Tarmac Driveway done by Tom Diggins Stockport Driveways, judgment plus costs - ***WON***

[smithy49]

Attached is the defence I received last night.

There are many inconsistencies and untruths which I am able to prove and will type up my notes today.

The email from the court has said he has asked to use the free mediation service 

 

[honeybee13]

Your pdf has names and your address in it. Best to remove those.

 

HB

[smithy49]

Thank you, I hadnt realised. Are you able to delete it please?

[BankFodder]

Redact it and post it again please

[smithy49]

TD Defence 22.5.21.pdf

[BankFodder]

I've converted the PDF into a Microsoft Word document and introduced paragraphs as well as I can.

It's a very chaotic defence both in terms of its content and also in terms of its presentation.

I suggest that you now use Microsoft Word to make a two column table, with the defence on the left-hand side – one paragraph per cell – and on the right hand side put brief comments in in response to what is being said in each paragraph.

If you think that some of the paragraphs I've identified contain more than one point then introduce paragraph returns there as well.

The whole point is to try and segment the defence into clear separate points – each one which can be addressed and this will form a good basis for understanding what the defendant is saying and also putting together your arguments for an eventual court hearing.

TD Defence 22.5.21.docx

[smithy49]

Thank you, I will do that.

 

We have the contact details of an expert witness, is it worth instructing him at this point? 

[BankFodder]

Not yet - if at all.  I thought that you had some independent assessments already?

[smithy49]

Yes we do. The person I had in mind does CPR 35 reports 

[BankFodder]

If you already have independent assessments – then what extra do you hope to achieve by producing an "expert"

I think that you need to come up with a particular reason for employing an "expert".

If you are convinced you need one then I hope that you now understand that your interests are best served by giving the defendant notice that this is what you are proposing and asking if there are any objections but warning the defendant that this will incur a fee which he will be expected to pay in the event that you obtain judgement.

However, at some point you are going to be alleging fraudulent misrepresentation – and on that basis, I would have thought that this would be such a damning thing to do that they would be very little need for expert evidence anyway.

So what do you hope to achieve in addition to the independent inspections that you already have? Presumably the independent inspections have already produced their reports in writing.

Presumably you got a well-organised file identifying all of the faults with the existing work – and also a well-organised file which demonstrates convincingly the misrepresentations that have been made and the fact that you relied on those misrepresentations. – Your reliance on the misrepresentations is an extremely important element that you will have to prove.

I would suggest that once you have done a tabulated commentary in the way that I suggested above, that you might want to return to the people who have already carried out the independent assessments, show them the tabulated commentary and ask them if they could add their own comments to the points which are being made by the defendant.

[smithy49]

Thank you. We are confident we have enough evidence at this point to go forward. I suppose I am just tired of him questioning the validity and intentions of the person who did our initial assessment.

 

Our documents are all in order and I am going off now to do my response to his defence in the format you advised

[BankFodder]

The response is for us to look at and for you to marshal your thoughts. It is not intended to be filed as a response to his defence at the moment

[smithy49]

Attached are my responses to the statements. His timeline has some inconsistencies so I will work on that too

TD breakdown to defence 23.2.21.pdf

[BankFodder]

A quick scan – looks like a good job.

Suddenly realise that you could introduce a third column which could cite evidence or source of evidence to support any of the comments that you are making in respect of his paragraphs

[smithy49]

Thank you. I'll certainly do that.

 

I will leave you to your Sunday evening for now though

[smithy49]

I have attached my responses to the timeline defence. 

 

The current status of my claim is that it has been moved to the mediation process. I have my file ready for when that takes place but would welcome any advice on the best way to handle that procedure.

 

Many thanks

 

 

TD timeline breakdown 23.2.21.pdf

[BankFodder]

There are several excellent summaries of the mediation process in the postal and delivery is forum – most of them involving Hermes.

https://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/183-postal-and-delivery-services/

 

Although the subject matter of the dispute is very different to yours, the mediation process will be pretty well the same.

