** Discontinued ** Lowell solicitors ltd Vs ME!

[Fey92]

jaguarsuk it now says as of yesterday the claimant submitted DQ, what does this mean? Thanks x

[jaguarsuk]

jaguarsuk it now says as of yesterday the claimant submitted DQ, what does this mean? Thanks x

It means they have received your defence and been asked whether they want to proceed, they have decided to and submitted their Directions Questionnaire. Have you had yours? If not phone the court tell them you seen the claimant has submitted theirs, but you haven't received yours.

[Fey92]

jaguarsuk thanks for that, I'll phone them today.
I just want this over with now I've got bigger problems on my plate after being laid off work

[thedirtyhound]

When you deal with these companies they go through the legal motions. You have filed your defence, which they have received and they have subsequently filed their directions questionnaire. This is purely an administrative process. When they get notice of a hearing date, they will then have to pay a further fee. At this point they will often throw the towel in, because they don't like throwing good money after bad and it will cost them as much to go to court in time costs as they stand to get back from you. They cannot recover these time costs from you. They can only recover their fixed fees/disbursements. By the way, you were fantasising if you think you can charge them fees for writing letters to them or for harrassing you. You can't. But that aside, this is the time to stand your ground and call their bluff. If they have not supplied you with any documents, they will have to do that before the hearing. They often issue proceedings in cases like this in the full knowledge that they don't have or can't supply the paperwork, but a lot of people panic upon receipt of the claim form and pay up. However, those who are prepared to tough it out often come out smiling.

[jaguarsuk]

When they get notice of a hearing date, they will then have to pay a further fee. At this point they will often throw the towel in, because they don't like throwing good money after bad and it will cost them as much to go to court in time costs as they stand to get back from you.

They often issue proceedings in cases like this in the full knowledge that they don't have or can't supply the paperwork, but a lot of people panic upon receipt of the claim form and pay up. However, those who are prepared to tough it out often come out smiling.

Sometimes they discontinue at the fee stage, but I wouldn't describe it as "often."

80% of issued claims won are by default judgement, so where a defendant doesn't respond. As a result the Claimant can enforce the judgement to demand payment. The claim for does scare some into paying up, but not as many as have default judgements registered against them.

Again, I wouldn't say those that tough it out "often" come out smiling, but by defending a claim you at least know if you have to settle that you were banged to rights as opposed to wondering later down the line whether you should have challenged it.

[Fey92]

That's good to know as I definitely intend to take it all the way.
I phoned the coutt as you said jaguarsuk and spoke to a lady who said they had done something wrong when submitting their DQ and she said she flagged it with her manager she said something about they hadn't stated whether they wanted to carry on the claim or not when submitting their DQ.

She said I need not take any further action until I receive the DQ in the post, but about 2 days ago I did receive on

So now I just need to respond to that to say whthwhe I want to mediate or not is that right? Think I have 2 weeks from the 29/4 to respond

[Fey92]

I meant 2 weeks from the 29/5

[jaguarsuk]

The online version of the N180 is here if you want to type as opposed to hand write (I do because my hand writing is awful) : https://assets.publishing.service.go...6/n180-eng.pdf

A1 tick yes for mediation, you need to appear to be trying to be reasonable as it is also incumbent upon you to try to settle the claim without need of a hearing.

Mediation takes place by phone and you won't be in a conference call with them. It's a one hour appointment where the mediator will ring you to get your views and then ring them to get theirs, then go back and forth throughout the hour to try to settle it.

C1 tick yes, you don't want to be in the other tracks with their costs implications.

D1 you should put the name and address of your local court (find here) and "Defendants Home Court persuant to CPR 26.2A(3)."

D2 tick no because there's no expert witnesses.

D3 put 1 if just you or however many you might call to testify plus 1 for you.

Send a copy of this to the court and the claimant.

[Fey92]

Thanks jaguarsuk , is it best to fill it in on my computer and then print then sign and send via mail or can it be done via email? Thanks

[Fey92]

Also seeing as they haven't provided the documents I requested and also stated in my defence, I take it that even though we will try to mediate it will be unsuccessful due to the fact I don't have the documents requested?

