Did not receive a Notice of Proposed Allocation to Track

[Hen144]

I submitted an MCOL claim against two defendants trading as the same business using their head office address.
The 2nd defendant, a sole trader notified the court of a change of address to what I assume is his home address and a bar was put in place for him, he filed his defence and a DQ was sent to him all on the same date.
General sanctions were made exactly one month later.

On 4th of November this month I received in the post a General Form of Judgement or Order ordering me to file a DQ with the CNBC on or before 7 days from service of this order which was dated the 24th October 2024. So I completed a DQ same day and emailed a copy for the attention of both defendants, totally unaware those general sanctions were against me.

I have several questions.
Will the court accept I never received the Notice of Proposed Allocation to Track and will they have proof of it never being sent to me?
Will the court accept my word that I only received the General form of Judgement or Order 11 days later than the date of service and I was totally unaware I had to complete a Direct Questionnaire.
Should I have received a copy of the 2nd defendant's defence?
I have not received copies of the DQ's from the two defendants.

Your opinions and advice would be very welcome.

[Pezza54]

Document deemed served on 26.10
7 working days plus 2 weekend days, means DQ to be filed by 4pm on 4.11
By my calculation of dates, you filed within the deadline
The court is more lax with rules on the small claims track

[Pezza54]

cpr 15.6 states a copy of the defence must be served on every other party, but doesn't state whether the court or defendant should serve it
MCOL implies that the court will send a copy of the defence to the claimant
You should phone MCOL helpline and ask about the defence document. You stated the 2nd defendant filed his defence

[Hen144]

Thank you for your reply.

I phoned the MCOL helpline at 8.30 a.m. this morning and they were most helpful.

I was told the defendant should forward a copy of their defence to the claimant which they have not done in this case and neither have they returned their DQ's either.

I will have to wait a couple of weeks now to know what has been decided by the court.

[Pezza54]

Not sure that is correct
Please see MCOL Guidance for Claimant
Last sentence of the 1st para under the heading "Types of response"
"The court will post you a copy of the document"

You should phone again and point out this guidance note

[Hen144]

Thank you.

I will phone again and point out that a copy of the defence is something else I have not received.

After phoning yesterday my claim has been updated and now states

Case Stay Lifted on 08/11/2024
DQ filed on 08/11/2024
As I was told both defendants have not returned their DQ's I take it this will be my DQ being accepted.

[Pezza54]

Why should the stay be lifted just because you have filed your DQ, but the defendants haven't?
You should assume the defendant's have filed their DQs, just not sent you a copy.
Email the court stating you haven't received 2nd defendant's Defence and both DQs

Did you agree to mediation on the small claims track?
Are you intending to file an expert report?

The next stage in the process is normally a court letter about the date and time slot for mediation

[Pezza54]

A Reply to Defence (not mandatory) has to be filed at the same time the claimant's DQ is filed.
The court set a deadline for you to return your DQ which you achieved
As you were not supplied with the 2nd Defendant's Defence you missed the opportunity to reply to it
Point this out in your email

[MaryS57]

Our experiences may be helpful.

In our case:- The CNBC did not send out the Defence even though their attached letter (re: proposed allocation to sm CC) said it was enclosed. I reported this to CNBC and even escalated it as complaint at the CNBC but still no defence arrived - radio silence! The defendant in our case are completely hopeless; haven't bothered to read up on CPR obligations - so they did not serve the Defence or DQ either as they ought.

I finally managed to get full copy of the Defence plus all their attachments once the claim was allocated to the local court. I sent an email to this court marked "urgent" with "case number etc" in the title, pointing out everything I had tried. The Defence pdf plus several pages of attachments came back from the local court almost by return. During a preliminary hearing I asked the District Judge if she could please ask the Defendant to comply with CPR as they were keeping me in the dark by not serving required docs. So they have now been duly warned!

[Hen144]

Our experiences may be helpful.

In our case:- The CNBC did not send out the Defence even though their attached letter (re: proposed allocation to sm CC) said it was enclosed. I reported this to CNBC and even escalated it as complaint at the CNBC but still no defence arrived - radio silence! The defendant in our case are completely hopeless; haven't bothered to read up on CPR obligations - so they did not serve the Defence or DQ either as they ought.

I finally managed to get full copy of the Defence plus all their attachments once the claim was allocated to the local court. I sent an email to this court marked "urgent" with "case number etc" in the title, pointing out everything I had tried. The Defence pdf plus several pages of attachments came back from the local court almost by return. During a preliminary hearing I asked the District Judge if she could please ask the Defendant to comply with CPR as they were keeping me in the dark by not serving required docs. So they have now been duly warned!

Thank you Mary and I am sorry to hear about your situation

That's useful to know the defence should be attached to the Proposed Allocation to Track as I received neither. I don't know who is at fault here could be Royal Mail as I only received the General form of Judgement or Order 11 days after the date of service. When I phoned the MCOL helpline i was told the defendants hadn't returned their DQs but how reliable that is I don't know and as Pezza pointed out it is the court that posts a copy of the defence not the defendant as I was informed.

In reply to Pezza's questions I have agreed to mediation on the small claims track but no expert's report needed. I will have to hope I receive a further letter from the court but will email them in the meantime.

Thank you both for your help.

[Hen144]

I've never brought a court claim before and have no idea what is going on with it, any ideas please?

This is the latest from the MCOL recent transactions for claimant page, screenshot attached.

[Hen144]

Pezza54 Thanks for your help and I sent an email as you suggested and yesterday I received a copy of the 2nd defendant's defence.

However there is a problem. I have claimed against two defendants trading as the same business. I will name them here as 1st defendant Fred Bloggs and second defendant Sam Bloggs who I believe are father and son with same home address.

Second defendant Sam Bloggs notified a change of address, a bar put in place for Sam Bloggs and Sam Bloggs filed a defence and DQ sent to him.
I did not receive the defence of Sam Bloggs nor Fred or Sam's DQs.

The covering letter I received yesterday names myself Hen144 v Mr Fred Bloggs the first defendant.
The defence is signed by Mr Fred Bloggs and with his home address not the business address.

I emailed again yesterday and pointed out the error with my response to the defence. It's unclear who actually wrote the defence and it's full of lies and I will quite happily see Mr Fred Bloggs in court.

[Pezza54]

So you now have a defence from both defendants and could be facing both Fred and Sam in court at the same time. Provided your claim against both defendants is linked.
Is your claim for for both defendants identical or similar? If it is identical why did you claim against Fred and Sam?

[Hen144]

I have not seen the defence for Sam Bloggs but details are in the claim history on the MCOL website. Nothing in the claim history mentions Fred Bloggs.

Sam Bloggs is the sole trader but Fred Bloggs must be an employee. It's complicated but I did post some details in my first thread about sole traders.

[Pezza54]

You stated you are unsure who wrote the defence. Both defences should end with a Statement of Truth and be signed by the defendant