Right of Appeal, CPR rules etc

[yellowplum]

Background:


I issued a claim in the county court against someone who is non-resident in the UK.


The claim was issued in July 2011, in an attempt to settle the claim again with the Defendant I contacted them and sent them a copy, advising that I had not had permission to serve but would like to settle - No reply.


I then applied and obtained permission to serve, claim was served. I miraculously started getting correspondence from the Defendant. Although I did not feel this correspondence had any bearing on the case, the judge gave credence to some of it and held a hearing to determine if I was allowed to continue with the claim that the claim was valid and English Law applied.


The Defendant didn't turn up in person and the court accepted what they had filed as the defense/hearing material.


The hearing went ahead, I won.


Allocation Questionnaires where sent to all parties. I completed mine and the Defendant suddenly appointed a UK solicitor to deal with the matter.


The Judge read the AQ and gave us a month to try and settle or narrow the issues in the case. I have been trying, the Defendant has not attempted to settle but rather bring up the same issues that where dealt with by the judge at the first hearing.


My question:

Whilst I understand that a Defendant has a right to appeal this should have been done within a period of 21 days from the date of the Judgment. The right of appeal would have been to a circuit judge. My question is whether or not at this late stage an appeal would be heard since it is over the 21 days? and who would hear it? What part in CPR covers this?

[pt2537]

Re: Right of Appeal, CPR rules etc

Background:


I issued a claim in the county court against someone who is non-resident in the UK.


The claim was issued in July 2011, in an attempt to settle the claim again with the Defendant I contacted them and sent them a copy, advising that I had not had permission to serve but would like to settle - No reply.


I then applied and obtained permission to serve, claim was served. I miraculously started getting correspondence from the Defendant. Although I did not feel this correspondence had any bearing on the case, the judge gave credence to some of it and held a hearing to determine if I was allowed to continue with the claim that the claim was valid and English Law applied.


The Defendant didn't turn up in person and the court accepted what they had filed as the defense/hearing material.


The hearing went ahead, I won.


Allocation Questionnaires where sent to all parties. I completed mine and the Defendant suddenly appointed a UK solicitor to deal with the matter.


The Judge read the AQ and gave us a month to try and settle or narrow the issues in the case. I have been trying, the Defendant has not attempted to settle but rather bring up the same issues that where dealt with by the judge at the first hearing.


My question:

Whilst I understand that a Defendant has a right to appeal this should have been done within a period of 21 days from the date of the Judgment. The right of appeal would have been to a circuit judge. My question is whether or not at this late stage an appeal would be heard since it is over the 21 days? and who would hear it? What part in CPR covers this?

CPR 52 and Practice direction 52 covers appeals.

The Appellant may apply without notice to the Court to extend the time for filing an appellants notice provided it has good reasons to do so. I had to do this recently on a case where the hearing transcripts had not been provided and it was impossible to ascertain if there were grounds for appeal. So it is possible to extend the time frame and furthermore you will not get told if this has been done, you will only be involved with an appeal when permission has been granted

I doubt they will appeal at this juncture as the case doesnt appear to have been concluded yet.

[SpringerSpaniel]

Re: Right of Appeal, CPR rules etc

I do not understand why provisions about Appeal should be engaged at this stage, as you have not got a final judgement in your claim. Are you wanting to dispute the directiosn given by the judge at the interim stage ?

[pt2537]

Re: Right of Appeal, CPR rules etc

I do not understand why provisions about Appeal should be engaged at this stage, as you have not got a final judgement in your claim. Are you wanting to dispute the directiosn given by the judge at the interim stage ?

The Defendant didn't turn up in person and the court accepted what they had filed as the defense/hearing material.


The hearing went ahead, I won.

I think that is the point of concern that the Defendant may try to appeal the decision above. Although it may be open to the Defendant apply to set that order aside, but with limited info it is difficult to know

[yellowplum]

Re: Right of Appeal, CPR rules etc

I think that is the point of concern that the Defendant may try to appeal the decision above. Although it may be open to the Defendant apply to set that order aside, but with limited info it is difficult to know

Thanks for the info, I may not have been clear. When the Defendant sent something to the court, it was a bunch of documents with a covering letter, the judge firstly stated that this would be accepted as the defence. Secondly he ordered a hearing to ascertain if I had grounds to bring the case and if the case should continue.

It was at this point that I was granted permission to continue and that English Law applied to the claim.

AQ where sent to both parties.

Subsequently after completing the AQ I received an order from the Judge that we where to try and resolve the matter or narrow the issues.

I have only received one letter from the Defendants solicitors attempting to widen the issues and tell me that they will appeal.

This is what I wondered about - if the order/judgement that allowed the claim to continue was dated 11 May 2012, I was told by the judge at the time that they could only appeal that order to circuit judge and they had 21 days to do so.

They didn't, so where would they stand now in appealing that decision? Would they still appeal to a circuit judge or to the district? Would they be allowed?