Small claims N244 response

[Bennet66]

Hello all. I am new here and would appreciate some help. I have put a claim to the small claims court and requested mediation. The defendant has responded also with agreeing to mediation but also filling N244 form to have the claim dismissed. In a letter and email to me they have requested I respond to them directly. Should I not respond and wait to hear from the court?*

[ploddertom]

You need to explain more what this is all about.

[Bennet66]

I am making a claim against my training provider. However they have filled a N244 form saying the claim is not valid. They have asked me to reply to them directly to agree or not. I am asking should I respond to them or wait for the court mediation.*

[ploddertom]

Have they listed their reasons on the N244? If not then I would suggest they may struggle and it should go to mediation - costs nothing and go from there. If you are certain you are correct then let it go ahead.

[Bennet66]

Yes they have. I have got evidence to counter their claims however I have not presented this yet. I would like to know if I have to respond to the defendant or just answer to correspondence from the court.*

[ploddertom]

Without seeing what you have it is difficult to answer but if you are witholding relevant information then you run the risk of it being Struck Out and Costs awarded against you.

[Bennet66]

I am not with holding information. I believe I am following the process correctly. I filled a small claim against the training provider. They have accepted mediation but also filled a N244 with 'evidence' as requested in the form to backup their claim to have the dispute dismissed.
I have not been given a chance to submit my evidence yet by the court. But the defendant is asking me to contact themselves directly to agree to have the case dismissed.*
Should I respond to the defendant directly or just through the courts?*

[R0b]

Let me ask you this question, is there any reason why you don't want to respond to the defendant? Just because you have issued legal proceedings doesn't neither side are not allowed to talk to each other.

The court expects the parties to help achieve the overriding objective under CPR which sets set out a list of objectives, one of those is to encourage the parties to cooperate with each other.

So you can ignore their email and they might run an argument at some stage that your conduct has been unreasonable, in which case you could be subject to a costs order, or you can respond to them and tell them you do not agree for the claim to be dismissed.

It is not actually clear the legal basis the defendant has sought to dismiss the case whether this is a summary judgment or strike out application. Either way, it seems a bit late to be making an application to have your claim struck out.*

[Bennet66]

Thanks. I was worried about responding outside of the mediation, in case it goes against me some how. They have used me in video advertising on their website but deny this despite it still being there. I don't want to guide them to their mistake before the mediation as it is part of their defence. I have recorded this, just in case, but this may have some copyright issues, I guess.
The rest of my argument shows counter evidence to theirs, but I have not been asked to submit any evidence yet. In short they claim not to be a college despite my certificates being written as coming from them.*

[Bennet66]

Thanks for all your replies.*