Free Traffic Legal Advice

Don't bother posting debt collectors letters here, they are toothless and can simply be binned.

I've received another DCBL letter to recycle.

Front and back of the N1SDT form only, please. Only obscure your details, claim number & password.

That's the first Claim Form I've ever seen from this firm that has been properly and by a regulated, authorised person. Every previous Claim Form they have served (over 100k a year) have been signed and submitted by a person unauthorised to conduct litigation, which is a breach of the Legal Services Act and a criminal offence.

Anyway, with an issue date of 8th October you have until 4pm on Monday 27th October to submit your defence. If you submit an Acknowledgement of Service (AoS) before then, you would then have until 4pm on Monday 10th November to submit your defence.

You only need to submit an AoS if you need extra time to prepare your defence. If you want to submit an AoS then follow the instructions in this linked PDF:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/xvqu3bask5m0zir/money-claim-online-How-to-Acknowledge.pdf?dl=0

Until very recently, we never advised using the MCOL to submit a defence. However, due to recent systemic failures within the CNBC, we feel that it is safer to now submit a short defence using MCOL as it is instantly submitted and entered into the "system". Whilst it will deny the use of some formatting or inclusion of transcripts etc. these can always be included with the Witness Statement (WS) later, if it ever progresses that far.

You will need to copy and paste it into the defence text box on MCOL. It has been checked to make sure that it will fit into the 122 lines limit.

1. The Defendant denies the claim in its entirety. The Defendant asserts that there is no liability to the Claimant and that no debt is owed. The claim is without merit and does not adequately disclose any comprehensible cause of action.

2. There is a lack of precise detail in the Particulars of Claim (PoC) in respect of the factual and legal allegations made against the Defendant such that the PoC do not adequately comply with CPR 16.4.

3. The Defendant is unable to plead properly to the PoC because:

(a) The contract referred to is not detailed or attached to the PoC in accordance with PD 16, para 7.3(1);

(b) The PoC do not state the exact wording of the clause (or clauses) of the terms and conditions of the contract (or contracts) which is/are relied on;

(c) The PoC do not adequately set out the reason (or reasons) why the claimant asserts the defendant has breached the contract (or contracts);

(d) The PoC do not state with sufficient particularity exactly where the breach occurred, the exact time when the breach occurred and how long it is alleged that the vehicle was parked before the parking charge was allegedly incurred;

(e) The PoC do not state precisely how the sum claimed is calculated, including the basis for any statutory interest, damages, or other charges;

(f) The PoC do not state what proportion of the claim is the parking charge and what proportion is damages;

(g) The PoC do not provide clarity on whether the Defendant is sued as the driver or the keeper of the vehicle, as the claimant cannot plead alternative causes of action without specificity.

4. The Defendant submits that courts have previously struck out materially similar claims of their own initiative for failure to adequately comply with CPR 16.4, particularly where the Particulars of Claim failed to specify the contractual terms relied upon or explain the alleged breach with sufficient clarity.

5. In comparable cases involving modest sums, judges have found that requiring further case management steps would be disproportionate and contrary to the overriding objective. Accordingly, strike-out was deemed appropriate. The Defendant submits that the same reasoning applies in this case and invites the court to adopt a similar approach by striking out the claim due to the Claimant’s failure to adequately comply with CPR 16.4, rather than permitting an amendment. The Defendant proposes that the following Order be made:

Draft Order:

Of the Court's own initiative and upon reading the particulars of claim and the defence.

AND the court being of the view that the particulars of claim do not adequately comply with CPR 16.4(1)(a) because: (a) they do not set out the exact wording of the clause (or clauses) of the terms and conditions of the contract which is (or are) relied on; and (b) they do not adequately set out the reason (or reasons) why the claimant asserts that the defendant was in breach of contract.

AND the claimant could have complied with CPR 16.4(1)(a) had it served separate detailed particulars of claim, as it could have done pursuant to PD 7C, para 5.2, but chose not to do so.

AND upon the Court determining, having regard to the overriding objective (CPR 1.1), that it would be disproportionate to direct further pleadings or to allot any further share of the Court’s resources to this claim (for example by ordering further particulars of claim and a further defence, with consequent case management).

ORDER:

1. The claim is struck out.

2. Permission to either party to apply to set aside, vary or stay this order by application on notice, which must be filed at this Court not more than 7 days after service of this order, failing which no such application may be made.

This is never going to get as far as a hearing as it will be discontinued just before they have to pay the £27 trial fee. Even if it were to go that ear (it won't), you can challenged anything in their WS if they bring up liability.

You misunderstand...

7.3 Where a claim is based upon a written agreement –

(1) a copy (or copies) of the contract or documents constituting the agreement should be attached to or served with the particulars of claim and the original(s) should be available at the hearing, and

MCOL is just a way to issue a claim. It doesn’t change what the rules say must be in, or go with, the particulars of claim.

PD 16 paragraph 7.3(1) still bites for a contract claim. If the claimant says you breached a contract, they must set out the actual terms they rely on. If it’s a written contract, they should attach or serve it with the particulars, or at least set out the relevant terms verbatim. If it’s oral or by conduct, they must plead the terms and when/how they were agreed.

PD 7E (the MCOL practice direction) only relaxes the need to attach documents in the tiny MCOL text box. It does not relieve the claimant of proving the contract. If they cannot fit full particulars and the contract terms in the MCOL box, they must serve separate, fuller particulars within 14 days of service of the claim. Those separate particulars must include the contract terms said to be breached.

Bottom line: using MCOL doesn’t excuse a claimant from evidencing the contract. They must either provide the terms in the MCOL particulars or serve full particulars (with the terms) within 14 days. If they don’t, the pleadings are defective and open to challenge.

You only needed to submit the AoS if you needed more time to file the defence.

The requirements of PD 7E are confusing. However, they do not override the requirement to state the contractual terms allegedly breached in a claim. They have failed to do that.

Correct. The CNBC will serve it on them.