Summary Judgment Hearing - can I delay it?

[Blossomandebony]

Hi

 

I am being pursued for a credit card debt. I put in a holding defence based on lack of agreement and charges added to the debt. The creditor did not follow through with the action and the case was stayed.

 

Six months down the line the creditor has now applied for a lifting of the stay and summary judgment. A hearing has been arranged for December.

 

As part of my original defence, I asked for the creditor to supply statements of account, documents like the default notice and copy of agreement. They have not complied so it is difficult to comply a proper defence.

 

Can I apply for an order from the court which will force the creditor to supply the statements etc so I can then make a proper defence? And do I need to include in my application a request that the Summary Judgment hearing be delayed until the documents are supplied?

 

Thanks

 

BAE

[citizenB]

Have you got a thread on the original claim, Blossom ?

 

I will try and find some help for you as well

[citizenB]

Also, have they provided a Witness statement with their Application for SJ ? If so, can you let us know what they are saying. You can submit your own Witness statement in response so long as you get it to the court and the claimant, I think it is 7 days prior to the hearing.

[mjt2013]

You may want to think about this from a tactical perspective. If you delay the hearing and they then produce the documents their application will be far stronger than an earlier hearing with no documents.

[citizenB]

We really need more information from you. If you have a thread in connection with this, could you please point us in that direction so we can review how you have got to this point.

 

It is unlikely you would be able to "delay" a SJ hearing.

 

IMHO, you should submit a Witness statement in objection to the SJ and in support of your defence. The point you need to get over is that there are triable issues (if there are indeed triable issues) and that the claimant should not obtain a Summary Judgment.

[Blossomandebony]

Thanks Citizen B and MJT

 

I will take both your advice and not bother trying to delay proceedings.

 

Instead I will compile a witness statement. I will try my best to convince the judge that it should be heard at a full hearing.

 

Another turn of events is that I haven't actually heard from the court about the hearing - I only know the date is December because the claimant has informed me when they sent me a copy of their application. On their application it asks that the SJ is made 'without a hearing', I wonder why? I will have to phone the court to see if it requires my attendance or not.

 

Cheers, BAE

[citizenB]

BAE.. what did you submit for your defence ?

 

I think it is very important that you submit a witness statement to show that their are triable issues.

[andydd]

I agree with the above, why give them more time. By applying for a SJ they are saying that you have no possible defence and that we want this over with quickly, remember a SJ hearing is not like a full normal hearing, its is a quick and slightly rushed hearing where they are saying you have absolutely no possible defence, all you have to show is that you have, even if its weak or not very strong, the case should then progress to a full hearing (which you may win or lose but thats not the point).

 

Denying someone of a trial is very dangerous so herefore the SJ must show that there are no 'triable issues' as mentioned by Citizen B

 

You can also claim costs in a SJ (but so can the other side) as it should be in the pre-allocation period.

 

Someone has to have a very strong case to apply for a SJ. Ive done one against my landlord, I showed that his case was a duplicate of an older one already sruck out hus abuse of process and won and got about £300 costs. And ive put in another one regrading service charges for flat, showing that amounts were either stat bared or not valid as demands didnt come with stat required information. (I dont go into the actually nitty-gritty of he amounts and whether they are too high, etc...Ill save that for if it I dont win SJ or if they do in future reserve the demands with the stat required info.)

[Blossomandebony]

Thanks Andydd and Citizen B,

 

I feel more confident now that the judge will not grant summary judgment, though I know that will depend on the judge I get.

 

Cheers, BAE

[AndyOrch]

There will be an hearing BAE ....you cant have a SJ application without one...the court will inform you.

 

Regards

 

Andy

[Blossomandebony]

Thank you Andyorch.

 

This gives me more confidence as the claimant's legal team obviously do not know that they could not request a judgment without a hearing - so they do not appear very competent . . .

 

I'm hoping that they will pull out of the SJ hearing once they receive my Witness Statement, but we'll see (wishful thinking probably . . . ).

 

BAE

[andydd]

It should be a shortish hearing.

 

Don't forget that you must hand your defence and docs in at least 7 days before hearing and they can then hand further docs in at least 3 days before.

 

Also remember to tell the judge if you think they start to raise other trialable issues, it should be limited to the few issues of law they raised in the original SJ and not wander onto wider arguable issues.

 

If they pull out of SJ (or if SJ fails) don't forget to put in your costs, work done hours x £18. I calculated mine at (perhaps a bit cheekily high) at approx. £900, but judge point out the 3/4 rule (that a LiP cant charge more than three quarters of what a solicitor would of charged), she decided solicitor would charge about £400 and awarded me £300 plus court fees.

[Blossomandebony]

Thank you AndyDD

 

I will get my witness statement in asap so to give them chance to pull out . . . don't think that will happen though!

 

And yes, I will also put in a claim for costs, thanks.

 

BAE

[Blossomandebony]

Update:

 

Hearing has been adjourned until February. Claimant has asked for the extra time to look into my request for a full set of documents relating to the account. I agreed to the adjournment.

 

BAE

[Guest Angel235]

Who is the claimant?

[AndyOrch]

Who is the claimant?

 

 

Don't respond to that BAE makes no odds who the claimant is.

[Guest Angel235]

Lol