[jaguarsuk]

Thanks jaguarsuk , is it best to fill it in on my computer and then print then sign and send via mail or can it be done via email? Thanks

You could print, sign and then scan it back in to email it. Most solicitors do not accept service by email though, so I would say you are best to serve them via the address provided for service on the claim form.

Also seeing as they haven't provided the documents I requested and also stated in my defence, I take it that even though we will try to mediate it will be unsuccessful due to the fact I don't have the documents requested?

Yes, the small claims mediation team will contact you to make an appointment and you should make them aware you do not have everything yet, but if they avail you of the documents you will be happy to mediate. If they still haven't on the day of mediation you can either email SCMT to cancel the appointment or when they call you inform them of that fact, then mediation will not proceed.

The point of agreeing mediation is to make you look very reasonable.

The reason I said wait until the Monday before the deadline is that they may well serve you with their form before then, in that case I like to add a covering letter when serving mine back expressing my delight at them wanting to mediate with me and reminding them that to do that there are still documents outstanding per the 31.14 request I made.

I would then usually send a copy of the letter and N180 with a certificate of service to the court, so the letter showing how reasonable you are and how they are holding things up goes into the court file.

[Fey92]

"The reason I said wait until the Monday before the deadline is that they may well serve you with their form before then, in that case I like to add a covering letter when serving mine back expressing my delight at them wanting to mediate with me and reminding them that to do that there are still documents outstanding per the 31.14 request I made.

I would then usually send a copy of the letter and N180 with a certificate of service to the court, so the letter showing how reasonable you are and how they are holding things up goes into the court file."


Thanks for your quick response.
When you say wait until the Monday before the deadline do you mean to submit my n180? As in wait for them to serve theirs first.

And then send it on that day if I haven't heard anything? I don't mind holding out. That would make a week today the 11/6/18 best time to submit my n180 then, I can fill it in before then and just hold out and see what they say.

And then basically as you said get a copy of their letter and a copy of my letter to them stating how I am happy they decided to mediate however they have not sent the documents I requested previously so I can't continue with mediation.

What's a certificate of service?

[jaguarsuk]

"The reason I said wait until the Monday before the deadline is that they may well serve you with their form before then, in that case I like to add a covering letter when serving mine back expressing my delight at them wanting to mediate with me and reminding them that to do that there are still documents outstanding per the 31.14 request I made.

I would then usually send a copy of the letter and N180 with a certificate of service to the court, so the letter showing how reasonable you are and how they are holding things up goes into the court file."


Thanks for your quick response.
When you say wait until the Monday before the deadline do you mean to submit my n180? As in wait for them to serve theirs first.

And then send it on that day if I haven't heard anything? I don't mind holding out. That would make a week today the 11/6/18 best time to submit my n180 then, I can fill it in before then and just hold out and see what they say.

And then basically as you said get a copy of their letter and a copy of my letter to them stating how I am happy they decided to mediate however they have not sent the documents I requested previously so I can't continue with mediation.

What's a certificate of service?

Apologies I misread the date in post #37 as being the deadline when it is the date you received it and you have 2 weeks from that date to submit, my bad!

With that in mind, wait until this Friday (8th June) and then if you have not had theirs you should file yours with the court, hopefully they will serve their copy first and this will give you the chance to see if they are agreeing to mediation and then be able to add a cover letter.

A certificate of service is a piece of paper you file with the court to say you have sent certain documents to them, so if they do agree to mediation you can fill it in to say you have sent them "Cover letter and N180 Directions questionnaire (small claims track)." It is a way of getting your cover letter into the court files to demonstrate that they have yet to produce the required paperwork.

[Fey92]

Ok so I sent the DQ last friday, hadn't received any word from Lowell, just checked the mcol tonight and it said I filed my DQ yesterday. Wow. I'm glad I sent it last friday or it probably wouldn't have been in on time, the dealined was the 15th.

So just waiting to hear something now, not sure what happens next, will mediation try to contact me?

[MIKE770]

date falls on a saturday then it would have to in by following 4 p.m. Monday (working Day)