Do I have to attend court?

[louiseace]

Hi everyone, I'm new Abbey have defended my claim - aggghh! I have just received an allocated questionnaire to fill in and send back to court - will I have to attend when I get a court date? :o Abbey have so far offered me 50% of my claim but I've refused, I hope I've done the right thing I'm starting to get very nervous about the whole thing.

[GaryH]

Hi, welcome to CAG:).

 

In short, the answer is yes - if you are called to a hearing you must attend. Faliure to do so would more than likely result in the striking out of your claim, I.e. you lose! It should also be said that if you were not prepared to go to court then you should not filed a court claim.

 

That said, stastisticly the chances of the claim actually getting that far are miniscule - only a handful of cases out of thousands have reached a final hearing, and none whatsoever involving Abbey as far as I am aware.

 

They have in every claim so far paid in full before the hearing, and the process of filing a defence and allocation questionnaire is pretty much just an attempt to put you off and intimidate you. They are hoping that you drop out, becouse actually they a lot more worried about court than you are! Once you've jumped through all the hoops and navigated the various proceedural obsticles, they pay up. Its not handed to you on a plate though unfortunately, you must prepare and build your case and comply in full with court orders, etc.

 

Heres some help with the AQ;

 

http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/bank-templates-library/11644-allocation-questionnaires-guide-completion.html

 

http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/general/53570-new-strategy-allocation-questionaires.html

 

Plus have a read around the Abbey forum to get an idea of how they operate, especially useful will be the 'successes' forum - http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/abbey-cahoot-successes/

[barney982]

Hi

 

Is this accurate? On my letter stating the date it says that if you can not, or wish not to attend, you must do so within 7 days of the hearing and the judge will hear your case for you, In my case I am on holiday for my date and cannot go. This does not mean I should not have filed a case if I 'wasnt prepared to go', as you said int he previous post. Not everyone can drop everything for a 15 minute hearing that they specify the date of.

[GaryH]

Thats between you and the court. If you notify the court 7 days in advance then they may allow your case to be heard in your absence, yes, as is stated on the notice of allocation - but you've got to ask yourself would you really want to have your case heard on the basis only of your statement of case? I know I would'nt.

 

If you want to do this then I suggest that you file and serve a full witness statement setting out your evidence in some detail.

 

What I said was 100% correct - if your not prepared to go to court, don't file the claim. There are far to many who will rush off without reading the FAQ's thinking its a couple of letters and you get your money back, then when a defence drops through the door its complete panic stations, and a lot of claimants actually drop out at that point. Subsequantly we get claimants just not turning up for court dates left right and centre, which hardly endears our cause to the judiciary, does it?

 

"Not prepared" to go to court and "can't" go are two different things. If there is a genuine reason you can't make the date then you can apply to the court who will move the date, providing you do it in plenty of time.

 

There is also a space in the allocation questionnaire which asks you specifically which dates you are not availible so that the court can allocate around them.

[gilbert2505]

Just out of interest - if a claimant does drop the case before it goes to court, will they have to pay Lloyds' solicitor fees or court fees or anything? and if so - are these intimidation tactics fair?

[gilbert2505]

sorry - *drop

[GaryH]

Just out of interest - if a claimant does drop the case before it goes to court, will they have to pay Lloyds' solicitor fees or court fees or anything? and if so - are these intimidation tactics fair?

If you didn't turn up in court and the other side did, they could quite reasonably request costs on the grounds you have behaved unreasonably. And your claim would be struck out.

 

The banks tactics aren't fair IMHO, no, but unfortunately most courts allow them to get away with it. That said you do have a choice whether you file a claim or not and when you do you should be prepared that it will go to court. It probably won't, but thats not the point

 

If you notify the court in advance you can have the case heard on written submissions.

 

Small claims court certainly isn't anything to worry about though anyway - its very informal and relaxed. Just you the judge and the other side sat around a table in an office.