appeal and potential harassment claim

[Paradiselost73]

By way of an update and any help would be gratefully received (it's not easy) I am currently making an appeal.

It is out of time, just, but I am asking that they allow an extension on exemplary grounds (bereavement and anxiety) I have got evidence of both which I am including with the Appellant's appeal notice. 

 

I have filed out the appeal form (N161) but there isn't enough room in the form so I have included the following to attach to it?

I hope that is right?!

I am also confused about what I do about the evidence and the bundle (198 + pages of documents and evidence)  that I supplied to the civil court whose decision I am appealing,?  

 

To clarify I know that I have to do a skeleton argument, but I think that I have another 14 days after I have submitted the Appellant's notice to do that and I need to do a little more research before I do that. 

Sorry it's a little long...... But here is my grounds for appeal document to attach to the N161 notice. It is set-out in the same format as my witness statement in a compliant format and a statement of truth at the end. 

 

Your thoughts and advice would be welcome....

I XXXXX XXXXX of XXXXX XXXXXXX XXXXXXXX am the Appellant in these proceedings.
I make this statement in support of my appeal against the orders made by Deputy District Judge XXXXXXX on the XXXX XXXXX 2019. I make this statement from facts and information to my own knowledge which I believe to be true. 

1. Deputy District Judge XXXXXX failed to apply the CPR guidelines correctly and made momentous errors in his deliberation. He failed to demonstrate any understanding of the sensitive issues involved or the trauma that the Appellant had to endure because of the actions of the Respondent. His judgment was procedurally inaccurate, failed to apply the CPR rules effectively, or adhere to them at all and lacked logic.


2. The Respondent failed to verify his witness statement with a statement of truth. It was non-compliant and inconsistent throughout. It contained defamatory and vexatious statements which the Respondent failed to substantiate. Pursuant to CPR 32.8 A witness statement must comply with the requirements set out in Practice Direction 32. Part 22.1(c) of the CPR Requires a witness statement to be verified by a statement of truth.
The Respondents failure to verify his witness statement, his non-compliance and deceitful, defamatory statements were highlighted in the Appellants witness statement. They were also brought to the attention of Deputy District Judge XXXXX during the final hearing on the 30^th January 2019. CPR part 22.1(4)(b) states that if an applicant wishes to rely on matters set out in his application notice as evidence, the application notice/witness statement must be verified by a statement of truth.

3. In a recent High Court dispute involving Capita Pension Trustees and another v Sedgwick Financial Services and others, Master Shuman states: -

unless it is a matter of extreme urgency, I would expect such applications to be made by application notice and supported by evidence. When I say evidence, I am referring to a witness statement signed with a statement of truth, not a raft of correspondence sent in piecemeal fashion to the court


4. The actions, or lack thereof, by the Respondent have been exactly as described by Master Shuman above. None of the information submitted by the Respondent was supported by any credible evidence whatsoever. The Appellant outlined the repeated failures of the Respondent to comply with the CPR guidelines, and his uncooperative behaviour throughout the process. A request for an unless order was made to the court for the Respondent to disclose information to demonstrate that he was dishonest, but this was refused by the court? However, despite the Respondents continual contempt for the Court and for the Appellant, he was allowed to make a mockery of both and in doing so, the overriding objective was not met.
In concurrence with the statement by Master Shuman above, none of the material that the Respondent presented to the court in a piecemeal fashion was supported by evidence. Why was this evidence allowed? This is a reprehensible failure of procedure. The Appellant adhered to the CPR guidelines at every stage, despite being a litigant in person. Why was the Respondent not held to the same rules?


5. A parallel can be drawn from the case law example involving Su Ling v Goldman Sach International (2015) EWHC 759 (comm) which specified that The absence of a proper explanation for delay, will often, without more, lead to the application to amend being refused. In compliance with this analogy and in acquiescence with the criticisms levied at Dentons by Master Shuman [above] why were repeated applications by the Respondent allowed? Especially, as highlighted by the Appellant repeatedly, he had little prospect of successfully defending the claim [which is why he used dishonest means and committed perjury to yield greater prospects of success]
The documents that the Respondent produced were wholly unpersuasive and lacked credibility. There is nothing to indicate that the Respondent had Reasonable prospects of success or that by allowing him further time or applications would make any difference whatsoever to the outcome. So why were these errors and the unjust judgement permitted. The Respondent has a duty to assist the court to meet the overriding objective which was not only not met, it was completely contravened.


