I issued a claim through the newer moneyclaims.service.gov.uk and have received a full defence.

I now log in and it states that I can ''request a County Court Judgement as there has been no response by the deadline'' even though I have received an email from them stating the defendant has filed their defence and it is attached to the email, albeit on the last day I believe of the allocated time allowed.

Is this a glitch in the website?

Secondly, can someone please help as to the next step as I am not sure if I have to offer anything in response to the defence.

I have attached the defence below

- as you can see,

my claim is against someone who hit my car and then denied doing so.

I have a witness who saw the individual damage my vehicle and reported it to me.

I went through the process of trying to claim on their insurance, but all liability was denied, as per below also.

I am doing this in person, where as they have a solicitor provided for them via the insurance company.

My questions are these - please help, I need your help if possible!

1 - Do I have to reply to the counter-schedule (or any reply as such) as suggested within 14 days with photos/documents etc, or can I just complete the required n180 by the required date?

2 - Is it best to reply to the defence below, and if so, what do I reply with? Does anyone have a sample draft that I could use that would help? Is it best not to reply to it?

3 - What is the best course of action from here on?

Many thanks in advance.

Sounds like the defence was submitted out of time or right on the borderline.

I would suggest giving them a ring and ask what their systems say, as sometimes the website could be buggy and take a while to catch up. Is your witness willing to provide a statement for the court? Why did the insurer not find the other party at fault?

Thanks for replying.

Yes my witness is more than happy to provide a statement, and this was sent previously to the insurer of the person who hit me. They dismissed it stating the witness is not independent and they do not recognise him as a credible witness.

I spoke to my insurer who stated I should make a claim directly with the person who hit me, as this way, I am not risking losing my no claims by going through my insurer for £140. Their insurer basically denied liability stating I have no argument as they do not recognise my witness as credible.

If your insurer was sure of the claim, they should have instigated it themselves. As the insurers have basically said the other party has no liability it would be difficult for you to win a contested claim as youd have to prove the incident happened.

You could click request a judgement and see what happens. Do you have any proof apart from the witness to what happened?

If it is money claim which has informed you that a defence has been filed – then frankly I would simply continue on the basis that the case is being defended. It is clearly some glitch with the system. Even though you apply for adjustment, it is not granted automatically. It is scrutinised at least by a court officer and they will notice that a defence has been filed. Because the prime objective is to do justice, even though the defence may have been filed slightly late, they will still allow it and you will not get your judgement.

If you want some help with this then you should post up your claim and also the defence in PDF format.

My insurer asked me to weigh up if it is worth claiming on my own insurance for them to go and then try and get liability admitted from the other insurer, and then claim the amount of repair back from them. They stated that as the amount is only small, there is always a risk if I couldn't prove it, I would then have a claim on my own insurance and therefor the increased premiums as I would lose my no claims.

I wasn't with my vehicle at the time, a colleague told me the 3rd party had reversed into my vehicle. Funnily enough, we all work for the same organisation, and it was in the staff car park. She then drove off and I contacted her later that morning to ask about the accident. The only witness to the said accident was my colleague who has said he is more than happy to provide a statement of the incident.

Thanks for your input Bankfodder, I will post both my claim and the defence later this evening. Any help would be gratefully received. I have posted the defence at the top of this thread, but not in PDF... it's a JPG.

Ok, attached is both the redacted defence and claim.

Thanks for your time guys looking at this, and all your help.

defence_Redacted.pdf

Claim Form Court Paper_Redacted.pdf

Just so the peeps advising are aware this claim is subject to the Test Pilot Scheme of Online Civil Money Claims.

https://www.justice.gov.uk/courts/procedure-rules/civil/rules/practice-direction-51r-online-court-pilot

This Practice Note identifies two pilot schemes to test online court environments in County Court money claims: the ‘Online Civil Money Claims Pilot’ (formerly the ‘Online Court Pilot’) to test an online claims process for money claims in the County Court for use by unrepresented parties (‘litigants in person’) (CPR PD 51R) and the ‘County Court Online Pilot’ to test a procedure to enable legal representatives to file and issue County Court money claims online (CPR PD 51S). These pilot schemes commenced on 7 August and 12 September 2017, respectively, and both run until 30 November 2019.

