N271 Form

[STEVE5859]

I have now received the N271 allocating the court for my claim against Wren in the small claims court
I have sent the court with my original application about 30 pages of evidence.
I have been in email communication since with them after seeing the supposed evidence.
Will I get the opportunity to send these to the court prior to the hearing to be lodged with my other documents which detail my response to their evidence together with photos and recorded calls.
Or will the court enquire if I wish to supply documents to my case prior to the hearing or do I bring these to the court on the day of the hearing.
Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

[Pezza54]

Hi
Welcome to LB

Unfortunately you may have filed and served your evidence too soon, but no matter.

When you receive directions from the court about the date and time for the hearing, you should be instructed to file and serve your witness statement and evidence by a latest date (normally 2 weeks before the trial date on the small claims track)

Take the opportunity to read articles about witness statements and evidence available on the internet as well as info included under "Witness Statements" on the right side off this page

[STEVE5859]

Hi
Welcome to LB

Unfortunately you may have filed and served your evidence too soon, but no matter.

When you receive directions from the court about the date and time for the hearing, you should be instructed to file and serve your witness statement and evidence by a latest date (normally 2 weeks before the trial date on the small claims track)

Take the opportunity to read articles about witness statements and evidence available on the internet as well as info included under "Witness Statements" on the right side off this page

Thank you Pezza, I was informed that I should send hard copies to the court with my original NI claim form and one copy they sent to Wren. Hopefully this info will be passed from Northampton to the court.
I have much more including photos and audio evidence, together with email responses which disproves their fictional evidence, which I presume I supply to the court prior to proceedings.

[STEVE5859]

Thank you Pezza, I was informed that I should send hard copies to the court with my original NI claim form and one copy they sent to Wren. Hopefully this info will be passed from Northampton to the court.
I have much more including photos and audio evidence, together with email responses which disproves their fictional evidence, which I presume I supply to the court prior to proceedings.

[Pezza54]

Don't rely on everything to be passed from the business centre to the county court. Court papers have been known to go missing in "transit"
I sometimes wonder if in the business centre "transit" is an euphemism for "the bin"

My 3rd para in post 2 confirms when you will be required to send evidence to the court

[STEVE5859]

Thanks again for the wise advice Pezza.
Can I check with the court at Chelmsford what documents they have received ?
Also I presume a copy for Wren won't be a needed as they have already received be served with the original documents.

[Pezza54]

Yes you can email the county court
Normally when a claim form is filed the contract is attached. The remainder of evidence, emails, letters etc is retained by the claimant until they file and serve their witness statement
If you attached a lot of evidence with your claim, it may be difficult for the judge to follow.
You should in your witness statement, stick to fact, short paragraphs in chronological order with dates, cross-referencing in the text to evidence. Unfortunately you may have to file your evidence again so it is easier to follow when your witness statement is read in court

[STEVE5859]

I have now received a court date for my small claims court claim, but have not been asked to pay any hearing fees. Should I contact the court as I don't want my claim struck off for not paying a fee.

[MaryS57]

I have now received a court date for my small claims court claim, but have not been asked to pay any hearing fees. Should I contact the court as I don't want my claim struck off for not paying a fee.

A) Is this a preliminary hearing? Did you ask for expert evidence to be admitted to Court i.e. within your directions questionnaire?
In my very recent smc preliminary hearing to admit Expert Evidence [about a defective product] no court fee was needed for this preliminary hearing.

Or
B) is this the trial?
In my case: the small claims Court also forgot to ask for Trial hearing fees from me in their Order. So I rang the Court's payment dept. (this telephone line is much easier to get through relative to the general enquiries line that can take hours if one doesn't ring early in morning).
The Court told me that I could not pay there and then and that they (the Court) will have to serve a supplementary Court Order - which they did fairly quickly. Upon receiving this additional Order, I phoned & paid immediately; not least since the trial date was approaching and the last thing I wanted was the case to be struck out.

Pezza may know more. I hope this helps.

[Pezza54]

Can you post the wording in the letter with personal names, addresses, court number redacted?

When you receive the defendant's witness statement and evidence, you should read it carefully and pose questions about inaccuracies in their statement, ready to ask the defendant to answer your questions when they present their statement at the trial.