I'm on the wrong end of a county court case that has been total chaos.
I never got the original application.
I had moved (this was about possession, originally, but was settled and I moved out)
the landlord had the papers sent to my old house, and didn't use my forwarding address.
Eventually I found out about it and managed to get a copy of the application from the court a couple of days before the hearing.
I got a "response" in but because it was late the judge didn't have it and it got adjourned and I got told to pay costs.
I went to the PSU, asked court staff, went to CAB, asked about legal aid. Noone seems to be able to help.
We had another hearing just recently,
3 days before the hearing the court told me they had no record of my original response.
I sent another copy by fax and another by email to the court.
They never acknowledged it.
I called them back and all the court said was "anything you have sent will be provided to the judge".
When I said I was worried as they could not specifically identify my response
(while they could identify other things I had sent) they got stroppy with me.
At hearing,
I checked and the judge said he had got something from the date or the original response, which I took to mean he had received it.
during the hearing he didn't seem aware of anything I had said in it and I when I tried to refer specifically to one thing I had to give him a copy of it.
He found against me, taking my deposit away,
in giving his judgment he said a number of things which lead me to believe he had not, in fact, seen any of my evidence.
He said some things that are contradicted by the evidence I provided.
The only evidence he referenced, at all, was that provided in the original application (by the other side).
I don't know if the judge ever got my defence, or if he did, if it was complete, or whether he read it.
I just learned (on CAG) about a thing called an Allocation questionnaire? I never got one of those.
I I don't know what "track" this was allocated to.
I didn't get a notice of hearing for the most recent hearing.
I never got a copy of the orders made at the first hearing.
It goes on...
I'm a litigant in person.
I have nothing left and am single parenting a disabled child on benefits while trying to find work (and fighting the council to get my child into school).
I'm looking after my mum with Alzheimer's.
I desperately need help.
I tried to get the other side to mediate but they ignored me.
At the end of the day, I can let the main matter go (that would be morally wrong, but I can live without it).
The problem is the costs.
I can't pay any costs, that will bankrupt me.
I need to appeal.
I have lost a week trying to get help from the CAB but I don't know where to start. I want to try to get pro bono help but I need to be referred to that?
Anyone who has any advice on this, or knows where we can get real help...