CPR 31.14

[DTW]

Hi, new to the forum and looking for guidance dealing with Lowells/Overdales with court case.
Thinking of trying a CPR 31.14 but unclear if I need to send a payment for copying with this? I have already requested a SAR by phone and will back up by post.
I had never heard of them and after reading much information, can see that they were trying to go for a default judgement - I was only aware of action due to the court papers arriving
I've acknowledged service and intend to defend claim
Would be grateful for any guidance about CPR 31.14 letter as don't want to make a payment that then allows them to see payment as admission
thanks

[atticus]

Rule 31.14 of the Civil Procedure Rules provides that a party to court proceedings may inspect documents referred to by the other party in a statement of case or witness statement. Rule 31.15(c) specifies that the party wishing to inspect "may request a copy of the document and, if he also undertakes to pay reasonable copying costs, the party who disclosed the document must supply him with a copy not more than 7 days after the date on which he received the request."

Commonly, and particularly if there is not much copying needed, payment is not insisted on.

https://www.justice.gov.uk/courts/pr...s/part31#31.14

[DTW]

Thanks Atticus,

I'll send the letter and see what they reply with

[R0b]

I can already tell you what you might expect in terms of a response and it's pretty standard across most debt collection firms. You are likely to receive a letter from Overdales telling you that they don't need to comply with CPR 31.14 because the matter is likely to be allocated to the small claims track and CPR 31.14 doesn't apply - if you do a search on here you will find many a letter in terms of responses to the 31.14 request.

The counter-argument to that is that the claim has only just started and if the disclosure of relevant documents helps to assist proceedings then it should be complied with, but also the claim is yet to be allocated so until it does, their obligations under 31.14 do not fall away. Suspect you will get nowhere and if you want to force their hand then an application to the court would need to be made at a cost of £255 and there's no guarantee that you will be successful.

Since you have made a SAR, consider whether a disclosure request is actually necessary if the documents are likely to turn up in as a result of the SAR. If there are specific documents that may not constitute personal data but may be disclosable under 31.14 then maybe that is the way to go but as I said, you will likely need to make an application as I don't expect Lowells/Overdales to hand anything over.