Legal Defence Documents - What Is The Best Way For Me To Present Them?

[joko]

At the moment, I am trying to condense my defence to a county court case.

However, i have been concentrating on getting it down to as few pages as possible
or
is it better to have more pages - but spread the text out more, into easier to read chunks etc, with more gaps etc

I realise both, is the ideal, but i am sure they will read it properly and thoroughly - its not like they would scan read it

so what is the best way to approach it?

thanks

[joko]

i tend to try to put each sentence on a new line if it makes sense, as i think its easier to refer back to etc - but of course that takes up much more space

i tried closing the gaps, but i dont want to just have big solid blocks of text

[Peter Pedant]

I think one of the practising lawyers will keep you up to speed

The small claim courts have been so successful that they are spreading everywhere however I noticed they are also less informal. that is the Judge who was determined for time reasons not tohear my case said , " I am not gonna hear this case - your documents are not in the form of a witness statement - where are they and why havent you served them"
Me: er er
Judgie baby - get outta here - case to be re-listed !

The British have a rule for everything and the defence statement rules are here
https://www.justice.gov.uk/courts/procedure-rules/civil/rules/part15

In fact the judge wrote : parties are reminded:
Witness statements must: a) start with the name of the ase and claim no
b) state the full name and address of the witness
c)set out the witness evidence clearly in numbered paragraphs on numbered pages
d end with this para I believe that the facts stated in this witness statement ar true ( or words to that effect )
and e) be signed by the witness and dated

remeber you are a defence witness

so you statement should be in chunks of four or five lines and numbered
and most people use a time line as that is the easiest to follow

and off you go !

( I won in the end in front of a different judge )

[Barmaid]

Peter - Joko is not doing a witness statement. He/she is doing a Defence. They are very different animals (although I accept that in small claims the two often merge into one).

Joko, imho, a defence of 6 pages is far too long for a claim like this. The trouble is, you are somewhat lead by what the claim says (and having read your previous post I would LOVE to see the claim - a girl needs a bit of hilarity in her life).

Broadly speaking, your defence should be typed in double lined spacing (or at least 1.5 lines). Numbered paragraphs and numbered pages. At defence stage, stick to the facts of defending your claim. You can put the evidence in a witness statement later.

I shall try and mock up a form of defence to give you an idea. Give me a mo tho!

[Peter Pedant]

Hooray the cavalry has arrived
I knew you would know !


I am afraid it happened like that Barmaid - in small claims / fast track
I sat there with my mouth open and instead of saying er er
said: because I did it like this the last time I was here

and he said not today baby

and made me resubmit my claim as a witness statement...

The judge finally hearing the case did comment at one point:
I dont believe you: no one does it like that.


anyway thanks for your timely help....

[joko]

barmaid this is what she wrote - with a few more spelling mistakes - such as 'pillow to post', lol. i have slightly condensed it too.

"i sold this lady a beauty machine on ebay for 217. on 4th jan, parcel sent a few days later. parcel co tried to deliver 3 times, and on 3rd attempt they left a card, through door and sent to local holding shop. she left 3 weeks, an parcel was sent back to courier. i then had to track parcel and pay to resend
now 6 weeks on parcel arrives and the item is smashed and broken.
i feel as a seller is she bought a high price item you know its coming and you be there for parcel. also if she collected when courier stated the item would not have been pushed from pillar to post and wouild not have ended up in this mess
. she will now get refund from ebay and im left 217 out of pocket due to her actions"

[EDDIE51]

As I said on the other post. This is not a valid claim as there is no demand for payment of a specific amount of money . The woman mentions 217 but does not say it is £217 that she claims from you. The reference to 217 could be anything a model no for example.
Just send a short defence saying you do not accept any part of the claim as there is no case to answer and counterclaim £100 against her for your time in defending and researching the claim.

[joko]

eddie - it says amount claimed - £217 on another bit of the form - as well as £25 fees

does that make a difference?

[EDDIE51]

Yes it makes it a valid claim but still a ludicrous reason.
just put as defence the basic story.
I dispute the entire claim, this is what happened
1 Bought ritem & it arrived damaged
2 seller (her name)would not refund me so ebay made the refund and took it off her account
3 Seller ( her name) is trying to get the money that ebay refunded back from me as she says it is my fault for not being at home when the item was first delivered .
4 I do not owe her anything at all and dispute the entire claim

[EDDIE51]

Also put in a counterclaim for your time and expense in defending , they will accept a sum like £100 for this without needing receipts.

[Barmaid]

Sorry Joko. I'd forgotton I wasnt going to have access to my lappy for a while.

http://www.compactlaw.co.uk/free-legal-precedents/small-claims-court.html#Defence

That link shows you the layout for the defence.

Given what you have said I would be inclined to do no more than a page or two.

I would admit that there was a contract to buy the beauty machine for £217 something like "The Defendant admits that the Claimant agreed to sell and the Defendant agreed to buy a secondhand (name of product) for £217. THe contract was made pursuant to Ebay's standard terms and conditions which appear at annex a"

Then go on to say that it was not a term (either express or implied) that you would be responsible for any damage during delivery. I'd also say the Defendant is put to strict proof as to when the damage occurred (eg it could have been like that on first delivery attempt). I would also say that you were unaware of delivery attempts until the card was left and state the bad packaging. You might want to point out that you were not given a delivery time.

Then apply for SJ on the basis that there is no legal basis for this claim.

BTW, do NOT counterclaim as suggested. You do not have a leg to stand on. The COurt will not entertain a claim that is unsubstantiated even if it for small amounts. If it goes to trial there are fixed costs the court can allow - details here:- http://www.justice.gov.uk/courts/procedure-rules/civil/rules/part27/pd_part27#7.1

If you go for summary judgement the costs regime is slightly different - you need to read part 23 and 45 and associated practice directions.

[joko]

only just seen this, thanks so much barmaid, will check all that out properly now