Witness statement to be submitted this week

[jessiesom]

I have to submit my witness statement in the next couple of days and I'm really nervous. I've attached it and I hope that some of you might be good enough to have a read through it and let me know your thoughts in terms of the content and layout.
I also have a couple questions for the forum, which are: 1. How should I present my exhibits and do I need to refer to them on the first page of the witness statement?; 2. some of my evidence is digital photos and video which the court have asked for on a usb stick. How do I refer to these exhibits in the statement please?; 3. I want to present one of the floor planks as evidence, but despite searching high and low I couldn't find how I submit this. I only have one so I also didn't know if I can just submit this to the court as I don't have one for the Defendant. Any ideas please? Thank you.

[R0b]

Nothing like leave things to the last minute.

I don't think there is specific guidance for the County Court, have you called the court to find out if there is guidance on how it should be done? Has the court made this request by an order, and if so, what exactly does the order say?

[jessiesom]

Nothing like leave things to the last minute.

I don't think there is specific guidance for the County Court, have you called the court to find out if there is guidance on how it should be done? Has the court made this request by an order, and if so, what exactly does the order say?

Rob, firstly thank you for replying. You are absolutely right. I only have myself to blame for leaving things until the last minute. Life for what it's worth has been tough. Anyway I hope that anyone reading this doesn't repeat my mistake. I have called the Court and they couldn't tell me, hence I've been left to scour the internet. No orders have been made. Have you any advice about my witness statement? Thanks again.

[R0b]

It's understandable, we have all been there which is why it's crucial to try and set time to prepare in advance. So before I say anything, if no court order has been made stating that evidence to be produced on a memory drive, why have you got to produce all evidence on it? Video I can understand but photos?

[jessiesom]

It's understandable, we have all been there which is why it's crucial to try and set time to prepare in advance. So before I say anything, if no court order has been made stating that evidence to be produced on a memory drive, why have you got to produce all evidence on it? Video I can understand but photos?

I telephoned the Court to ask how to submit the video evidence and they advised me to email them the question which I did. They then responded saying that the video footage should be submitted on a usb drive. The photo's are much clearer digitally and so I was going to submit these as exhibits on the usb stick as well.

[jessiesom]

Hi Everyone, I wondered whether anyone might be kind enough to give me some feedback on my witness statement which is attached above please as I have to submit it on Wednesday. Thank you.

[R0b]

I haven't read your witness statement yet so can't comment on it but in terms of putting evidence on the USB stick you might want to use the checklist below though I should say it's not official but an example of how you might present the evidence on USB stick.

1. The USB stick should have an easy to follow folder structure. So for example, in your case you could have two folders set up, Images and Video

2. Each of the evidence files should be numbered according to when you refer to them in your evidence and properly labelled on the USB stick. Depending on how many files you want to refer to, you may want to use 01 or even 001 if you have over a hundred files. You can then set it out like below - remember in the order you refer to them in your statement:

[IMAGES]
01 - Map of Sesame Street
02 - Letter 1 January 2019 Claimant to Defendant
03 - Police Report dated 22 September 2019

You should do the same for your videos folder, making sure it is properly labelled and numbered in the order of reference.

3. Once you have carried out the above exercise, you should create an index list setting out how you have listed the evidence. You will need to have the heading properly complete (see image below) and insert the title something along the lines of "Index of Evidence Bundle on Behalf of the Claimant".

VK439JgKpP.png

Underneath the heading you should then have a sentence of two explaining that the USB stick consists of two folders, "Images" and "Video" and you have indexed the files contained in each folder. You should then list them and label them exactly the same way you have done on the USB stick. For example:

Images Folder
01 - Map of Sesame Street
02 - Letter 1 January 2019 Claimant to Defendant
03 - Police Report dated 22 September 2019

Video Folder
01 - Car Crash at 10.42am


4. You should print this off and put it inside a plastic wallet or sleeve along with your USB stick. If it's possible, I would also use a sticky label or post it note to wrap around the USB stick set out like "Claimant Name v Defendant Name (Claim No. XXXX)" as it is possible the USB stick could get lost, hence putting in a plastic wallet.

5. If the court hearing is local to you, I would drop it off personally in an envelope and a short cover letter explaining the contents of the USB stick as requested by the court. You should password protect the USB stick if you can and give that password within the letter, or email it to the court separately.

6. Since you only have one USB stick, I would suggest you call the defendant or their solicitors if they have instructed a firm, and tell them that some of your evidence contains video which you will be using to support your case. You only have one USB stick available which will be filed at court so you propose sending the evidence of video and photographs by email in zip format (password protected) - the password will be sent separately. If you already have an email address that theyve used on the court forms i.e. to acknowledge the claim or directions questionnaire, you could use that and send it to them directly, again explaining the reasons.

Your Witness Statement

First of all, you don't need the claim number and the name of the claimant on each page so that can go. Second, there are certain formatting rules for statements of case e.g. particulars of claim, defence, witness statements etc. so I have attached a template that you can use and follow - the last page goes to the back of your witness statement and needs to be completed.

