Hello everyone, I have recently issued a small claim against a company, but do not want to go through with it any further. The defendant did issue a defence and requested for Mediation, but subsequently changed their mind. I was wondering if I can still issue a Notice of discontinuance (N279) form before the case being allocated to a track? If yes, which court do I write down? Should I send this via post to the Money Claims centre in Manchester or via email? I have been utilising the new beta Money Claims service, which does not provide information on the matter. I was wondering if anyone could assist me? I'm new to this and this is my first small claims case.

uncle buck/moriaty law (the claimants) served me with an N279 notice of discontinuance in February which i thought was the end but today uncle buck have gave me the usual threats about what will happen if i dont pay... yep you guessed it!! court action.. i am wondering why they discontinued in the first place. best regards

Hi, Can anyone help please? To cut a long story short, I have a letter of Notice of discontinuance (N279) from back in 2015 from Restons. It states The claimant discontinues all of this claim, however over the last few weeks I have started receiving requests for payment for this alleged debt from Cabot. (I know Restons are Cabots solicitors) Do I continue to ignore these letters or send them a copy of the discontinuance and request they stop harassing me? Thanks

Two years ago I raised a claim against my ex husband for gambling debts that he owed me. My solicitor told me to discontinue this claim and to deal with this through the marital route. Unfortunately the marital solicitor has not worked for me and I am left still trying to recoup the money. Does anyone know whether I can reissue my original claim with the mcol? Thank you

Hi all, I received a claim form from MIL Collections relating to a private land parking notice I was issued a few years back. I submitted my defence and had been assigned a hearing date for end of May. I needed to prepare my witness statements for this week to be delivered to the claimant and the court. However today I received a N279 Notice of Discontinuance from the claimant. Now I understand that this means that the claim is over (and I essentially won). But I also have read that I can claim my costs - however this is where I become a little unclear. I have read the Civil Procedure Rules and can see rule 38.6 which relates to this: Rule 38.6 (1) states “Unless the court orders otherwise, a claimant who discontinues is liable for the costs which a defendant against whom the claimant discontinues incurred on or before the date on which notice of discontinuance was served on the defendant” Rule 38.6(4) adds that the rule above does not apply to claims allocated to the small claims track. So from my understanding, because my claim had been assigned a track and had been given a hearing date, I cannot claim any costs? Any help clearing up my next steps would be great. Thanks!

Dear All, I have a scenario here I would like to get your views on. Suppose in a county court X makes a claim against Y and in turn Y makes a counterclaim against X under Reference Z (I am assuming counter claims are under the same reference number) X now wishes to discontinue the claim against Y My question is simply, will the entire claim then discontinued under Reference Z including the counter claim If Z wishes to pursue the counter claim, will he need to file a new claim in the county court? X will be liable for Y costs - would there need to be a small claim made by Z to recover the costs? Many thanks

Hi all, I was hoping some of you could possibly help me please. I received a CCJ claim form from a very old debt (2004) that I am 99.99999% sure is SB. The purchaser of this debt has been writing on and off now for almost 6 years. I have never called or written to them in all that time. They purchased this debt coming up to maybe 6 years ago now and the account was well into default by that time, with no payments being made for well over a year. So by my reckoning there has been no payment or acknowledgement of the debt for almost 7 years. I have done the acknowledge claim thing online and have ticked the box to instruct that I intend to defend the claim in full. By my maths and limited knowledge I have issue date + 5 days (serviced), then by acknowledging the claim I now have 14 days to get my defence in: does that seem correct? I intend to defend on the basis that the debt is statute barred (no payment or acknowledgement within 6 years), is that the right course of action? Also I doubt very much that they have the CCA from 2004 either. Now should I defend on the SB basis alone or throw in the CCA issue to? Now if they continue with the claim to court, will I have to attend the hearing? Also will the claimant have to prove to the court that they have verifiable evidence of either payment or acknowledgement? Can I demand that they provide this proof? I ask this because I have read that these people sometimes make so called 'phantom' payments to try and get away with making claims on SB debts. Sorry for all the questions and ramblings, I just hope one of you kind people can help me. Kind regards Me x

Hi, A little advice pls.. brief outline of my case, received notification from mortimer clarke solicitors concerning an alleged debt from a pre 2006 loan with northern rock.. . fired off a CCA request and didnt receive a reply until court proceedings arrived some 4 weeks later.. . sent failure to respond to CCA letter and filed defence stating that account was in dispute. .. have just received apology from mortimer clarke and a notice of discontinuation.. my question is will any future court claim be unlikely or will it make no difference to any further claim ?

Hi there My wife decided to file a claim against someone who we rented a holiday home from. Small claim (under £2,000) submitted through the Money Claim online website. She is now questioning her decision given the hassle involved of pursuing the claim (it is not clear cut as relies on sale of goods act etc) and is considering discontinuing the claim. The claim was submitted just this morning. I see there as being two options: 1. discontinue the claim A couple of questions on discontinuance if I may: - am I right that Part 38 (38.6) of the CPR applies to this claim and so, in principle, my wife would be liable for costs incurred until the notice of discontinuance is served on the defendants? - am I right that if to be discontinued she should be using form N279 to discontinue and that she complete that and send it to the court and at the same time send it to the defendants? - if 38.6 does apply is there a practical way to avoid the defendant incurring claimable costs asap? E.g. should she email them to say I've submitted a claim but am discontinuing? - how can she get the missing information for the discontinuance notice at this point so she can send it off asap e.g. A. "In the....", B. presumably no Judge is relevant in the "granted permission" section? C. ""The court office at...."? 2. let the claim run If she lets the small claim run, does she risk incurring the liability to pay the defendant's costs? She was operating on the basis that for small claims you never pay the defendant's costs, but that does not sound logical to me. I suspect she will prefer the discontinuance route. Any guidance much appreciated. Many thanks

Hi, I recall that a creditor can pursue a borrower for sums allegedly due under an agreement that has been lost/destroyed, as a judge decided that was acceptable. My question is, if an agreement has not been lost/destroyed but has been clearly and concisely shown to be an unenforceable document. And a claim has been issued, defended and then discontinued, can the claimant (legally or lawfully) continue to demand payment? If so, then I shall file said demands in the appropriate place, if not then would these demands constitute harassment? Thanks for your responses, Bill.