Counterclaim for defamation.

[Mountain]

Hi,

 

I have an ongoing county court case against someone that sold me a faulty vehicle. He has now put in a counterclaim for defamation- I suspect this is yet another delaying tactic.

 

Today on a UK 'legal' website I read this.

 

Cases involving defamation claims must begin in the High Court

 

Does this mean the counterclaim will have to be transferred to the high court or cannot be heard in the county court?

 

One more specific question.

 

The alleged defamation is because of a couple of strongly worded emails before things got to the court stage(these happened both ways!)

None were made public in any way, apart from perhaps being in the court file.

 

As I understand things if he is claiming defamation he must prove I have damaged his reputation.

As nothing has been said in public I cannot have defamed him can I?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[DonkeyB]

I believe you are correct. A third party has to be involved for this to occur. If he has shown the email to others, that is his problem. He would have to show you made the comments available to a third party – the court does not count.

[Mountain]

Good, I thought so.

 

Now another question.

The guy also tried to sell a crashed, written off then repaired and re-registered vehicle to someone else. The guy did not tell the 'almost buyer' of this who only found out after an RAC check.

 

The 'almost buyer' has sent me the RAC report and some email correspondence.

 

Can I submit this as evidence to 'prove' the guy has a history of misleading others?

[DonkeyB]

His counter claim will go nowhere, but your case centres, I believe, on whether it’s a case of caveat emptor. Was it sold as seen? Did he try to pass the vehicles off as something they are not?

[Mountain]

I thought 'sold as seen' was a no go?

 

He sold the vehicle saying he'd 'never had a problem' with it. Then I found out he'd been posting on a Mazda forum under his email address about mechanical problems with the vehicle. Also stated fully serviced a few days before I bought it.

 

My argument is that it was not fit for purpose, i.e suffered £1000 worth of engine damage within a few days of purchase and is still off the road.

 

He did try to mislead the other guy.

 

To be honest, I am not that concerned about 'not winning' anymore. I've had enought stress and the constant 'pay me £500 for stress/ defamation/ you will lose/ I have barristers in the family/ this will cost you more every time I go to court/ I will use the bailiffs etc". ad infinitum are causing my family untold misery.

 

My main concern is does his counterclaim stand a chance & could I lose money.

 

Taking into account he had 3 defences thrown out, I strongly suspect the judge may throw the counterclaim out too. I hope so

[DonkeyB]

This one rings a bell now!

 

If he didn’t try and say it was sold as seen, then it’s irrelevant. If it was a trade sale, then it must be fit for purpose.

 

His threats are idle. I have criminals, army and policemen in my family – which ones shall I send round?

 

I think you’d cause him more grief by going to trading standards!

[Mountain]

LOL I'm a 17 stone martial artist who regularly trains with CID, bouncers and ex-special forces. He doesn't intimidate me! However, I work for the NHS and rely on a clean CRB check. My wife is taking the brunt of this and we're having a hard time financially at the minute.

 

 

Tricky one there. He sold it on ebay, told me he was a trader & importer, gave me a receipt on company headed paper, however he's saying he's a private seller.

 

I did think about trading standards, what would they do?

 

Also, he's using multiple ebay accounts, selling on Gumtree, local newspapers.......I would hazard a guess that he's not declaring all these vehicles.

[Mountain]

Here's the full tale....the thread got a bit exhausted so I thought I'd post another one being a bit more specific on the issues I'm concerned about!

http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?263901-Will-I-have-to-pay-for-defendant-s-set-aside&p=3139632&highlight=#post3139632

[DonkeyB]

He gave you a receipt as a trader. Trader = governed by Trading Standards. They will love this.

 

PS I'm 15 stone, but there are no pies left...

[Mountain]

OK then, I will file a complaint to his local trading standards.

 

PS I'm 15 stone, but there are no pies left...

Looks like I ate them for you:-)

[Mountain]

Yet another email this evening:roll:

pay the counter claim of £570 in full or

make an offer of payment in installments or

make a counter offer of how much you want to pay being reasonable or

continue this case to be heard in court. if you continue on this route, there will be additional costs from solicitors and bailiffs.

 

i hope you will give this your urgent attention. i await your finale reply with in 48 hours.

[DonkeyB]

I think the correct answer begins in “F” and ends in “F”!

 

See you in court, buster! To say there WILL be costs from bailiffs is a clear threat – more for trading standards... intimidation... oh dear – me thinks he needs a judgment first.