It has been properly formated and has numbered styles so all you really need to do is copy and paste ensuring the formatting is kept the same. but if you are struggling, upload the document and I can format it properly.

I have also very quickly set out an introduction on how to reference the evidence in your witness statement in paragraph 2 i.e. it should be referred to as [USB/Folder/Filename] where Folder corresponds to either Images or Video and Filename is the name of the file you referring to. The paragraph also confirms that hard copies will be available on the day. Because you only have one USB stick, if the court loses that then you will only have the photographs as your evidence, unless you bring a table or laptop containing the videos which the judge might allow you to use.

Key thing is to be prepared at all times. don;t expect the court to have the necessary facilities to show the videos and photographs, assume they are ill prepared.

Bit of a longwinded post, but hopefully should give you some work to do - though it is some work and ultimately you only get out what you put in.

Any questions I will try to respond when I can.

[jessiesom]

I haven't read your witness statement yet so can't comment on it but in terms of putting evidence on the USB stick you might want to use the checklist below though I should say it's not official but an example of how you might present the evidence on USB stick.

1. The USB stick should have an easy to follow folder structure. So for example, in your case you could have two folders set up, Images and Video

2. Each of the evidence files should be numbered according to when you refer to them in your evidence and properly labelled on the USB stick. Depending on how many files you want to refer to, you may want to use 01 or even 001 if you have over a hundred files. You can then set it out like below - remember in the order you refer to them in your statement:

[IMAGES]
01 - Map of Sesame Street
02 - Letter 1 January 2019 Claimant to Defendant
03 - Police Report dated 22 September 2019

You should do the same for your videos folder, making sure it is properly labelled and numbered in the order of reference.

3. Once you have carried out the above exercise, you should create an index list setting out how you have listed the evidence. You will need to have the heading properly complete (see image below) and insert the title something along the lines of "Index of Evidence Bundle on Behalf of the Claimant".

VK439JgKpP.png

Underneath the heading you should then have a sentence of two explaining that the USB stick consists of two folders, "Images" and "Video" and you have indexed the files contained in each folder. You should then list them and label them exactly the same way you have done on the USB stick. For example:

Images Folder
01 - Map of Sesame Street
02 - Letter 1 January 2019 Claimant to Defendant
03 - Police Report dated 22 September 2019

Video Folder
01 - Car Crash at 10.42am


4. You should print this off and put it inside a plastic wallet or sleeve along with your USB stick. If it's possible, I would also use a sticky label or post it note to wrap around the USB stick set out like "Claimant Name v Defendant Name (Claim No. XXXX)" as it is possible the USB stick could get lost, hence putting in a plastic wallet.

5. If the court hearing is local to you, I would drop it off personally in an envelope and a short cover letter explaining the contents of the USB stick as requested by the court. You should password protect the USB stick if you can and give that password within the letter, or email it to the court separately.

6. Since you only have one USB stick, I would suggest you call the defendant or their solicitors if they have instructed a firm, and tell them that some of your evidence contains video which you will be using to support your case. You only have one USB stick available which will be filed at court so you propose sending the evidence of video and photographs by email in zip format (password protected) - the password will be sent separately. If you already have an email address that theyve used on the court forms i.e. to acknowledge the claim or directions questionnaire, you could use that and send it to them directly, again explaining the reasons.

Your Witness Statement

First of all, you don't need the claim number and the name of the claimant on each page so that can go. Second, there are certain formatting rules for statements of case e.g. particulars of claim, defence, witness statements etc. so I have attached a template that you can use and follow - the last page goes to the back of your witness statement and needs to be completed.

It has been properly formated and has numbered styles so all you really need to do is copy and paste ensuring the formatting is kept the same. but if you are struggling, upload the document and I can format it properly.

I have also very quickly set out an introduction on how to reference the evidence in your witness statement in paragraph 2 i.e. it should be referred to as [USB/Folder/Filename] where Folder corresponds to either Images or Video and Filename is the name of the file you referring to. The paragraph also confirms that hard copies will be available on the day. Because you only have one USB stick, if the court loses that then you will only have the photographs as your evidence, unless you bring a table or laptop containing the videos which the judge might allow you to use.

Key thing is to be prepared at all times. don;t expect the court to have the necessary facilities to show the videos and photographs, assume they are ill prepared.

Bit of a longwinded post, but hopefully should give you some work to do - though it is some work and ultimately you only get out what you put in.

Any questions I will try to respond when I can.

Rob, thank you so much for your help.

I was going to provide the Defendant with a USB stick with its contents mirroring that of the USB stick I provide to the Court. The Court email also said that I should bring a laptop for the photos and videos to be shown on.

As I have some paper evidence such as print outs of emails and texts, could I add to paragraph two of the Introduction that some of the evidence referred to are hard copies, before listing these as such in the same way you showed for the USB files?

I’m confused as to what I put in ‘exhibit reference’ on the first page of your attachment and I wasn’t sure where the third and fourth pages come into play. It’s no doubt obvious, but at 2am it’s not so clear to me.

