Question regarding Small Claims case defence filed

[nicolagg]

Hi - I have had to go to Small Claims court for a money claim against a web development company that i paid to build an ecommerce website which was non functional after about 3 months (its a longer story but thats the brief outline!).

I followed all the appropriate pre action protocols (we had been in correspondence without prejudice for about 6 months attempted to resolve this any other way) and as we did not have enough money to engage a solicitor, I went to my local South Westminster free legal service and fully researched the particulars of claim process prior to submitting.

There were numerous annexes to the POC and i was advised to list all of these key documents to be relied on but only send in the first two main annexes, and state the rest would be relied on in court and could be made available at any time.

The defendant has hired a barrister to represent him and the defence was filed on Friday, they are defending the whole claim and trying to deny a number of the annexes that were listed (despite emailing me asking if I would provide one of them) . I will be seeking further legal advice but am I right in assuming regardless of this I will still be able to use these annexes in court?

I am aware the next step is the N180 and I will be representing myself in court so I just wanted to double check this as it had me doubting myself

many thanks in advance for any comments

[R0b]

Re: Question regarding Small Claims case defence filed

Hi nicolagg,

Are you saying that the barrister is arguing that the POC did not list the annexes you are relying on? If they are stated in the POC then they can request documents that is contained within it so I am not entirely sure what the fuss is?

Have they denied this in the defence or are they raising it in an email?

[Richard Howlett]

Re: Question regarding Small Claims case defence filed

You can file a reply to the defence. Simply annex what you intend to rely upon to that reply. In the alternative, as this is a small claim, you will be able to serve the documents before the hearing. As long as a copy of the docs are served on the other side and sent to the court, there will be no issue.

I think however the best route is to reply to the defence as above and annex the documents if they support your claim.

[Openlaw15]

Re: Question regarding Small Claims case defence filed

Hi - I have had to go to Small Claims court for a money claim against a web development company that i paid to build an ecommerce website which was non functional after about 3 months (its a longer story but thats the brief outline!).

I followed all the appropriate pre action protocols (we had been in correspondence without prejudice for about 6 months attempted to resolve this any other way) and as we did not have enough money to engage a solicitor, I went to my local South Westminster free legal service and fully researched the particulars of claim process prior to submitting.

There were numerous annexes to the POC and i was advised to list all of these key documents to be relied on but only send in the first two main annexes, and state the rest would be relied on in court and could be made available at any time.

The defendant has hired a barrister to represent him and the defence was filed on Friday, they are defending the whole claim and trying to deny a number of the annexes that were listed (despite emailing me asking if I would provide one of them) . I will be seeking further legal advice but am I right in assuming regardless of this I will still be able to use these annexes in court?

I am aware the next step is the N180 and I will be representing myself in court so I just wanted to double check this as it had me doubting myself

many thanks in advance for any comments

It's the defence's job to stop you using material documents that affects/ prejudices their case by reinforcing yours. They must convince the judge at the interim/ preliminary hearing why those documents should not be admissible (permitted). Yes, you can use the annexes in court unless the defence use a cogent argument to convince the judge why they should be inadmissible (not permitted) under CPR.