6. Part (b) of CPR guideline 21.4 specifies in the case of a witness statement, the maker believes that the facts stated in the document are true. Therefore, how has Deputy District Judge Fraser come to the [incorrect] conclusion that the information contained within the Respondents witness statement were honest? This fails to meet the 'Overriding Objective' and denies the Appellants right to a 'fair and equal' trial. The witness statement should have been struck-out in accordance with CPR guideline 22.3.


7. Did the Respondent fail to verify the witness statement because he was mindful that the statements contained within were false and in doing so, he would be committing contempt/perjury?
This appears to be a logical inference to draw, the CPR guidelines are clear on the submission of witness statements and the consequences of failing to comply or verify. What is the purpose of the guidelines if they are not adhered to?
Again the Appellant ponders how Deputy District Judge XXXXXXXX could make the assumption that any of the statements in an unverified document with a lack of evidence to support any of the claims the Respondent was making could be honest? The reality is that the witness statement was a non-compliant document crammed full of contemptable, dishonest claims, including an outrageous one to attempt to justify the Respondents abhorrent behaviour and his threat of sexual assault of the Appellant.

8. As a litigant in person, the process is difficult and stressful. However, the Appellant was compliant throughout the entire process. All evidence was compiled and presented to the court in the proper format and all deadlines were adhered to. The Respondents behaviour has been unreasonable at every stage. He consistently and deliberately chose not to reply to correspondence. The particulars of claim form [N1] was issued on the 2st March 2018, the first contact that the Respondent made with the court was 11^th June 2018. He refused mediation, failed to respond to the Claimants without prejudice reasonable offer to settle the claim and he made the entire process considerably as difficult as he possibly could. He also committed perjury which was allowed by the court. This is a despicable failure of the justice system.

9. Despite the unreasonable behaviour of the Respondent, Deputy District Judge XXXXX refused to allow costs presented to him by the Appellants solicitor. The costs summary was £XXXX which included the cost of the solicitor to represent the Appellant at the hearing, legal expenses for advice sought from a solicitor and travel expenses to/from the court. District Judge XXXXX stated that costs are not granted on the small claims track. However, pursuant to CPR 27.14(2) The court may not order a party to pay a sum to another party in respect of the other partys costs, fees and expenses, including those relating to an appeal, except 
(d) expenses which a party or witness has reasonably incurred in travelling to and from a hearing or in staying away from home for the purposes of attending a hearing

(g) Such further costs as the court may assess by the summary procedure and order to be paid by a party who has behaved unreasonably

And part (3) of the guidelines set out under part 27.14 states that; A partys rejection of an offer in settlement will not of itself constitute unreasonable behaviour, under paragraph (2)(g) but the court may take it into consideration when applying the unreasonableness test. 

10. It is fundamental to consider that a duty is imposed on involuntary Bailees in that they should do what is right and reasonable in all the circumstances [Elvin & Powell Ltd v Plummer Roddis Ltd, 1933] 
The Respondent did not behave in a manner which is right and reasonable at any stage, either prior to the Appellant being forced to flee the property, thereafter, or throughout the court process. 


11. The Appellant requests that the Judgement of £70.00 obtained against her for the Respondent is removed/set-aside. This is indicative of the lack of application of the CPR guidelines by Deputy District Judge XXXXXX and lack of recognition of what the Appellant had endured as a result of the Respondents unreasonable behaviour and actions. This Judgement was a result of the Respondents spurious counter-claim which was solely for the purpose of mitigating his loses against the claim and should have been struck out along with all of the other non-verified and non-compliant documentation. 
The Respondent stated that this was the cost of having two locks changed at the property [front and rear] This was unnecessary and the Appellant should not be penalised for it. The Appellant did not have the key to the rear of the property, the Respondent was aware of this. When the Appellant fled the property, she did so quickly and went to a womens refuge which was some 35+ miles away. The Respondent was aware that the Appellant did not have access to a vehicle. The Appellant telephoned the Police and fled from the property in fear following despicable, abusive threats from the Respondent. She was frightened and feared for her safety as any reasonable person threatened with sexual assault would be. Why would she return and place herself in immense danger? Medical evidence submitted with this Appellants notice also demonstrates that the Appellant visited her GP as she was suffering very severe, acute back pain causing mobility issues. The Respondent was aware of this as the Appellant had informed him via message that she was unable to collect her belongings at that time due to a reoccurrence of her ongoing back injury.