Andy

Is that good or bad, or is it just a change of procedure?

Its one of two new test pilot schemes ..so Im a little surprised you didn't issue using the standard Money Claim On Claim CCBC Northampton.

I would assume without knowing all the details of the new system...as per the normal system you have 28 days to proceed otherwise the claim will be stayed.

Andy

Hi Andy,

thanks for your reply. I did issue through the moneyclaims.service / government gateway site. Unfortunately, I don't think I can go any further on there as it won't let me get past 'issue CCJ as the other party has not responded' even though they have filed their defence as posted above.

Can anyone please assist with a defence reply..? I have posted above both my claim and the defence retracted... any help would be most appreciated. I have put a draft defence reply together, I just have no idea if it is correct or not...

Thanks.

1 - Do I have to reply to the counter-schedule (or any reply as such) as suggested within 14 days with photos/documents etc, or can I just complete the required n180 by the required date?

You do not need to reply to their defence...just submit the N180 by the date stated.

I have prepared a defence reply with all supporting documents including witness statements. Will it harm anything if I were to submit these with the N180?

You dont submit witness statements and exhibits with the N180...thats for later in the process after allocation

So in their defence when it states in the counter schedule: '''The defendant has not had sight of supporting documentation and the claimant is now required to provide documentation, including photographs of the damage to his vehicle, within 14 days of service of the defence'' - This can safely be ignored??

We are not aware of what a Counter schedule is...and as the court as sent you an N180 Directions Questionnaire..then we can only presume your claim is being dealt with as per the normal MCOL process...and in that process...you submit your N180 for allocation...the claim is allocated and you will recieve a Notice of Allocation with directions...the directions will order you when to submit statements and evidence by date.

Hmmm... ok, thanks for the advice. I will submit the N180 then and go from there I guess...

Mmmmm you dont sound too convinced........should have issued your claim through the following.....

https://www.moneyclaim.gov.uk/web/mcol/welcome

I didn't mean anything by that, I was just thinking it over whilst typing.

I did do Money Claim Online, but it was with the newer website.

Any further advice from anyone is very much gratefully received.

In the meantime....dont forget to complete and submit your DQ by the date stated..otherwise you risk your claim being struck out.

Will do, no problem. I have until the 18th Feb.

I did however pull in a favour from a friend today who just happens to know a criminal defence barrister. Although, as she admitted, civil is not her field, she advised what my next steps I should be taking.

The counter schedule is similar/same to a counter claim, although on this occasion the other party has nothing to claim (financial wise), for as they are entirely defending a money claim and have incurred no costs as such.

They are basically asking for the evidence to be submitted to them pre court/mediation, my adviser saying to look at the evidence to probably decide whether it is worth defending in court, or whether to advise otherwise.

This is obviously guess work, but as I have a witness statement from a 3rd party, photos of the damage to my vehicle, emails from the individual who hit my car stating for me to send photos to her of the damage (why would you want to see photos of a car you didn't apparently hit?) - I looks likely it cannot be defended.

I was advised by the Court also today after calling them, that at this point, only the N180 is expected at the Court at this point. Any information that is being requested by the Defendant's side is purely at my discretion as to whether I send it over or not.

Fingers crossed... I will see how this pans out and keep anyone who is interested updated...

A counter schedule is not similar to counter claim...why would you a claimant want to make a counter claim against your own claim ?

A counter schedule of loss is a list of evidence and loss detailed ...but only a court can make that order...not the defendant...which the court will after you have submitted your DQ...this is done by way of the Notice of Allocation N157...which will give directions with dates when both parties exchange evidence and witness statements.

Ok, as you can tell, I am not entirely on board with the correct terminology and procedure... hence me asking for assistance on here. I certainly have my wires crossed...

The counter schedule I have posted on here from the defendant, I need to offer the photos and documents as per her request - and that's it? There is nothing more at this point I need to offer?

Do I just submit my N180 and ignore the Defendant's counter schedule until I get further direction from the court?

Do I just submit my N180 and ignore the Defendant's counter schedule until I get further direction from the court?

Correct as previously advised.