Defendant not complied with CPR - what can I do?

[anonymous coward]

Hi,

Early in my dispute with the company I sent a pre-action letter with 14 days to respond. It outlined my case and requested documents relevant to the case. The defendant did not reply.

The defendant filed his acknowledgement of service on the 15th day. The court accepted it even though I requested judgement before his was officially seen to be filed.

The defendant has served me with the allocation questionnaire in the past few days but has not enclosed the defence.

Basically, he's being very sloppy.

Does anyone have any advice on where I can go from here? Am I able to point this out to the court at this point or would I be as well to include these points in my court pack?

Thanks for your responses.

[ThinkOutsideTheBox]

Re: Defendant not complied with CPR - what can I do?

I would raise these points in your pack, that the defendant has failed to comply with x, y & z of the requirements of the CPR.

Without knowing the details of your specific case, it's difficult to highlight relevant case law - however Dass-v-Dass [2013] EWHC is a recent example of a Judge refusing to allow evidence to be admitted when it had not been served in accordance with direction.

If you'd like to share any more detail, I'd be happy to help put together an appropriate statement to include.

[anonymous coward]

Re: Defendant not complied with CPR - what can I do?

I would raise these points in your pack, that the defendant has failed to comply with x, y & z of the requirements of the CPR.

Without knowing the details of your specific case, it's difficult to highlight relevant case law - however Dass-v-Dass [2013] EWHC is a recent example of a Judge refusing to allow evidence to be admitted when it had not been served in accordance with direction.

If you'd like to share any more detail, I'd be happy to help put together an appropriate statement to include.

Thank you. As I'm sure you've encountered here many times before I wouldn't want to give too much detail here publically since we're in the process. Basically I tried for 4 weeks to claim a refund on a dangerous car I was sold and had rejected the day after I bought it. The owner of the garage said I would need to have it repaired or take him to court. I tried for a long time and then ended up writing him a pre-action requesting documentation and enclosing documentation to him by recorded delivery and email. He didn't reply so I again attempted to negotiate a without prejudice offer. We agreed a settlement but he broke the terms of that settlement so I issued the claim. To date the following has happened:

1. I have sent him in excess of 25 emails and letters, around 3 of which have been replied to.
2. He has defended the claim and has included a point about the without prejudice offer.
3. He has failed to serve the defence on me with his allocation questionnaire
4. He didn't reply to pre-action
5. He filed and AoS on day 15. I requested judgement but it was refused.
5. He now wants mediation because I won't take phone calls from him since issuing the claim

I am undecided about mediation. I want to do the right thing but I believe he is using it as a delay tactic as he has done everything at the last minute and I believe this is another opportunity for him to further muddy the waters. I am tempted to say yes to mediation just so I can say I have done it.

Anyway, is that clear? Sorry it's a bit SoC.

I do have a solicitor friend who is helping me with this so that's useful and a mechanic who is very experienced in this too.

Thanks for your help.