Defendant now want judgement set aside

[benny1970]

Hello all,

 

I applied to court for compensation for a matter. My claim went through. However the defendant did not acknowledge claim although they wrote to me knowing about this through their solicitor. Anyway after the deadlin I went to court for a judgement which the court accepted. After this, the solicitor wrote to the court asking for the claim to be set aside. In their argument they said they faxed on both occasions and they have proof of this. The court said no fax came through. How likely are they going to win on this argument and I though they should of post the documents through the post. They have asked for a hearing. Any advice or tips?

 

Thanks

[reallymadwoman]

In my experience an application to set aside a default judgement is almost always granted if the defendant can convince the judge they had any chance of being able to defend the claim.

[benny1970]

Well they would still try if they are going to lose. Are most court claims like a psychological warfare?????

[reallymadwoman]

Got it in one. The other side, especially if legally represented, will do everything possible to psyche you out.

 

If there is any evidence that they did send the faxes, then it's probably not worth contesting the set aside. If you do and you get a nasty judge then it's possible you would get the costs of the hearing awarded against you (though very unlikely). On the other hand, I like to contest absolutely everything on principle so I didn't take my own advice! The set aside was granted, but they didn't get any costs (though they'd sent me their schedule in advance - another tactic designed to intimidate). However it did just put the claim back to square one and they lost that resoundingly.

[benny1970]

Oh yes they are doing everything possible to make me stressed. Although a small claim they said to me that they will be asking the judge for me to pay their costs. They also said they will be bringing five witnesses for the hearing. Only met one. They dont want an expert witness. I do. Asked that the hearing can be taken to the highest level possible as will last several days! All for a little thing!

[benny1970]

The defendant have now replied with their defence not admitting the offence. When I read the defence they come across as confusing and complicated....waffling!!!! Is this is a scare tactic? Also they worte to me today saying they are going to make an order that I pay their costs when I lose. They said it will be thousands as they are calling five witnesses and will last two days. My claim is well below £5000 and I have taken several advice from different orgnisations and told what they did was unlawful and have a right to make a claim.

 

Can anybody help me

 

1. will i be order to pay costs?

 

2. what is the likelyhood of this going to court?

 

3. five witnesses i think it abit over the top! never met any of them. I am supplying my one witness by statement.

 

4. what methods will they use to scare me?

 

thanks

[PriorityOne]

You need to be a bit clearer with the background of this case before anyone can help you....

[maroondevo52]

Hi, benny1970.

 

I have merged your threads, I take it they are about the same thing ?

 

I've also moved them to the Legal Issues Forum.

 

Regards.

 

Scott.

[reallymadwoman]

As PriorityOne has said, it's difficult to give specific advice without knowing more of the background, however if the claim is for less than £5000 then it will most likely be allocated to the small claims track and it is extremely unlikely that costs will be awarded.

Without a crystal ball it is impossible to say if it's likely to end up at a hearing, nor what methods they might use to scare you. The costs thing is definitely one of them. Even if the claim was allocated to fast track for some reason, they couldn't claim whatever costs they like - it has to be proportional to the amount of the claim, ditto witnesses - the court is unlikely to allow hordes of witnesses for a relatively straightforward matter.

[littlebert8]

You mention 'compensation' in the OP. Is this a personal injury claim? If so, I think the small claim limit is £1K as opposed to £5K in money claims.