Biased County Court Judgement

[Esb]

Hi, I'm a disabled litigant in person and I received an unless Order from the County Court asking me to set out all facts, allegations and particulars of my discrimination claim against my landlord. I complied with this.

The Defendant's legal representatives served a Defence which on the face of it appeared to be knowingly and or recklessly attempting to mislead the Court. They served it with a covering letter to the Court asking for my claim to be struck out for not having spelled out the letter and sections of the applicable breaches of law.

I wrote a covering letter to the Court setting out an example of the defendant's attempt to mislead the Court, quoting a crime reference number and details of a Met Police investigation into the perpetrator -an employee of the Defendant- as evidence contradicting the Defence's claim that there had never been any evidence of harassment and that my allegations were unfounded. There was further evidence contradicting the Defence on the filed supporting evidence, a fact which I brought to the attention of the Judge andthe Defence's legal reps.

the Judge has now served a strike out order using the exact wording used by the Defendant's in their letter requesting he strike out my claim.

The Judge did not ask me to spell out the letter of the law in his previous order, further more my submission is that I have complied with the originating order and tbis is overwhelmingly evident from my particulars of claim. The Judge also did not comment on my request for him to strike out the Defence for misleading the court.

i have until Wednesday to file an application to have the Order set aside and or varied and revoked. Please can you suggest what grounds I can do this on and wheher I should request th Judge be removed from the case, and if so on which grounds?

thanks,

Esb

[stevemLS]

Re: Biased County Court Judgement

You are expected to draw the court's attention to relevant law.

It is usual practice for parties to draft Orders so there is nothing wrong with having the same wording.

You would need to post up the unless order and your response to get opinions on whether you have complied (removing any personal information first).

In my view, you should not in the absence of concrete evidence ask for the judge to be removed, the fact that you are asking on what grounds suggests to me that there is no evidence which would justify such an application and it would only irritate the court.

[nemesis45]

Re: Biased County Court Judgement

Hi to set aside you will have to layout in detail why the judgement was faulty ( I hesitate to use the word biased as this has an accusative
tone implicating the court of wrongdoing .
You need to clearly and concisely list the all alleged harassment/discrimination with evidence including documentation i.e. letters. e-mails
regarding each point, it no use just saying xxxx happened you have to show that it did, my guess is this was absent and is the reason for the judgement.

nem

[Esb]

Re: Biased County Court Judgement

Hi to set aside you will have to layout in detail why the judgement was faulty ( I hesitate to use the word biased as this has an accusative
tone implicating the court of wrongdoing .
You need to clearly and concisely list the all alleged harassment/discrimination with evidence including documentation i.e. letters. e-mails
regarding each point, it no use just saying xxxx happened you have to show that it did, my guess is this was absent and is the reason for the judgement.

nem

Hi, I updated my query to include the detail of the supporting evidence containing the Defence's own written correspondence acknowledging aspects of my complaint as having happened, and in which the defence defends said behaviour. In her defence she tells the court o such evidence has ever been found and paints a very respectable picture, excluding the fact of the police investigation. This evidence was already with the court and the defence. The Judge maintains in his Order that he "has read the file". Procedurally I'm required to provide that supporting evidence. Shortly after filing the particulars of claim. The Court has not said no such evidence was submitted, therefore it's to be assumed he's aware of it's existence.

My particulars of claim set out in no uncertain terms each provision, and practice I'm alleging contravenes the Equality Act, and have drawn on the Cfor E&HR definitions of discrimination and harassment as a guide. Why would a judge overlook that, and overlook a complaint of in effect 'the Defence's contempt of court'? It seems that the solicitor, a partner in the firm, are wielding an undue influence over the proceedings. Even their defence was incoherent inplaces because it contradicted itself, each time a statement denying a fact, it countered itself with a contradictory statement acknowledging the fact. It suggested a disparity between the defendant's version of the 'truth' and that of it's legal team.

The Judge decided I hadn't complied with his order "in that" I hadn't set out which parts of the Act, and hadn't set out any allegations". My argument is that the judge didn't ask me to set out the law, it was the defence's legal team that complained that I hadn't. I have to follow the Judge's direction not that of the Defence. The Judge did not ask me to set out the law and why would a Judge ask a litigant in person to spell out the law? the legal funding rules don't permit advice beyond 'the merits of the case'.

I did set out the particulars of my complaint. I can send you the documents if you require sight of this, otherwise please advise how I can overcome the above challenges and please keep an open mind. Please clarify if I am required to prove my case by referencing the evidence and where it can be found for each allegation at this stage, thus before a trial? This would give the defence an unfair advantage when it comes to their trial strategy, no? As it stands, I've provided the supporting evidence to back up each allegation and complaint listed in the particulars, but I have not submitted this as an academic exercise i.e. By footnoting the evidence and page number of where it can be found, as I have reserved this document for my own use at trial..