12. When the Appellants solicitor requested that costs be paid as a result of the unreasonable behaviour of the Respondent, Deputy District Judge XXXXX stated that The Claimant [Appellant] could have represented herself. Whilst this may be partially correct. It demonstrates little understanding or recognition of how demanding and challenging the case was and how anxious the Appellant was in light of the behaviour of the Respondent.
Additionally, the Appellant suffered a bereavement a just a few weeks prior to the hearing which was extremely distressing. The Appellants maternal Grandmother [brought-up the Appellant in the absence of her own mother] passed away. This was colossally distressing and caused the Appellant to lose focus. The [incorrect] assumption by Deputy District Judge Fraser that the Claimant could have represented herself shows no recognition of the fears and issues the Appellant was tackling or that she was alongside a Defendant that had been offensive, abusive, threatened her with sexual assault and caused her to flee her home.


13. The Appellant is aware of the deadline for submitting an appeal is 21 days from the date of the judgement. The Appellant respectfully requests that an extension to this time is allowed due to extenuating circumstances? The court process and final hearing were tremendously difficult and caused significant anxiety for the Appellant. The Appellant had to focus on dealing with the grief of losing a dearly, much loved family member and the funeral which was on the XXXXX February 2019 [Evidence attached] and afterwards to attempt to recover from the adversity that she faced before re-focusing on a very arduous and emotive appeal and harassment claim.

I hope that the court will recognise that this has been a very anxious period for the Appellant, allow the extension and this genuine appeal to move forward to enable the Appellant to challenge these incorrect and unjust judgements and decisions.


Statement of Truth


I believe that the facts stated in this grounds of appeal statement are true.

Dated this day: 25^th February 2019

To the court and
to the Respondent

...............................................  XXXXX XXXXXX  Appellant

 

 

Sorry to confuse and add to the issues..... But with regards to enforcement, if the third party debt order is not done by next week, I am going to make an order that he attend court to prove his expenditure.

I know that he has downgraded his wage and inflated his outgoings so I I'll require that he produces all bills and statements, mortgage statement, child support payment confirmation etc... 

I will also provide evidence of the vehicles and technology he has sold in the last 12 months which are to the value of almost £40,000 and ask him to explain why he is refusing to pay me £520?! 

 

The question is, would I be notified and allowed to attend or will I just put the questions to the court and hope that they ask them?? Because to be honest I have lost ALL faith in the court to do anything effectively. 

[Peterbard]

I see, then I will wish you the best of luck.

 

 

[Paradiselost73]

Anyone help please?

[honeybee13]

Hi.

I know I've said this before, but you need to bear with us please. You've posted on something fairly specific that not everyone knows about and this is the weekend so they may be living their own lives. We're all volunteers here, people get here when they can.

HB

[dx100uk]

thread tidied

unnecessary reply with quotes removed of previous posts

duplicate posts asking same questions removed.

 

dx

 

[Paradiselost73]

Thank you @honeybee13 but I have deadlines that are making me very anxious. 

@dx100uk  thank you. I wanted an objective opinion and advice on my appeal and the statement above, not an English lesson! 

[honeybee13]

What are the deadlines?

HB

[Paradiselost73]

I've already passed the 21day deadline for appeal so I have to request an extension due to extenuating circumstances. I think if I am a few days past the deadline they may allow it, any longer and I am pushing it

[dx100uk]

it was done to tidy your thread and make things more succinct and focussed for your readers , it was over 3 pages long and was losing the urgency of you getting the answers you need.