[R0b]

You can add in paragraph 3, something like:

"There is also produced and shown to me a paginated bundle of documents marked "AB1" to which I also refer in this statement. References to AB1 shall be in the form [AB1/page number]."

Then on the first page for Exhibit you put all of your exhibit references, which are AB1 and USB.

The third page is a front cover sheet for your hard copy exhibits to break apart your witness statement and the evidence. So in your case you would complete the missing gaps which should read in particular, "Exhibit AB1 to to the Witness Statement of AB1".

The fourth page is just a back cover sheet which goes to the end of your witness statement. It's not necessary but simply indicates the end of your exhibits and everything contained within is what you are relying on as evidence.

[R0b]

Remember your hard copy exhibits will need to be paginated, meaning they should be numbered 1, 2, 3, etc. Again in the same order they are referred to in your witness statement.

Numbering is usually centred at the bottom but the bottom right corner is also acceptable.

Does that make sense?

[jessiesom]

Remember your hard copy exhibits will need to be paginated, meaning they should be numbered 1, 2, 3, etc. Again in the same order they are referred to in your witness statement.

Numbering is usually centred at the bottom but the bottom right corner is also acceptable.

Does that make sense?

That does make sense thanks Rob.

[jessiesom]

Rob, I'm just using your template now and having visited the Court today, they requested hard copies of the photos too. Would I refer to them in the AB paginated bundle do you think?

[R0b]

To keep it simple, I would use the hard copies in a separate paginated bundle.

So I would amend paragraph two like the example below.

g87YdVA7RQ.png
Then in paragraph 3 you refer amend it so that it now says AB2. You would also need to add AB2 to the Exhibit reference at the top of the witness statement so it should now read Exhibit: USB, AB1, AB2.

That does mean all existing references to AB1 in your statement will need to change to AB2. You will also need a separate cover sheet for your AB2 paginated bundle.

Where you've referenced [USB/Folder/Filename] you should ideally add next to it the hard copy reference in your statement so that a judge pre-reading your statement or the other side can see what you are referring to. It should read like [USB/Folder/Filename] [AB1/page number].

That's just my way of thinking but you can of course add it to AB1 if you like but it means your pagination would be out because presumably you refer to some files on USB earlier than emails or other messages so you would have to re-print and then re-number them again.

If you've done it all correctly, your references should be updated and the witness statement should have the following order:

Witness statement
AB1 cover sheet
AB1 evidence
AB2 cover sheet
AB2 evidence
Witness Statement back cover sheet if you've attached it.
Â*

[jessiesom]

To keep it simple, I would use the hard copies in a separate paginated bundle.

So I would amend paragraph two like the example below.

g87YdVA7RQ.png
Then in paragraph 3 you refer amend it so that it now says AB2. You would also need to add AB2 to the Exhibit reference at the top of the witness statement so it should now read Exhibit: USB, AB1, AB2.

That does mean all existing references to AB1 in your statement will need to change to AB2. You will also need a separate cover sheet for your AB2 paginated bundle.

Where you've referenced [USB/Folder/Filename] you should ideally add next to it the hard copy reference in your statement so that a judge pre-reading your statement or the other side can see what you are referring to. It should read like [USB/Folder/Filename] [AB1/page number].

That's just my way of thinking but you can of course add it to AB1 if you like but it means your pagination would be out because presumably you refer to some files on USB earlier than emails or other messages so you would have to re-print and then re-number them again.

If you've done it all correctly, your references should be updated and the witness statement should have the following order:

Witness statement
AB1 cover sheet
AB1 evidence
AB2 cover sheet
AB2 evidence
Witness Statement back cover sheet if you've attached it.
Â*

That makes perfect sense thanks Rob.

[jessiesom]

I'm learning the very hard way here that some things are much better done way in advance.
Firstly, Rob, thank you for your assistance. I've used your templates and reformatted the witness statement and prepared my bundles, so I'm on track to hand everything over tomorrow.
I hope you don't mind asking a couple of last second questions. The first is for the cover sheets, I've used the copy you provided so thanks for that. I've labelled the first 'Index of Evidence Bundle AB1 on Behalf of the Claimant' and I've provided an index beneath it, commencing with AB1/1 and a brief description of the photos on that page. Is this how I should have laid the cover sheets and exhibit indexes out please? My second question is that as my witness statement is long I've broken it up with sub-headings, which are listed below. Do these seem reasonable? I thought it might help the Judge, although I wasn't sure whether I should use another heading instead of 'amount claimed' where I describe the facts of the case and how they have impacted upon this decision:
Initial Visit by Mr. X to our Home and Establishment of Contract for Services:
Floor Damage:
Communication with Mr. X Following Damage to Floor:
Mr. X's Response to our Initial Communications:
Breach of Consumer Rights Act 2015 - Service Not Carried Out With Reasonable Care and Skill:
Mr. X's Visit to Our Home, His Breach of Our Privacy There and His Leaving Our Property of his own Volition:
Further Written Contact With Mr. X as he had Requested and Loss of Faith:
Amount Claimed:

As ever, many thanks.