[nemesis45]

Re: Biased County Court Judgement

It seems the other part asked the judge to order the claim to be fully particularised, and the judge has agreed, here I think the judge had little choice, the defence needs to be able to address the points of law inferred or referred to in your claim.
Yes if you can post suitably redacted copies of the documents it would help.

nem

[Esb]

Re: Biased County Court Judgement

Ok, thanks, will do..

[Esb]

Re: Biased County Court Judgement

It seems the other part asked the judge to order the claim to be fully particularised, and the judge has agreed, here I think the judge had little choice, the defence needs to be able to address the points of law inferred or referred to in your claim.
Yes if you can post suitably redacted copies of the documents it would help.

nem

Please see attached redacted originating N1 Claim Form, Judge's Orders, my POC, Defence and it's covering letter to the Court requesting strike out of my claim, and my letter to the court requesting strike out of the Defence.

Thanks.

[stevemLS]

Re: Biased County Court Judgement

Wow, just wow.

I can see why the POC was struck out.

It is repetitive and contains little if any specific allegations.

You must always say which section of any Act you rely on and in what way it has been breached.

And, I'm afraid if you wanted to ask the court to strike out the defence, you would have had to make formal application, your letter to the court manager mentions it in one sentence at the foot of a 4 page letter. That is why the court made no reference to it, it simply didn't have an application before it.

I think that is the longest POC I have ever seen but I did plough through most of it.

You haven't posted the most recent order but my view is that the prospects of having it set aside are minimal, sorry.

[Esb]

Re: Biased County Court Judgement

I'm confused, I was asked to state the facts and the alleged breaches/ provisions and practices deemed to be discriminatory contrary to the Equality Act. I've detailed them with dates when they occurred from pages 6-12 of my poc. These are the practices and provisions that the Act requires me to furnish the court with. Why are they not being recognised as allegations? Why are they not being recognised for what they are? Sorry to press the point, I'm not a legal professional so it's as if I'm staring into a knowledge gap. Initially I had added pages 6-12 to the originating N1 claim form which I'd amended to include the disability discrimination claim by way of an application to the court (which went unanswered but was indirectly addressed in the judge's penultimate order) that the advising solicitor had previously said had no merit, but she then changed her mind. What is the point in legal aid providing funding for advice on the merits of the claim to litigants in person, if that advice doesn't include advice on how to submit valid particulars and no such advice is permitted to be funded by the new legal funding rules? Why should I have to pay the other side's costs when it was their refusal to resolve the matter internally that forced the matter into court, and the government now prohibits any other external independent bodies from investigating race related complaints. Am I supposed to suffer in silence? This is a travesty as it means only legal professionals now have access to justice and if you can't afford one, you can't access justice. Thanks.

[Esb]

Re: Biased County Court Judgement

Remember the original query was whether the Judge's recenet strike out order is fair given that the reasons for strike out do not relate to the directions he gave me in his previous order. I've attached both orders for you, please take a look. Just in passing, it's easy for a solicitor or other legal professional to find fault with a litigant in person's paperwork, but imagine how difficult it is for a litigant in person to meet the same legal standards that are imposed on solicitors..? Have you thought of that.? The law doesn't explicitly exclude litigants in person from the justice process, therefore allowances have to be made, in my humble opinion..it should not be used as reason to strike out..especially where the facts put before the court, along with the supporting evidence, point to wrong doing by the Defendant. It's own management practices are subject to guidance as approved by the Secretary of State. I provided evidence to show that aside from myself, other tenants here (elderly) faced life and death situations as a result of those practices, with one person dying indirectly a s a result of those same practices.. It seems the Judge has completely ignored that. Nice guy.

[Amethyst]

Re: Biased County Court Judgement

This is the recent Order for ease of ref.

[wales01man]

Re: Biased County Court Judgement

Have you sought Professional legal opinion on your chances of success?

[Esb]

Re: Biased County Court Judgement

The new legal funding rules only permit funding for the merits of the claim, so unless I can pay for advice I can't access legal advice save for this sort of forum. I value the opinions of the legal professionals here.

My friend read law at Cambridge but isn't qualified to practice. She thinks the reasoning given in the strike out order is invalid because it doesn't relate to the actual directions given in the unless order, and because she says my particulars comply with CPR part 16.4 and that they do comply with the Judge's unless order. I can see her point. Clearly there is a difference in knowledge and expertise between a lay person and a professional hence why I'm seeking advice here. I'm concerned that the Judge has introduced a legal standard normally reserved for legal professionals, in his final order which isn't fair as he could have introduced it in the unless order at which point I would have been able to research the specific aspects of the law he references in the strike out. It may sound strange, but to me it's implicit in the limitations imposed on the provision of legal funding, and in the guidance offered by the Commission for Equality & Human Rights neither of which discuss sections and parts of statute, that a litigant in person is not required to know the law in any great depth or detail and therefore it is unfair that a judge in the county court has imposed that standard on me in striking out my claim for not knowing it.

[stevemLS]

Re: Biased County Court Judgement

So there is still an Order missing, we have Feb and July, but not the September one?

[Amethyst]

Re: Biased County Court Judgement

There's one in November which is dated September and amended in November?