English had nowt to do with it.

unnecessary quote in post 31 removed.

[Paradiselost73]

I’m sorry for being snappy. It didn’t mean to come across like that. 

Ive been thinking to narrow the ‘issues’ a little, it may be worth me setting out 2 or 3 separate documents. One with ‘grounds for appeal, the second Application for stay of execution and the third with Application for extension of time. 

 

Jist to make the issues a little easier to understand for the judge or whoever reads them? 

What I learned  at Uni (not a law qualification unfortunately!!) has never left me!!! We were taught that when referencing someone, the quote is in italics and always with quotations?!!! 

Thats why I put the quote by Master Shuman in quotations, so that they would realise it was a quote and I wasn’t plagiarising..... but I am prob overthinking there!! 

Thank you for your help. It is much appreciated, this is very tough. 

[Peterbard]

A judgement in the county Court of any value (up-to £5k)may be enforced by court bailiffs.

The £600 pertains to the lowest judjement sum which would permit the creditor to transfer enforcement up to High Court.

I dont believe this has changed recently?

[AndyOrch]

https://thesheriffsoffice.com/articles/high_court_enforcement_officer_or_county_court_bailiff

CCBs are salaried civil servants employed directly by the court service. They can enforce on judgments up to £5,000. They work under the authority of a Warrant of Execution which can be requested from the County Court for a fee of £110.

County Court Bailiffs will collect your judgement debt, your court costs, your warrant cost and interest (if prescribed) from the debtor. If unsuccessful, there is no abortive fee.

• Only County Court Bailiffs can enforce on judgments below £600 (at present)

 

 

[Paradiselost73]

https://www.gov.uk/make-court-claim-for-money/enforce-a-judgment

 

It states on the above website that the amount owed must be over £600 for both. I think I need to ring the court on Monday to check it out, not that they are any help whatsoever! 

[Paradiselost73]

Send bailiffs to collect payment

You can ask the court to send bailiffs to collect the money.

The bailiff will ask for payment within 7 days. If the debt is not paid, the bailiff will visit the debtor’s home or business to see if anything can be sold to pay the debt.

You can apply to either a county court or the High Court if you’re owed between £600 and £5,000.

You may need legal advice if you apply at the High Court.

How you apply to the court depends on how you made your claim.

[Peterbard]

3 hours ago, Paradiselost73 said:

Send bailiffs to collect payment

You can ask the court to send bailiffs to collect the money.

The bailiff will ask for payment within 7 days. If the debt is not paid, the bailiff will visit the debtor’s home or business to see if anything can be sold to pay the debt.

You can apply to either a county court or the High Court if you’re owed between £600 and £5,000.

You may need legal advice if you apply at the High Court.

How you apply to the court depends on how you made your claim.

I think there should be a comma after county court in Para 3. You can of course send a CC bailiff in for any sum up--to £5k. This is relevant because you stated otherwise. The effectiveness of the CC bailiff is another subject. 

[Peterbard]

As for the Appeal.

In my opinion the action is misplaced and would be rejected on first sight. Sorry

[Peterbard]

I was dragged away.

Did you receive permission to appeal?

Are there not separate claims here which could be commenced.

[Paradiselost73]

The post above was cut n pasted from the gov UK website to demonstrate the rules regarding enforcement, but I will check with the court tomorrow.

 

As for other action, I can and am also issuing a new and separate claim for harassment and breach of privacy, possibly illegal eviction.

I just hope that I am allowed legal aid because they are not something I can manage alone. 

https://www.gov.uk/make-court-claim-for-money/enforce-a-judgment

 

It states on the above website that the amount owed must be over £600 for both. I think I need to ring the court on Monday to check it out, not that they are any help whatsoever! 

[AndyOrch]

Well its badly written CCBs can enforce below £600...the £600 refers to HCEO only.

We have numerous threads in the Financial Legal Issues Forum of CCbs enforcing debts below £600.

[Paradiselost73]

That is great thank you. Yes it is extremely misleading. 

I have rejected the offer to pay me £30.00 per month and asked for a Third party debt order. If they are not successful, I will enforce via that method, time for him to face his consequences. 