[Mountain]

And from the previous 2 days!

i have four solictor and a barrister in my immediate family and they are itching to take this case on, but if i allow them to do that, you will end up paying more in solictor fees.

i really hope this will not go to court, because you will end up paying far more then this counter claim

please only write back if you intent to settle this case, if not there is no more to discuss.

the only way this court case will come to an end is if you pay the amount im claiming £570. if you dont then i will claim additional cost every time i attand coury

Hi i forgot to tell you i have to rply to the court they are asking iy i want to usr there mediation services. you decide how far you want to take this. i will give you 48hrs to decide before i reply to them that i will persue this case throught the court

if you do decide to admitt to the counter claim you can pay vie Paypal.

 

Can I take any kind of action regarding these 'attempts' to intimidate me?

.

[DonkeyB]

“the only way this court case will come to an end is if you pay the amount im claiming £570. if you dont then i will claim additional cost every time i attand coury”

 

Er, no... a judge will decide that, not you, you numpty.

 

Take the whole lot to TS for now, and include everything in a witness statement for the case. His tone is verging on intimidation...

 

What’s the status of the court case? Sounds like it’s at AQ stage if he’s mentioning mediation.

[Mountain]

I have been given the form to file a response to his counterclaim.

I have also been given a form the form to request mediation.

His counter has not been accepted by the court yet.

 

I am at the moment going through his defense and counterclaim sentence by sentence and responding accordingly.

 

He is also claiming it is my fault a default judgment was ordered against him as he went overseas and I didn't inform the court of this! He claims he was inconvenienced as he had to return home:!: The guy is delusional.

 

PS, he is in Birmingham(as is the court) and I'm in Yorkshire. I presume I'll have to contact B'ham T&S.

[Mountain]

LOL and there's more he states

I do not believe there is any garage invoices

They are in the court file. He then carries taliking about the invoices that apparently didn't exist a sentence earlier:!:

The garage invoices can not be used as evidence as the garage may have a vestid interest and hiped up the price

 

You have to love his command of the English language though, those barrister relatives are doing a good job eh:wink:

[DonkeyB]

Contact your own TS – it’s up to them to take the complaint to Birmingham.

 

If his family of lawyers were educated at the same place as him, you have nowt to worry about.

 

Has he provided any evidence of defamation? If not, that is your simple defence – just google 'what is defamation' and you're home.

 

First, it has to be shown to have had an effect on his reputation and standing. That means involving a third party.

 

Secondly, if your claims are justified and provable, that is a full defence. But this is a difficult defence.

 

If he is suggesting your claim form gave rise to defamation, then that is privileged, being a court document.

 

You could claim fair comment, as you have evidence to back your claim.

 

And he must identify to whom he has been defamed – they, too, may know he is a rogue, so he could not be defamed.

[Mountain]

I cannot have defamed him to anyone, nothing has been said to any third party...unless he says the confidential paypal complaints form is a third party.

 

He has no evidence other than a couple of personal emails. I did state 'you have picked the wrong person to con' or something like that, but hey, he calls me a liar by email every few days!

[DonkeyB]

What does he claim the defamation is, and who is the third party? It must be in his claim, otherwise there is simply no case to answer. Sounds like you’re up against a threat monkey. He should get a job working for a DCA.

[Mountain]

He states I have accused him of being a liar & a con man. There simply is no third party.

 

I have contacted other ebayers that have had a problem with this man!

I have just had a response from another stating that he bought a car off this man and the cam belt snapped when he got home.

He is going to write a statement for me to include in my evidence.

That is 3 statements now plus an RAC report.

Surely the judge will see that this guy is a complete 'con man'?

[DonkeyB]

You won’t even need those statements. No third party, no case.

[DonkeyB]

Would love to read his statement...

Edited September 27, 2010 by DonkeyB

[Mountain]

I will see if I have time to scan it at work tomorrow and PM it to you if you like.

Mind you CAG is blacklisted at work so I'll have to send it when I get home.

You might get a few laughs out of it!

[loanbuster]

Sounds like this a match made in heaven for this bloke and Alice

[Mountain]

I got another email today- Another buyer bought a car from him, got it home and next time he started it the timing chain snapped. he got the response, 'tough luck, your problem mate'!

 

I have lodged a complaint with trading standards.

 

Another pay up or you will lose lots of money.

Should I inform the police about these emails?