hi

i issued a claim through the courts and asked for it not to be served on the defendants.

i received my stamped claim form,

notice of issue (unstamped)

and their response pack.

i then sent, very close to the 4 months limit, all of the above and

my particulars of claim to the defendants.

my particulars of claim was not stamped by the court.

i have just received a letter from the court stating 'it seems the defendant has been served with an unsealed N1,

when was this , what was the date of service?'

they have included a blank N215 for me to completed and send back.

they also ask 'can you please confirm that the claim form that you have issued was not sealed by the court?

what does all this mean?

It should have been sealed - stamped by the court even though you were going to serve it yourself. Did you complete a certificate of service?

I can imagine that there has been a complaint that you have attempted to serve a dummy claim which would be an abuse.

I suggest that you cooperate completely and point out that it was an error and explain how the error occurred. You normally have 7 days to complete a certificate of service and failure to do so could invalidate the service

hi bf

the claim form itself was stamped. i had indicated poc to follow. it was therefore my poc that was not stamped. i had no idea that i had to fill in a certificate of service!! do i complete the certificate of service and return it to the court. one thing that puzzles me is that when the judge has indiacted that the N1 was unsealed is he referring to my particulars of claim or the actual original claim form?

cheers

The N1 is the Claim Form that the Court stamped (sealed) and sent to you to serve.

Are you 100% sure that you served the sealed Claim Form?! Your Particulars of Claim did not need to be sealed.

can't be 100% sure, what i have in my file is a photocopy of the claim form, response pack, notice of issue form and particulars of claim...

You need to find out.

how/

Check your own records or check with the Defendant?

Why did you issue protectively? What is your claim about?

my own records indicate that the bundle i sent included the stamped N1 claim form although how could you prove that?

my limitation period (date of knowledge plus 3 years) was due to expire therefore i issued.

claim is concerned with surveyors negligence

Are you doing this unrepresented?

Has the Defendant instructed solicitors?

hi

yes as a lip

there are 2 claims one against valuer - letter received from them dismissing claim already on limitation grounds! second claim against solicitors.

hi

is this re yr loyds loan land/valuation thread?

NO!

ok, just wondered as you mentioned valuation/surveyor....

now the court have sent me a certificate of service and their notes it would indicate that i sent the claim form within the 4 months but the poc would have been a day late allowing for the 2 day rule on the deemed day of service. having done a bit of research is it best to:

1. send back the certificate and wait for their response i.e. the date of service. because at the moment i do not know exactly the other side are questioning i.e. all the courts letter said was 'an unsealed N1'.

1. ask the defendant for permission to serve all the papers again?

2. apply to the court promptly for relief from any sanction imposed for failure to comply with any rule.

looking at the situation it may seem i sent out the papers with the belief that the deadline for sending them was before midnight 4 months from the date of issue. i did not appreciate this only applied to the claim form. furthermore if any pages were missing this must have been a clumsy error with the automatic photo copier.

cheers

You needed to serve ALL paperwork (Claim Form, Particulars of Claim, Schedule of Loss etc) within four months of the date of issue.

The unsealed N1 is your main problem by the look of it.

hi

the N1 claim form was sealed by the court and was served on the defendant within the four months. the poc was not sealed by the court as in the original claim i indicated poc to follow.

could it be when the court stated that the defendant had been served with a unsealed N1 they could have been referring to the poc and not the initial N1 claim form?

i am now getting confused!!

I've already told you that the PoC did not need to be sealed if you had issued protectively and you were serving them.

No, the Court will be referring to the original sealed N1 claim form which must be served within 4 months of the date of issue (along with the PoC etc) . It appears as if you never did this.

more confused!! if the court are saying i have served an unsealed N1 claim form which is impossible as the only N1 claim form i have is sealed!! the only thing i can think of is if some of the pages of the N1 (mind you there are only 2 pages) i photocopied were not sent to the defendants, but even then why would the court say i have served an unsealed N1?

I think we've finally got to the bottom of it.

You are not permitted to serve a photocopied version of the N1 claim form. It must be the original with the Court sticker/seal on it.

correct i have just checked i still have the original, i didn't want to send it in case it got lost in the post! that leaves me in a fix with the letter i have sent to the court indicating i sent a sealed N1 to the defendant. what should i do?

out of interest where in the cpr rules does it say the original sealed copy must be served?

cheers

i have sent the court a signed certificate of service plus original N1 claim form, poc etc and a letter explaining my mistake.

i have sent the court a signed certificate of service plus original N1 claim form, poc etc and a letter explaining my mistake.

Why send the original sealed N1 to the Court? They already have a copy.

You're problem is that you served a photocopy of the N1 on the Defendant and not the original. Have you rectified this yet?!

i sent my official N1 form to the court for them to serve, i think that may have been a mistake. the reason i sent it was because they asked me if i served a unsealed form to the defendants. the problem with all of this for a lip is there are no 'simple guidelines' for serving documents etc etc

The Court won't serve for you now.

You issued protectively and it was your job to serve the correct documents within the four months, not the Court.

What did you say in your letter?