Although when I instructed county court enforcement previously, when I had default judgment of £1,800 which was the amount of my original claim, they were useless. 

They took so long to act that it gave the Defendant time to request a set aside and even though he hadn't done anything at all at that stage and the warrant was still live, they refused to act on it. So frustrating. I wish that I had instructed High court enforcement immediately and not given him chance to request the set aside. 

[Paradiselost73]

Damn court still haven't acted on my request for the Third party debt order, how long does it take? This is appalling service.

Payment was due on the 27th February so he is already in breach of the order. How many times is he going to be allowed to take the Mickey? It's a joke. Furious.

[Paradiselost73]

Just an update and request for some general/practical information please?

I went to the court to lodge the Appeal documents etc today  (I only filed the Appellant's notice together with Grounds for appeal attached, a request for an extension and a request for a stay of execution) The skeleton argument, evidence and the bundle along with other documents will be filed when necessary. 

I may not be granted permission to appeal, but I have little to lose and at least I will have tried.

While I was at the office I asked for an update on the Third party debt order request and my rejection of the Defendant's installment offer.

I was told that the Defendant is required to attend a hearing on in 10 days to give evidence on his outgoings and affordability etc. I was told that I don't have to attend but can if I want to.

So first of all I wondered what happens at this hearing.... Will he be required to show evidence of his expenses?? I know that he's committed perjury before have no doubt he will again, so he  could literally 'make up' the figures if he isn't asked to prove them? If the Judge doesn't ask for evidence, can I do so?

 

 

 

[Paradiselost73]

With regards to practical help. The Defendant put on his expenditure form that he spends £350 per month on travelling. I find it extremely difficult to believe that unless someone is travelling (for example) 400+ miles per week that they would be spending this amount on travel??

I am a non-driver and unsure where to go for the info, but is there any website or somewhere I can go to find out the average miles per gallon that an average vehicle does?  

He indicated in a document he provided to the court that he stays at the Barracks (at work) Monday to Friday so that would be a nil travel expense and even if you take into account that the barracks is approx 45-50 miles away from his home for travel to/from on the weekends, then add another 100 miles on for socialising, picking up his children etc that is only approx 200 miles or so per week, prob a lot less? Therefore does a sum of £350 per month seem reasonable or inflated ? 

He has stated that he pays £600 per month on child support for his 2 children? Is there any way I could confirm this? Does that seem like a reasonable amount? Is it based on a % of salary or assessed on an individual basis?? 

And finally he has indicated housekeeping as £350 per month. This does not include gas and electricity as he has included these separately. The house in which I lived was a new build 4 bed house just a few years old and I think this is unreasonable? So any evidence or tips on that would be useful too. 

All this for a measly £520!!!!! It really is ridiculous. Any help would be appreciated. 

[Paradiselost73]

Did anyone see the programme aired on Itv in between the two episodes of Coronation St. this evening? It was called the Kyle Files' with Jeremy Kyle regards rogue Landlords??

Well I made a massive decision leading on from that prog and some notes I've made. The Home office stated that they intend to hold rogue landlords to account and those who expoloit will not be tolerated. Well I intend to ensure that they stand by that statement. 

I have decided to email The Home Office alongside my complaint to the chief constable requesting a review and action to be taken.  I am also going to email the chief executive of Shelter Polly Mears that appeared on the prog to see if she is able to assist. 

It's time to stop pussyfooting around and bring out the big guns!! All have underestimated me and will learn that I am no-longer a pushover. Time for him to face consequences!! 

[Paradiselost73]

Please could anyone provide any websites or info regarding the expense the Defendant put down for travel? It feels like £350pm is an unreasonable amount? I am unsure what vehicle he drives now, but how many mph can you expect of a average vehicle? 

Is there any websites where I can calculate it or there is a breakdown that I would be able to print out? 

 

The same with the Housekeeping expenses? If he is at the barracks Monday to Friday and there is no-one at the home, how could he possibly be spending £350 on housekeeping? This does not include Gas and electric so what does this consist of? It seems that both of these amounts are unreasonable.