Three things to say here:

• your dispute is not really suitable for mediation but there seems to be so much emphasis on it nowadays it seems like a sensible gesture to go ahead with it.
• Mediation processes generally speaking are intended to produce some kind of compromise resolution between the disputing parties. In most cases there is absolutely no reason for this at all and so far as we understand the facts of your case, you are completely in the right and you should not give up a single inch of ground. You may come under some kind of pressure to concede your court costs, for instance, – there is no reason for you to do this at all. You should make it clear that the benefit to the defendant in settling at mediation is that he will avoid the further costs of going to a hearing.
• You might find that the mediator will attempt to put pressure on you to compromise. If this happens then you should bear in mind that the mediator is acting improperly and should simply be a neutral conduit for communications. Do not give into any pressure from the mediator. I don't know how they get paid or how they get rated in their jobs but it wouldn't at all surprised me if there is some benefit to them of having secured some kind of compromise – even if it is a very small compromise.

Don't forget that there is likely to be some difficulty enforcing this judgement – and if you simply get an agreement at mediation, you might find that any promises which are made by the defendant are not kept – or at least not kept according to the timescale which has been agreed and you may still have to go to court to get the necessary paperwork to put the High Court enforcement officers in.
You should regard the mediation process with deep suspicion and don't feel bad about not giving some ground – or if you do feel bad about it then get used to it. The feeling will pass.

Read the mediation stories and then come back here with any questions.

You will need to have your paperwork completely in order – although there is so much paperwork, once again I don't think mediation can deal with it.

Mediation is probably not the time to start talking about the fraudulent misrepresentation so keep that one under your hat. However after the mediation – assuming that it fails – then I think that will be the time to amend your claim and to introduce the issue of fraudulent misrepresentation.

 

[smithy49]

Thank you. I accepted the mediation as I want to appear to have been reasonable but I wont bow to any pressure.

 

I have printed off all the screenshots I have of his websites. google search engines etc. Would you like me to scan and upload or is it too early at this stage?

[BankFodder]

No we don't need to see that. We probably won't need to see it in the future – but you will need to be familiar with it all and make sure that it does tell the story that you wanted to and that you can support what you are saying in front of a judge.

Courts are very wary about accepting that there has been any kind of fraud. Very often you simply get people making all sorts of allegations which are loaded with animosity. There is a very high bar to proving fraud. However, if you have got the evidence of the various claims that have been made on his website, the fact that those claims are now been removed from the website – and in particular, if you have got evidence that he was required to remove those claims from the website by the particular owners of trademarks et cetera – then you will probably be able to satisfy the judge.
You will also have to satisfy the judge that you did rely on the fraudulent claims and that had they not been made, you would have gone elsewhere.

So two elements:
Representations were made which were fraudulent.
You relied on those representations when deciding to enter into the contract.

 

Are you aware of the way back machine?

You may be able to find archived copies of some of his website pages which will provide you with additional useful evidence

https://archive.org/web/

[smithy49]

Ok thank you.

 

I have the screenshot of his website showing the logos and a screenshot of them now removed. 

 

I also have copies of the correspondence between myself and the companies involved, one in particular says they had forwarded the information to Trading Standards

[BankFodder]

Sounds good. You need to put some evidence together that you relied on these representations. Maybe if you could describe the alternatives that you considered and why eventually you preferred your defendant because the alternatives didn't have those accreditations.
Something like that

[smithy49]

Will do, thank you 

[BankFodder]

I would also start exploring unilateral notices.

I'm not sure whether they would be available to you but on the basis that you will eventually amend your claim to include fraudulent misrepresentation, and wondering whether it might be possible to protect your interest by registering a notice on his property so that you get a heads up if there is any attempt to transfer ownership.

As a say, this is outside my sphere of experience. Maybe somebody else can help – but you might want to start talking to the land registry.

Although it would be quite a lot of hassle for him to transfer ownership of the property, you are looking at a judgement potentially of £10,000 which is quite a lump.

[smithy49]

This was my concern, that he would start transferring assets.

 

I will look into the this now while I am on lunch, thank you

[smithy49]

Hi,

 

I have been doing a bit more research this afternoon and have come across another of his websites (one I haven't seen before) that appears to have been set up in 2021, It has the company logos on that I reported him for on his other website.

 

I have saved screenshots and the web page.

 

On another of his websites he is using images that appear to be off Pinterest and other people's websites, one is a stock image that has been used on numerous other websites, not just his.

 

Is it worth keeping this quiet for now or informing the companies again that he is still using their names?

 

Thank you