Small claims hearings please help

[cvt]

Re: Small claims hearings please help

My solicitor said if a claimant has a figure in mind and won't wave on that figure then mediation is a waste of time as they are strict on that this is why they won't mediate as apparently mediation told them that that is why they did the demand of accept the offer today or the no box is being ticked with no acknowledgement of the money they already have had. What would you do pay another 900 when you were only quoted 200?? It seems crazy!!

[Vitamin33]

Re: Small claims hearings please help

No, I wouldn't pay another 900 when I was quoted 200. I'm obviously not a solicitor but I cannot see any harm in contacting the mediation service if it is still free - because I know that the government is cutting back all over the place - but if you can contact the HMCTS mediation service for free and they're willing to help then to me it would be worth a shot

[cvt]

Re: Small claims hearings please help

Please can I ask a question regarding evidence! When you send a defence the next form I received was notice to small track and a directions questionnaire which the court has. However the claimant is saying they sent evidence to the court based on my defence at which point the court allocated this to small track. That can't be right can it does the claimant send to the court evidence in reply to the defence? And if so why haven't I seen this?
i thought based on the amount it was allocated to small track not on 'the evidence' they claim to have sent??
thanks

[Vitamin33]

Re: Small claims hearings please help

The claimant has a duty to disclose evidence they will be relying on to you as well as to the court and if they haven't done so then they are not complying with CPR protocol. So request it from them pointing out that they have a duty to disclose their evidence to you, because they may for example have sent it to you by post and obtained proof of postage but you haven't actually received it, in which case they could claim that they had in fact sent it, hence why I would write to them by 1st class recorded post saying they have a duty to send you the evidence and that you have not to date received any, and I would probably go as far as to enclose an A4 envelope addressed to you with postage on it to cover recorded delivery and ask for the evidence to be sent to you as a matter of urgency by recorded delivery. Then you can put all that in your witness statement. Someone else on here may disagree or have another idea but I'm just telling you what I would do. If you have an email address for them you could always email them explain the situation and tell them that you will reimburse them the cost of sending the evidence to you by recorded post, via PayPal for example, or perhaps before you do that you could ask them when they actually sent the evidence to you.

[charitynjw]

Re: Small claims hearings please help

Re mediation.

The case will be automatically referred to the court's (free) mediation service.
However, in my opinion, the fact that the other party refuses mediation, & has not (yet) disclosed any evidence requested by you, the mediation service will not be able to help, & the case will/may progress to court.

[cvt]

Re: Small claims hearings please help

I understand the above but what I am saying is ....after my defence would they have had to respond to the court with 'evidence' as I don't think there was time due to the dates for them to do this as the small track notification was automatically sent but what I am saying is they have stated in an email to my solicitor that based on the evidence sent the courts have advised the case is suitable for small tracks and they have used the word evidence !!! I know they have to send this but what I am saying is I don't think the courts would have asked for evidence from them after my defence would they????
as it would have just been a form to the. Asking if they accept or not which they sent to em saying they didn't accept the part admission and then the questionnaires were sent, meaning yet again they have lied and are using this to scare me. If indeed the court do ask for evidence after a defence is filed then fine but do they or not???

[cvt]

Re: Small claims hearings please help

To confirm at what point does the claimant and defendant swap their evidence. They have seen my defence as the defendant but that is all so far. I'm trying to establish if what they have said about the court sending me the directions questionnaire based on the evidence they say they have sent in response to my defence, which I think is rubbish as I've not had this .... Thank you

[cvt]

Re: Small claims hearings please help

Any thoughts?
many thanks