Defendant asking for £220 to allow me to amend my claim!

[friendlyfire]

Hi all,

I have a claim against a company and discovered that part of my claim, which relates to the cost of my calls to this company (I was abroad at the time) were a couple of hundred pounds more than I thought.

I sent an application to the Court asking permission to amend the cost of my calls, from £100 to £300.

I have been sent a letter by the Defendant today stating that they will allow me to amend the total cost of calls if I pay them £220 (they say they need to amend their initial response to my claim and these are the costs they have incurred), or they will ask the Court to strike out my claim if I do not pay them.

Is this legal?

I want to tell them where to go and ignore their threat.

Application hearing is scheduled for three weeks time.

[dslippy]

A court will allow you to amend your particulars if you agree to pay their costs. This seems standard and reasonable. Their costs will no doubt be higher if you take it to a hearing. Rules and rates will differ according to where and how you are suing. Others may be able to say what figures might properly apply.

[friendlyfire]

???

Whose costs?

p.s. also worth noting that this case is scheduled for a preliminary hearing on the same date and time as the application hearing, the preliminary hearing taking precedence.

[dslippy]

'Their costs' The other side's costs. If you do not agree their costs, and get it wrong then also the costs of that assessment.

As I said I cannot express an opinion on the amount claimed. You made a mistake. As a consequence the other side have to deal with the amendment. In principle you should pay.

[friendlyfire]

dslippy two things to be mindful of that you don't know:

1) There was a hearing set for a preliminary hearing set before the application hearing, and that is now scheduled in the same half hour. Judge obvs does not see it as significant enough to allocate more time or another hearing.

2) Which it isn't. I was already claiming call costs. I am merely looking to increase the amount I seek. Their Defence already answered with their position as to call costs.

So I would say that they are not doing anything more than they would be already. They would have had to attend in any case, and they already answered the claim re: call costs issue.

Would be grateful for anyone's opinion on all this.

[dslippy]

Their figure assumes that agreement is reached and therefore that the cost of attending would be nil. I assume that the cost covers the checking of the proposed amendment, letting their client know and taking their instriuctions, amending their own pleadings as necessary, and communicating with you. Who knows what else?
I do not say the amount is reasonable, but I can see that there are costs you should bear. Again, we do not know the context interms of applicable fee scales.
What is the judge going tpo say or think when you turn up to apply for something for which you were offered agreement. He can only award costs against you, and to the sum already stated will be part of the cost of attending at court.

[friendlyfire]

Their figure assumes that agreement is reached and therefore that the cost of attending would be nil. I assume that the cost covers the checking of the proposed amendment, letting their client know and taking their instriuctions, amending their own pleadings as necessary, and communicating with you. Who knows what else?
I do not say the amount is reasonable, but I can see that there are costs you should bear. Again, we do not know the context interms of applicable fee scales.
What is the judge going tpo say or think when you turn up to apply for something for which you were offered agreement. He can only award costs against you, and to the sum already stated will be part of the cost of attending at court.

Here's the thing - they are the in-house solicitor for the company. They don't have to liaise with anyone outside the company.

They are not opposing the application as such, but they want £££ to agree to it.

So if I tell them I won't pay, they will oppose it.

Then it comes down to whether the Judge allows me to change the total or not, I think? And the winner of the application hearing gets costs, so I believe I can seek my costs for making said application?

Surely as Judge would agree that asking for £££ for making a simple change to amount claimed for call costs, which is already included in the initial claim and is a mere formality really, is unreasonable? Especially when a hearing was scheduled anyway for preliminary small claims case business i.e. a preliminary hearing.

[dslippy]

"And the winner of the application hearing gets costs, so I believe I can seek my costs for making said application?"
Unless the court is accepting your correction of your own mistake, for which you will always and reasonably pay, and the defendant will no doubt point out that it offered to agree.

In house solicitors have their management clients just as do ordinary solicitors.

Applications to amend take place in their hundreds every day. The person making the request pays the bill.
As I keep saying we do not know your context. It might indeed be a high court claim. Different rules and scales apply in different contexts, so. again I do not know if £220 is reasonable or appropriate.
Let us just hope that the judge does not come to want to demonstrate to you the unwisdom of spitting into the wind.