Restaurant N1 claim received

[JGWA]

Good afternoon all,

 

I hope somebody here can help me. I've been trying to find a similar situation on-line however have been unsuccessful.

 

If I could give some details initially;

 

A table for 14 at a restaurant was booked for 11th October 2014, on 24th September 2014.

The plans changed closer to the date and another restaurant was subsequently booked.

The first restaurant emailed again to confirm the booking on 10th October 2014 asking for confirmation.

No response or confirmation was made to the restaurant to finalise the booking.

 

I had received no communication form the restaurant since their email on 10th October 2014.

 

I have today received a N1CPC from them.

 

They state that the table was kept for me. As nobody arrived they lost earnings and as a result are looking for £450 which include interest at 8% from 11/10/214 to 13/10/2014. Including the legal fee this comes to £485.

 

It also states they kept the table for us until two hours later and turned people away to keep it.

 

There is a couple of things I hoped someone could clear up.

 

1) I actually reside in Scotland and always have. My understanding is a N1CPC is only for England and Wales. The claimant has put my address as my works address which is in England, however, this was not work related and was a personal appointment.

 

2) No attempt to contact me before the issue of this document was made. Again, my understanding is that they should contact me to discuss initially.

 

3) Where do I stand on this matter and what should I do to resolve it.

 

I created a log in for the moneyclaim.gov.uk website, however I was apprehensive about detailing a response until I'm clear on what the next steps should be.

 

I appreciate any assistance and I plan on going to CAB tomorrow when the office opens to take this further.

 

Many thanks for any help offered.

[rebel11]

Hi JGWA

 

Welcome to CAG

 

The guys will advise as soon as they are available.

 

Thread moved to correct forum.

[JGWA]

Thank you rebel11.

[steampowered]

1) I think the English courts do have jurisdiction here, because the alleged contract was to be performed in England.

 

If you want to go down the road of saying that the case should be heard in Scotland, known as contesting jurisdiction, you would need to file an acknowledgement of service indicating this. You would then have 14 days to follow up with an application seeking an order that the English courts should not exercise jurisdiction. Its quite complicated and involves a fee.

 

2) Yes, you should have been contacted. This would be a reason for trying to claim some costs if this ends up going to a court hearing. However this will not stop the case from proceeding through the court system.

 

3) You can enter a Defence denying the claim. Their claim sounds weak but perhaps not completely hopeless. I can see why the restaurant is a bit peeved given that you booked a giant table and then didn't bother to cancel the reservation.

 

You can fight it by saying in the defence that there was no contract formed; that holding the table for 2hours is excessive; and that in any event they could only ever claim their actual profit and not the base revenue. If you don't want to have to deal with turning up for a short court hearing then you might want to offer them a fraction of what they are claiming to settle the case.

 

Please be mindful of the deadlines (hopefully explained on the form). If you miss the deadline for filing an acknowledgement of service and then a defence, you can automatically end up with a CCJ against you.

[CrappoMan]

This:

The first restaurant emailed again to confirm the booking on 10th October 2014 asking for confirmation.No response or confirmation was made to the restaurant to finalise the booking.

Shows that the restaurant didn't have a confirmed booking for your party, so why did they assume you were coming and hold the table for you ? Surely, it also shows that no contract was entered into.

[JGWA]

Thanks for both of your responses.

 

Steampowered, the reason I mentioned that I didn't think the claim is valid is that the document that is provided to the claimant in order to complete the claim clearly states that the individual must have the N1CPC issued to their residential address and that the address must be in England or Wales. Is this not correct?

 

I completed the defence form, stating that I think the claimant is wrong is his assertion that a table was booked, that the address used is incorrect and that my residential address is in Scotland.

 

i subsequently received another form asking if I give authority for it to go to a small claims court hearing. Should I agree to this? The form states that it would involve a representative from the courts contacting both myself and the claimant to 'resolve the issue'. Should I agree? What if I refuse would it go to court? Would the claimant need to agree for it to go to court? Also, if I wanted the court to be near me in Edinburgh would that be possible, or would I need to travel down to the courts near the claimant.

 

I can't believe how easy it is for someone to do this. No evidence, no signed documents, no letters, just an a vaugue email and now I have to waste my time completely.

[SabreSheep]

Acknowledge the claim first

 

Then defend the WHOLE claim

 

Put claiment to strict proof that a contract was entered into

 

Put claiment to strict proof of losses. (This means Profit) and must be a genuine pre estimate of LOSS (Not revenue)

 

Mention failure to follow Pre Action Protocol and that you will seek a costs hearing

 

Agree to small claims track.

[JGWA]

Thank you SabreSheep. Should I send them a letter asking for the above or wait to say this through the small claims court? Should I complete the form saying I agree to the small claims hearing?

