Outrageous counterclaim filed in contract breach case

[orbit500]

Usual case of builder, deciding for whatever reason that he didn’t want to finish the job and walking off. In this case he sent me an email saying he wasn’t going to carry on with the job, apparently because I hadn’t signed his terms and conditions. This is despite him sending me a quote, me accepting the quote and explicitly agreed the terms by email, 40% of the job being done and me, having paid 60% of the quote price. In reality, he didn’t have the skills to complete this complex Pool surround and patio, and after numerous faults became apparent, he decided to cut and run.
He demanded a settlement sum which I promptly paid under protest and so I fully reserve my rights.
So, of course, I had to engage another contractor at short notice to complete the job and inevitably there was a moderate over cost of £7k or about 25%.
When I submitted the claim for this amount, he responded with a counterclaim for 21k. This consisted of the remaining 40% of the original contract as he claimed it was lost profit opportunity. Secondly, was administration costs for defending my claim. Thirdly was £300 for legal advice on defending the claim. Lastly (and most ridiculously) was 4k for injury to feelings. It seems he lost a lot of weight, had trouble, sleeping et cetera(!)
My thoughts are this goes beyond a Claim with little or no prospect of success and into abuse of process. If a solicitor had drafted this counterclaim, I’m not sure the SRA would’ve looked to kindly on it.
Thoughts?

[orbit500]

Thanks!
Yes, two adjournments did that.
Ran a full credit check from our Dun Bradstreet acct.
PHR pre-hearing review.

[Pezza54]

Congratulations!
Did the claim on the small claims track take about 16 months from filing the claim to trial?
Have you checked Companies House to find out the contractor's financial position last year?

What does PHR stand for?

[orbit500]

Update: won case today, counterclaim dismissed at PHR. Yay.

[orbit500]

Well, I had expected a little more advice but thank you for what I have.
Defence etc filed.

[Pezza54]

There is something I don't understand.

The court had the counterclaim, value £21k, before it provisionally allocated the case to the small claims track.

As the counterclaim is over £10k why was the case not provisionally allocated to the fast claims track?

Could it be reallocated?

[orbit500]

Anyone care to comment on the merits of the main claim/defence?

[Pezza54]

A bit verbose, sentences could be shortened.
No mention of cprs in respect of:
The Defence and Counterclaim does not have a signed Statement of Truth and "should" be "struck out" , not must be struck.
It is not clear that the 2nd contract was only for outstanding building work for the defendant's contract. If there were any variations to the 2nd contract they should be costed and taken into account.
Your signed statement of truth should follow the wording in cpr. You have not included the second sentence.

[orbit500]

This is the reply to defence and counterclaim defence I drafted. Comments welcome!

[Pezza54]

The time for the court to process the directions questionnaire has now increased to 43 working days.

[Pezza54]

Okey, I was incorrectly informed about who sends the defence document by court staff. Has the defendant filed his witness statement too early? I thought there was a cpr no sooner than and no later than relating to disclosure.
I personally would let the case proceed and not apply for summary judgement yet.. You should spend some time researching CPR and making notes on rules such as Defence, Counterclaim, Statement of Truth etc. Refer to the cpr number that the defendant has not complied with.
Provide facts, not opinion. Don't concern yourself with the financial position of the builder.
If you get as far as writing your witness statement this will be your opportunity to write a detailed document in date order, with contracts, correspondence, photos (called exhibits) attached to the witness statement and cross referenced.

[atticus]

Correction: The rules require parties to serve documents such as defence and counterclaim on all other parties.

[orbit500]

Thank you.
I received the bundle from the court along with the forms you mentioned. There is no indication of the court striking of their own accord.
To be clear, the proposal is small claims track, not fast.
At the moment, I will file a reply to defence and defence to counterclaim as the 14 days expires in 8.
I am wondering if it’s worth filing a summary application with strikeout secondaries at the same time or after, or let it be handled at trial.

[Pezza54]

Yes if the case reaches final hearing the counterclaim will be heard at the same time.
There was no need for the defendant to send you a copy of the defence/counterclaim. This document will be sent to you by the court along with the questionnaire provided the defendant has filed it. At this time the court will provisionally allocate it to a track and you will have a chance to object to the fast track giving reasons for your objection..
Best to wait to hear from the court before writing your reply to defence/defence to counterclaim. You could be wasting your time if the defendant hasn't filed his document or the court decides the defendant has no or very little chance of success.

[atticus]

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