You know that court case I mentioned a few weeks ago? I phoned to see if there was a date set, two weeks ago, and it hadn’t been. Today (this evening, as I’ve been out), I had a letter to say that it will be on 14th December and I have permission to file a reply, whatever that means, by 4th September.
It’s the 3rd September. This sucks, rather. I’ll have to phone in the morning to ask what it does mean and if I can use email, because clearly I can’t get it there any other way.
Do you have legal representation in this case, or are you conducting your own claim? If the former, they should be taking care of this stuff. Without knowing any details, if it was me I’d be inclined to go in with guns blazing but just the first salvo – phone, email and write simply acknowledging receipt but pointing out that it’s physically impossible to comply with this deadline and that you will respond as soon as possible. At least that’ll give you space to find out a bit more.
I googled ‘file a reply’ and found the relevant Dept of Justice page, which is gobbledygook to me I’m afraid… https://www.justice.gov.uk/courts/procedure-rules/civil/rules/part15
Little chance as there is that he will pay the money owed, I can’t possibly justify the expense of a lawyer too. As it is, it cost me a couple of hundred pounds the last time I went, with Eloise’s and my train fares and her child care. It was simply a small claims court judgement, but he lied about his address and so didn’t receive it – that he told an untruth doesn’t count insofar as it’s been set aside until he can counter the claim. I don’t care about the money, I just want the judgement on his credit record. Thank you for the link, I’ll look at it tomorrow. I don’t want to worry about it now, I’m going to find something cheerfully soothing on iplayer.