Buyer taking me to court

[Strawberries]

Hi . Looking for some advice I will try and keep it brief, I sold my own car I used every day ,it needed a sensor replaced which I was up front over and payed to have it fixed , the buyer refused a test drive twice looked at it twice in the dark and brought it ,sensor was fixed she picked it up but asked me to back it off the drive , off they went ,she signed a receipt and was fully aware there was no service history, there wasn't when I brought it from a garage, within 40mins she had texted to say the sensor light had re appeared but had booked it in a garage the following day for a full diagnostic , next day which was a Saturday I contacted her by text for her full name she provided the info never said anything about the car ,a week.later she texted me telling me the car had been deemed as unroad worthy as the Cam Chain had failed, she then spent two weeks hounding me and threating me ,I felt awful so offered to pay for the part she declined and stated she wanted the whole amount ,which was 1,700 , she had not provided me with any reports from the garage to date , after informing me on the 8th about the issue with the car she then processed to take me to court and five days later I received notification from the court she was taking me through small claims, I asked for mediation which she cancelled the first time and then accused me of not participating in the second one, even though i had the mediator was very surprised that she had not provided any evidence to support the diagnostic on the car and said it would need to go to court, the next day she emailed me the receipt from the garage as she says she's had it fixed but still no report, she is taking me to court for false advertising but has failed to produce the advert as it was deleted when the car was sold so still has no supporting evidence, I have applied to have this case thrown out but my solicitor has attached my costs for the application and her fee to fill the paperwork in, I am representing myself due to being a single mum bringing up 3 children, I have to still attend court as there are costs attached to my application to have the case dismissed,
does this sound right what has happened?

[Pezza54]

Hi

Welcome to LB

You stated you are representing yourself but the mentioned your solicitor helped to make the application Is your solicitor doing anything else?
Did you write your own defence?
Is the claim for £1700? Is that just to have the car repaired or to return the car for a full refund?
Is the claim based on misrepresentation, the advert and/or what you said about the car?

[Pezza54]

Applying to court for strike out of a statement of case is taking a big risk.
Did your solicitor advise you to do this?
Please read the article at https://hallellis.co.uk/strike-out-applications

[Strawberries]

Yes they did on the basis that the Claimant has not supported her case with any evidence at all ,legally you have to produce the original advert to prove that I falsely advertised but there is no supporting evidence

[Strawberries]

My solicitor applied to have the case struck out on the basis of no reasonable grounds and an abuse of the court process

[Pezza54]

Have you received a court order yet stating a hearing date along with a time for filing witness statements and evidence?

If the claimant has mentioned the advert in their statement of case they may have copied the advert before you removed it.

The claimant could be intending to include a copy of the actual advert with their witness statement

[Strawberries]

All of that has been done court date is next week ,she has not provided any advert in her bundle or statement the only thing she has filed is some receipts and is actually claiming for the same part twice

[Strawberries]

My bundle was put together by my solicitor I have included all the relevant information texts message's emails etc receipt she signed when she purchased the car statement from mechanic that replaced the sensor,

[R0b]

Strawberries, I don't want to come across as being rude but, I have no idea of the purpose of this thread or if there is an actual question you want from us. You have obtained legal advice and based on that advice instructed a solicitor to prepare and submit an application to strike out the claim. Whatever we say or don't say is irrelevant at this stage because you are already so far down the path and have a court date next week.

You should really be spending the time brushing up on the rules around strike out with reference to the Civil Procedure Rules because that's what your application will hinge on. If you decide to rock up to caught and tell the judge 'here, this is what my solicitor had done for me' then you might be in for a shock if the judge dismisses your application.

It's your application so you need to represent to the court why the claim should be struck out, with reference to the rules and your bundle of evidence, guiding the judge (and treat him like he knows absolutely nothing) as well as any supporting case law. If you are successful, you need to ask the court for your costs because if you say nothing and walk out of the court room at the end of the hearing, it will be deemed that there is no order for costs and they will not be recoverable at a later date, unless a judge orders this to be determined at a future hearing.

[Strawberries]

The reason for my post is I'm extremely concerned that I have not actually done anything wrong and could someone persue a case with no evidence, this whole thing has made me rather unwell ,I suffer with severe anxiety disorder which compounds my issues , I'm assuming a solicitor would know if it was a good idea to apply to have a case dismissed and yes there are costs attached to that application my costs of the application and the solicitors fee for completing the paperwork for me , I am just trying to get reassurance, ,is that wrong?

[R0b]

We cannot say 100% that what the solicitor has done is right or wrong because it is in the hands of the judge. Personally, I would have sought summary judgment in addition to strike out as there are two different criteria but each arriving at the same outcome which is to dismiss the claim.

However, irrespective of that, you are where you are and I refer you to my previous post that you should start reading up if you don't know already. Sounds like you have no clue what you are doing or what you need to do and that doesn't usually fare well in court.

[Strawberries]

My reason to have the case struck out is total lack of evidence ,you can not just say to someone you owe me 1,700 after the car according to them has been fixed and expect me to pay it with out any written reports or proof ,
would you of payed up ? They actually didn't give me enough time to do anything 5 days then they took it to court ,that's wrong in my book

[Strawberries]

Of course I don't know what I'm doing I'm your average housewife that's why I m asking for some advice