Set Aside

[zas90]

I certainly won't be attending the next hearing at the kangaroo court, so I'll be sending a CPR 27.9 letter stating I'm happy for the case to be heard in my absence alongside my WS. I'll paste a copy of my redacted WS here when I've completed it, which should hopefully be within the next week, trying to cover everything without waffling or taking up too many pages.

Genuinely disgusted with the court and its willingness to grant parties extra concessions.

[R0b]

Whatever your opinion of the system, the courts do have discretion to set aside judgment if there is a reasonable prospect of successfully defending the claim. Setting aside default judgment is not a tally based system where the winner is the one with the most marks.

if you are not happy with the decision then you have the opportunity to appeal the decision. If, as you said, the decision was already made before entering the room then I would say that would be good grounds for an appeal as you should be given the opportunity to be heard and put your case across. Of course even if an appeal was upheld, there is always a possibility that the appeal judge could have come to the same conclusion anyway.

There is some evidence and statistics floating around that those who don't attend court are disadvantaged and against those who do attend court, they have more success because you can put arguments forward, refer to case law, answer questions from the judge etc. Unless your writing skills are top notch and you are able to address your points in a succinct fashion, you may want to reconsider not attending.

You are not the first and certainly won't be the last who complains about the result of their hearings in County Courts. Yes, its disheartening and it really is a lottery as to who you might get but the majority of those who lose out also don't exercise their right to appeal.

[zas90]

Thank you for your response. I may well be disadvantaged by not attending, however I really don't have any available time over December or January to attend a hearing, especially when its 50 miles of driving, and I'm not guaranteed to have the case heard, not to mention the fact the court has already given the defendant concessions, I do feel I can put forward a strong case on paper, especially now I have the defendants defence, the 3 points he makes I can deconstruct and prove to be wrong and provide evidence on the contrary, whereas before I was somewhat unprepared for what he was going to put forward, and was unable to respond to the new points he made 4 days before the hearing.

I'll send my papers into the court nice and early, with a letter stating my non attendance in accordance with CPR 27.9(1)(a)(b). If the claim goes against me and costs are awarded, then I won't be paying them as I'm probably going to have no other option other than to file bankruptcy in the new year due to massive debts I've accumulated (previous gambling addiction that has been rectified fortunately).

Would I be okay serving;

- Witness Statement
- Skeleton Argument
- Evidence Exhibits (there's around 25 pages of evidence).

Do I need anything else? I'm trying not to waffle within my witness statement, how many pages should I try and keep to?

I appreciate your time.

[zas90]

A development.

The court made the following order on the 19th November 2019;

"2. The defendant do file and serve a fully particularised defence setting out in clear terms the basis for denying the claim by 4pm on 3 December 2019.

3. Costs assessed at £50, payable by Defendant by 3 December 2019. Defendant shall pay the costs of today in any event."

The defendant has failed to do either of these orders. I've sent an email to the court stating I haven't received them, is there anything else I should do?*
*

[jaguarsuk]

Call the court and see if they have received them, he may have filed and they are behind on the paper work, but he just didn't bother serving you.

If not you will need to apply to enter summary judgement on the claim. If I were you I'd ask the court to order the £50 costs unpaid from that order as part of the summary judgement on the claim, that way when you apply for a Warrant or Writ (depending on the value of the judgement) of Control you only have to apply for one to get all you're owed. I'd also ask that they order the judgement paid within 14 days as opposed to forthwith given the time the defendant has had already.

He won't be getting a second set aside he's had his chance and now it's pay up or enforcement is coming.

[zas90]

Awesome! I'll give the court a call in the morning. I'll be shocked if he's filed it with the court and not me, although those tactics wouldn't surpise me at all. I'll drop an update tomorrow.

Thanks!

[zas90]

I can confirm nothing has been received by the court, so now it's just a case of waiting to see what happens next. I'm guessing the defendants case should be struck out, leading to a default judgment. I cannot grasp why he went through the set aside process, only to fail to serve a defence and pay my costs as per the judges order.*

[jaguarsuk]

I can confirm nothing has been received by the court, so now it's just a case of waiting to see what happens next. I'm guessing the defendants case should be struck out, leading to a default judgment. I cannot grasp why he went through the set aside process, only to fail to serve a defence and pay my costs as per the judges order.*

No, you need to apply for summary judgement, there's nothing to strike out as he's not filed anything.

[zas90]

I've emailed the court asking that summary judgment be entered in my favour attaching a copy of the order. I'll keep you updated.

[jaguarsuk]

I've emailed the court asking that summary judgment be entered in my favour attaching a copy of the order. I'll keep you updated.

They might tell you to file and application or more likely issue an unless order, just to give advance warning.

[zas90]

Nothing back yet, is there a specific form that will need filling out? I've emailed them on 2 occasions and phoned the court also, still haven't received anything, I find it remarkably strange how a party can disregard a District Judges orders and nothing is done, irrespective of whether I need to chase it up or not, it should be down to the court to enforce compliance with orders, otherwise what's the point in giving deadlines.

I bet if I paid my hearing fee a day late I'd have my claim struck out immediately with hundreds in costs against me, the system isn't really fit for purpose in my opinion.

Sorry for the rant, just incredibly frustrated.

[MIKE770]

you are learning what a shambles the county so called court is like = a rule for one and different rule for the man in the street

[zas90]

It's absolutely horrendous, it was bad enough he was allowed a set aside when he acknowledged he knew about the CCJ and waited 28 days to issue the set aside, his solicitor relied on unsigned documents and an unsigned witness statement, not to mention he acknowledged the claim, but to now fail to comply with a judges order just shows nothing but contempt for the whole process, not to mention the fact the judge is quite happy to allow him to conduct himself in this manner.

I honestly cannot believe how incompetent the "county court" system is, never in a million years would I of thought this is how cases are conducted, with little regard for CPR compliance, the overriding objective, deadlines and compliance with orders.

I feel sorry for anyone just starting this process. What a farce.

[zas90]

I hope you're all doing well and had a great Christmas.*

The defendant failed to pay my expenses and submit a defence to the court. In line with higher court judgements regarding non compliance with both CPR and court orders and the Overriding Objective, my request for a summary judgment should have been successful, but guess what, the judge has decided to give him more concessions and afford him until the 14th January to file a defence, even though he's ignored everything.*

Is there a body I can complain to about the judges conduct within these proceedings, I find it very strange how he is allowed to ignore court orders now and be given more concessions. I really think something isn't quite right.*

Many thanks.

[jaguarsuk]

I hope you're all doing well and had a great Christmas.

The defendant failed to pay my expenses and submit a defence to the court. In line with higher court judgements regarding non compliance with both CPR and court orders and the Overriding Objective, my request for a summary judgment should have been successful, but guess what, the judge has decided to give him more concessions and afford him until the 14th January to file a defence, even though he's ignored everything.

Is there a body I can complain to about the judges conduct within these proceedings, I find it very strange how he is allowed to ignore court orders now and be given more concessions. I really think something isn't quite right.

Many thanks.

That's pretty standard, they'll usually issue an 'unless' order and it's unlikely he'll comply with that either.