 

Why is it an individual can complete a form on-line with no evidence, no nothing and I need to defend myself within a matter of days or else I get hit with a CCJ. The fact is I get married on Sunday, I could do without this being thrown into the equation and I need to act on this before I go as I will be too late if I don't. What would have happened if I had gone on honeymoon already. I'm shocked its as easy as this.

 

Thank you for all your help.

[JGWA]

My apologies, the form I received is a N180. Does this go to both of us? I read that the claim is usually defended at the defendants local court.

[JGWA]

Would it hurt me to refuse the mediation service?

[SabreSheep]

Accept the mediation service, It shows you are being reasonable. There is no obligation to settle inside mediation.

 

N180 Directions questionnaire - gets sent to both of you.

 

After acknowledging the claim, you must serve your defense to the court AND the defendent. I reccomend doing both by some form of recorded delivery and keeping a hard copy with proof of postage and signature on delivery attached.

 

I do wonder what sort of press this place would get if potential customers knew what was happening

[JGWA]

Thank you SabreSheep. It does make you wonder about this place. I've never heard anything like this before, have you?

 

I suppose I don't like the way one of the questions is worded. 'Do you agree that the small claims track is the appropriate track for this case?'. By saying yes I feel like I'm agreeing that there is a case for a claim here. But I guess I say yes to that.

 

If I put down Edinburgh as the county court hearing centre, would that say no due to it being in Scotland? Is this claim even valid as it wasn't issued to my residential address which is in Scotland.

 

How do I serve my defence SabreSheep? Should I just write a letter? What should I include in it to be the most effective.

 

Sorry for all the questions, but I really do appreciate your help.

[steampowered]

Is this claim even valid as it wasn't issued to my residential address which is in Scotland.?

The claim is still valid. You could attempt to contest service of the claim form on the basis that the wrong address. But this would require a separate application (for which there is a fee) and wouldn't achieve anything more than the claim form being re-served to the correct address.

 

The basic legal position is that, if you live in Scotland, you can be sued in England under certain circumstances. One of those circumstances is if England is when you are being sued under a contract where England is the place of performance. Here the place of performance is the location of the restaurant, which is in England.

 

I suppose I don't like the way one of the questions is worded. 'Do you agree that the small claims track is the appropriate track for this case?'. By saying yes I feel like I'm agreeing that there is a case for a claim here. But I guess I say yes to that. ?

This is asking about what track this would go to within the court system, not about whether this will go through the English court system as a whole (you are deemed to have agreed to that when you filed your acknowledgement of service).

 

The alternatives are fast track (cases worth 10k-25k) and multi track (cases worth over 25k). Larger cases are treated slightly differently. This case is small claims track since it is worth less than 10k.

 

Also, if I wanted the court to be near me in Edinburgh would that be possible, or would I need to travel down to the courts near the claimant.

I'm afraid Scotland and England have separate court systems and different law. You won't be able to have this heard in Scotland. You could however request an English county court which is a bit nearer to the border.

 

You'll have to travel down I'm afraid. However, if successful, you can ask the judge to award you expenses reasonably incurred in travelling to and from a hearing or in staying away from home for the purposes of attending a hearing, as well as loss of earnings up to £90 - so keep all receipts. You can certainly make the restaurant aware of this.

 

How do I serve my defence SabreSheep? Should I just write a letter? What should I include in it to be the most effective.

It sounds like you have already served your Defence. Your Defence is whatever you wrote in the relevant box.

[andydd]

It does sound as if there was no contract between the parties that allows for the restaruant to claim losses in this way, as pointed out the 10th October correspondence would appear to back this up, they asked you to confirm, you didnt, therefore one could rightly assume that the booking be cancelled.

 

Agreeing to the small track ios just that, it is no admission that they have a case, alas anyone can make a claim for anything, however unwarranted it may be anmd the defendant must reply if he wants to avoid default judgement *

 

Yes agree to mediation,. you could for example inmvite them to withdraw their claim without costs or perhaps to offer a small sum ?

 

* The is a clear process to Strike Out claims that have no merit, the Summary Judgement process allows a court to strike out a claim at a very early stage, they can do this if it is very clear that the claimant has no prospect of success, his claim is without merit and 'there are no triable issues', you can start this process BUT there are risks, as this is done pre-allocation, it wont be on small track and either side can claim full costs, you could for example claim costs at £18ph LiP rate and other expenses etc but so could the other side (which may be £200 ph solicitor costs).

 

This should only be uised if you are very confident in its success, but it can be a useful tool, I have used it myself and have had claims struck out and got costs in the region of 3300-£400.