Don't what?

Of course you both have to exchange witness statements....

Given the claimant / PDC have failed to send directions, denied the defence was ever received and never bothered to try mediation and had to be reminddd about filing of the directions it wouldn’t surprise us if they failed to do disclose their statement/s either.

If they don’t then have you any ideas of how to address the constant failings at the hearing and put as much emphasis on discrediting their claim and legitimacy in relation to how they have handled their claim?

From reading the CPR, they are quite clear and are there for a reason. If we have to follow them then so should the claimant. So far they have completely ignored them.

Any thoughts or ideas on a tactical approach to discretionary them?

Some things in the CPR the parties MUST comply with or if a court has told either party..if its something they didnt do then get to the court and ask for it to be struck out.

But it sounds as if its just issues that can be discussed at the end when it comes to costs..we assume,e its on small track/.so wouldnt normally be costs but you can pipe up then and mention their failings.

Yes, it is on small claims track.

The Court document specifically states that;

3.Parties shall file with the Court and serve on the other party copies of all documents upon which they intend to rely on no later than 14 days before the hearing.

4.Included in the copy documents shall be written statements of the witnesses (including the statements of the parties themselves)

5.The original documents shall be brought to the hearing.

That’s word for word on the “Notice of Allocation to the Small Claims Track (Hearing) document.

It also goes on about the judge thinking it is suitable again for mediation but they have ignored that. We were available for it last time.

So, going off what you suggest here, if they fail to do as instructed on the document we should be asking for it to be struck out as we have not seen their statements and documents upon which they rely? That would give them an unfair advantage.

We have discussed making an offer to cover the arrears but not their costs (which may have been offered had they taken mediation).

We have done everything right, mostly thanks to support here and lots of reading but the claimant appears to be able to ignore all the rules and the court appears to allow it.

The defence not being received yet being sent by us and the court (neither returned so deemed delivered, would be possible for one to go astray but two!!)

Failing to file directions and having to be reminded by the court;

It now appears that they won’t send the statements and documents on which they rely.

Just seems very one sided here. Sorry to be a nuisance but it helps to put things out in the open for others to put a different perspective on it.

" It now appears that they won’t send the statements and documents on which they rely."

How do you know that ? .......they have up till 14 days before the hearing to comply ?

If they dont then they have no evidence to rely on to support their claim.....

Andy

Is that 14 working days or do weekends count as days?

Nothing from them so far. Is there a specific method of going for strike out in these circumstances? Eg; is there a template to be adapted / other examples that can give an indication of how one would go about this?

Cheers,

14 calendar days.

You would need to pay £255 and draft an application to strike out, but with less than 14 days to go at that point you might be better off to just raise it with the Judge at the very start of the hearing.

Gannymede;

Thank you. We will do just that if need be. Someone called my wife today from PDC Law (she missed the call but googled the number).

The witness statements and evidence we have sent is pretty conclusive and they received it today (Cuerden yesterday).

It may be totally coincidental but, they didn’t have her number so must have searched for it online, wouldn’t be difficult to find based on address as it’s published. We don’t know what they may have wanted but the next few days may be interesting, we’ll see if they try and communicate via post.

Hearing date is 1/06/18 so if it’s 14 calendar days then to be filed before then means by end of court day tomorrow.

It may be just a tad premature but given the call and them signing for the file from us today (which included the statements and all evidence we rely on) perhaps they may be willing to talk now which is something they have categorically refused to take part in.

I’ll post again in the next week, see what happens. Thanks for advice re the strike out, we’ll mention it at the time if need be.

Today they have filed their witness statements and the evidence they rely on.

They are late and have waited until we sent ours first by the looks of it.

They have denied being invited to mediation (I forgot to add a copy of the appointment in the pack but we do have it from the end team). Just wonder if the court might accept it late given the claimants lateness.

I doubt we would get the court to act on the failure to file on time. They have left it a little late. CPR doesn’t seem to mean too much I guess.

End = med team (phone generated text).

When did you receive them?

I doubt you'll get the case struck out for a day or two.

It wouldn't be proportionate.

The Witness statements and their bundle arrived on Saturday 19th May.

However, a couple of days ago PDC sent through a "Consent Order" and have taken off all the costs, the admin fees charged by the claimant and have asked for the 7 years back payment of service charge to the sum of £1050.00.

They have added on the court fee of £115.00 which they have obviously paid to get it there and also asking for a £100.0 court fee for the order to be approved by the court. Total settlement figure of £1265.00.

We never had any issue with the payment of the charge, only would not pay it whilst in the wrong name and their ridiculous and what may actually be (but isn't proven as it's not been decided by a judge yet) illegal charges.

We are looking to accept the consent order and pay the money, mostly because I personally think that we have won and they have waited almost 8 years because of their idiocy.

Before we do, I'd be grateful to have someone elses thoughts on it but I think it is sensible and morally right to pay the arrears and their charge for the court (I did once tell them to take it there in anger but a long time before it got there).