Defendant's response: No reference to Letter before Claim

[lmm80]

In respect of my MCOL, the defendant's solicitor has filed a full defence, which in large part suggests that I have failed to state the particulars of my claim. The MCOL does not leave space for lengthy discussion, so I limited myself to a timeline of events and the nature of what I was claiming whilst making reference to the Letter Before Claim in passing. All the detail is with the defendant through the Letter Before Claim. I anticipated this details being referred to by the defendant in their defence and, in due course, if the Court wished for the detail I would send across the Letter Before Claim. Since the defendant's solicitor is innocent of the Letter of Claim details, and the defendant is clearly not interested in sharing it with them, should I file it with the Court now and send it to the defendant's solicitor in light of document sharing under the CPR - highlighting the failure of the defendant to share with their solicitor's what they needed for a full defence? Or should I now just await the Court's instructions and, if necessary, argue it out in Court. They may be playing games, because they initially claimed the case was too complex for the MCOL and have now rushed a defence (after I refused an extension under CPR 15.5) when it is claimed I don't give details (of the complex!). Thanks very much!

[dslippy]

I think you mistake the need to state your claim (in MCOL) and a need to discuss it at length.

[lmm80]

Thanks for your reply, but I'm not sure I follow. The defendant has made a straw man out of my claim without making reference to the details of the claim as they understand it from 3 years of discussion, simply because there isn't space to state the claim at length on the MCOL and because the knowledge of the claim hasn't passed from the defendant to their new legal representative, and they haven't sought any documents from me. I'm now in the odd position of discussing the case with them prior to filing in the Directions Questionnaire (N180), anticipating that they will have to recreate their defence in light of any document exchange (which is already sitting with their client).