
Since there was no hard or electronic (text, email etc) evidence of any agreement, this came down to my word versus hers. The claimants witness statement was a pack of lies and mud slinging, mostly completely irrelevant to the case but countered regardless, with proof. The JD just said the paragraphs were irrelevant without any consideration to the honesty of the claimant's overall statement.
My supporting evidence also showed regular payments from her to me, 50% of bills (evidence of a contract of sorts) which stopped on a particular date.

No LBA contra to CPR Pre action para 14-18
No agreement was produced by the claimant. contra to CPR 16.5(4) (JD said this was irrelevant)
Pre-action protocol was completely ignored
All requests for information were ignored by claimant
Claimant refused ADR
Claim was issued from an address the claimant didn't reside in or carries on business contra to CPR PD 16 2.2 (JD said this was irrelevant)
Claimant continued to use the same address contra to CPR Rule 6.23 (JD said this was irrelevant)
Claimant produced a heavily doctored bank statement with a clear attempt to mislead the court. This was ignored.

So my question is, are the JD comments about CPR being irrelevant true?
I'm confused at to why costs were awarded, since I had absolutely no choice about going to court due to the claimant's behaviour.

Do I have any grounds to appeal or am I wasting my time?

Hi

Difficult to say what the options are for an appeal.

The lack of LBA is a cost point, the lack of agreement i can see why the judge took that view, the fact that requests for information were refused that should have been the trigger for an application to the Court for discovery.

Refusing ADR again is a costs point ( see OMFS v PGF II)

The wrong address, yeah i can see why you raise it but does it substantively affect your case? I doubt it.

the doctored statement, did you get an expert to review this? Clearly an expert would be needed to make such an assertion unless you are qualified in forensic document analysis .

In terms of an appeal, i cannot see grounds based on the above paragraphs, most go to the heart of costs only, and i dont see any decision where the judge was in error. Do you have a transcript of the judgment?

[Celestine]

Costs? Was this fast/multi track? Did the opponent use solicitors?

If there was any personal relationship/cohabitation involved, Judges will make unhelpful assumptions, often based on who plays the victim better sadly.

[Nirvana]

Thanks for all the replies.. I won't be appealing, since I have no confidence based upon my previous performance.

The main thrust of my argument, since it was a "he said - she said" type thing, was to highlight the dishonesty in the claimant's statement. Obviously I didn't have evidence for everything and it's difficult to prove a fictitious conversation didn't actually happen but I thought I'd done a fairly reasonable job. It was my hope that I could convince the DJ that the claim was false/malicious on the basis of the false witness statement.. So I was hamstrung when the DJ said that much of the claimant's witness statement was irrelevant and we wouldn't be addressing it.
I did think that lying on a witness statement was contempt of court.

I'm still confused as to why costs (filing claim, hearing cost and expenses) were granted to the claimant. The DJ just awarded them as though it was completely routine.
I was very clear in my own witness statement. No LBA, refusal to engage or reply to any communication, total failure to follow pre-action protocol. Refused ADR etc.

Celestine, this was via the small claims track. Yes, this had been a cohab relationship.

[Celestine]

Thank you for updating us. I understand your decision.

On the costs question, it is usual for court fees, hearing fee etc to be awarded against the losing party, even in the Small Claims track.. However, costs for legal representation are only allowed in the Fast and Multi tracks of the court system. In this regard, the small claims track does protect you from the horrific legal costs in the other tracks.