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liam1806

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  1. Definitely a county court, Cambridge, and a court room and the Judge had the claimant in the box first and then me and questioned by the defence Barrister - or rather grilled. The judge would just not listen to our argument (which helped the Barrister) and said it all boiled down to terms and conditions and withholding invoice payments. The Barrister got his fees, along with court fees. The Judge though refused one of the court fees brought by the original solicitor as he said this was not the defendants fault. As I said, it felt as though the case was decided before we sat down.
  2. So we lost the case. To be honest within 1 minute of sitting down in the courtroom, and the judge beginning I could tell we were going to lose. The Judge opened by saying, the Judge who read the initial papers and directed should not have allowed the strike out application and main trial to be all on one day - he would have done differently and had separately, he said the case probably wouldn’t have got to trial. He felt that it would take too long and asked if an adjournment was needed and we all said no. He said ok, let’s move to the main trial then.I think the Judge wanted over quickly. He also said this was a commercial agreement and would be looking at law in this area. He explained that at the end when judgement by him was confirmed, we could appeal but he would confirm if the appeal was allowed depending on what this was based upon. It already felt like I was on trial by both judge and claimants barrister... He then opened the claimants witness statement and skipped to point xx which was the claimant and there terms and conditions and said this was the relevant part to start. He told me my witness statement was irrelevant as the whole case would hinge on this by the claimant. When I tried to point out parts of my witness statement, I was asked by the Judge to not go any further, as we won't be talking about this. I was reminded of this when I tried to run through points of my witness statement. The claimant went into the box first and explained the ordering process and terms and conditions aided by their barrister. When I was able to ask questions, as to the agreement between there company and ours the claimant and barrister told me this agreement was only for a 30 day period - and I could see the Judge roll his eyes.....very professional. Next, I went into the box and as expected the barrister tried to discredit emails between us and the claimants representative. He also pointed out at the terms and conditions to say we were not allowed to withhold payment as there was no overcharging. The judge was researching terms and conditions on his laptop, and stated a couple of examples which I knew was against us – as I could see where this was going. The barrister was asking me for my yes or no on questions and I simply said no - I do not agree in your interpretation of what happened and agreements we did make. I asked the claimants barrister, why did the claimant meet and offer a rebate if we stayed with them - which would offset any overcharging - before I finished the question the Judge told me to stop as this was not a relevant question (this was in my witness statement by the way) to which he replied I know. He then spoke for about 20 minutes and awarded judgement - and also costs to the claimant, and basically said our case was rubbish, it was clear we had breached terms and conditions and owed the money. There was no discounted pricing agreed (which gobsmacked me as the emails were there - along with what I had written on the witness statement). It was akin to a stitch up because we didn't have a barrister - he did hint we should have maybe paid the money to the claimant and then went after them for the overcharges. He did say to the claimant I am not awarding you xxx as costs (one of the application costs) as this was not the defendants fault, and also he said to the claimant you will be asking for statutory interest at 8%? But as you know I will not award more than 2%.... So the whole case stemmed on the terms and conditions and the law around this, which we had broken by withholding a payment. This payment these invoices refereed to were not in dispute, and as we had paid disputed invoices already we were in the wrong. So that's it, look we did prepare if we lose we would have to pay up - no problem. But the case I felt was awful. It was more like a crown court case not a small claims – not that I had been to either before. Maybe I wasn’t fully prepared or what. Anyway, thank's Andy for your help - we did our best.
  3. I have added to my notes. Can't believe i missed before. Anyway thank you for all your help and i will let you guy's know the outcome.
  4. ok thanks Andy for that - I'm not sure what the Judge will say obviously but I'm just looking into everything very close today. One thing I missed - not sure if it makes any difference and maybe I should have put in my witness statements is; Letter received from xxxxxx xxxx May 2018 warning if payment is not received in 7 days court action will be commenced. We replied with a letter with bullet points / timeline trying to settle - this is the 'without prejudice' letter i refer too. Letter received by xxxxxx on xx June saying a letter before action had been sent to our registered company address – the same day we received the county court claim.
  5. The first was a bullet point and timeline of dates and who we spoke to before the claim was issued and sent to the first solicitor - these points are also in the witness statement and email chains it was to just simplify. And the second was to the new solicitor after the claim was issued confirming a earlier offer to settle with them at half of the disputed amount. This reads a without prejudice settlement of xxxx in the sentence and not at the top of the letter. I'm can't recall why we wrote without prejudice at that time. What do you think?
  6. on post #71 - i asked about 'without prejudice' - I have read through (and confused my self...) and 2 letters we wrote 'without prejudice' from us to the claimants I have included in the WS statements - have I done wrong?
  7. Can I also ask your opinion on post #63 - ''but as the judge said he will deal with also the 'strike' out application on the same day - what argument would i need for this first do you think?''
  8. I think I am more concerned having the barrister there - was just expecting a solicitor (Could we have both?) as I was always lead to believe it was the solicitor and claimant only. I do wonder if once they received our WS they decided on a barrister approach to try and beat us - lets see anyway....
  9. So we have received a trial bundle with all the relevant WS and notes in from the claimants solicitor, as the case is soon. He has also said, these have been passed onto the Barrister.... so it looks as though the case has been passed to a Barrister as well as the solicitor who we had been dealing with - which is not what I expected. I thought the hearing would be in a 'room' as opposed to a fully blown 'courtroom'
  10. Normally our manufacturers will give a % discount off the RRP. The quote/price was honoured for 2 months, and then prices reverted back to full rrp and when we pointed out the problem prices reverted back to what was quoted. Other suppliers to use are no problem, and we found another easy enough. We did try and meet them half way but they wouldn't listen - despite evidence in our favour. There WS is very vague, as though they haven't been briefed internally within the company, and the solicitor again i believe wasn't briefed fully. Let's see if we hear any more prior to the court date in a couple of weeks time....
  11. So received a updated Witness Statement. They are still claiming there points from the initial Witness Statement and my WS proves some of there points they deny. Couple of points though, they are referring us to a clause in there terms and conditions, that all amounts owing are to be made without set off, counter claim or deduction - there claim is based on us not paying a disputed amount. Also that it was our responsibility to check acknowledgements and invoices before paying - we had paid and not picked up for several months. These 2 points do worry me and i wonder if this will weaken our defence.....
  12. Thanks Andy. So posted our witness statements this morning special delivery so they will receive Monday morning, and i will call the court to confirm they paid there fee. Also, i assume the witness statement they sent us last July, is the final one from them as they haven't submitted any since directed to by the judge?
  13. can i just ask, the 'claimant' referred to CPR16 - whilst we said CPR16.5- when we said we complied with the initial defence - which is correct? i assume whether its business or consumer its the same?
  14. another question, when i previously sent a letter to the claimant 'without prejudice' can i still use this in my evidence?
  15. Thanks. I did think that last part maybe sounded silly, i will take out. Conclusion, '' i duly request the court dismisses the claimants strike out application, and initial claim be dismissed as i have demonstrated that the claimant made a agreement with the defendant.I have also demonstrated how we tried to resolve this prior to court action by the claimant.'' Do i ask for costs - as the claimants solicitor has asked for in there claim?
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