Lunatic's money claim and Practise direction 3.a striking out a claim

[HeadacheEarthquake]

Being pursued for compensation by the owner of a venue I hired.

The signed contract between him and myself contains no references of damage, the person being taken to SCC isn't the hirer, I am, and the claimant has no proof of the damages either.

(It's over a stained tablecloth)

He obviously hasn't replaced them and shown us a receipt, he's sent an invoice that we're of course not obliged to pay.

How can I speed up this case being struck off, can I do something to apply for it to be thrown out under section 3.4

(3) those which contain a coherent set of facts but those facts, even if true, do not disclose any legally recognisable claim against the defendant.
Do I write to the court office?

He's not suing you though if I'm correct? He's suing your friend?

Thankyou so much, where do we find the application? Or information on how to find it?

Yes - but I am taking care of everything to do with it

You've already written to the court in response to the claim?

No we filed our dispute response and timeline, records of correspondence, dates, photos, every discussion, our contract and his undefiled invoice to the money claims online service, which of course the claimant hasn't read. He agreed to mediation but then threw a strop on the phonecall when I asked (the mediator to ask) him if he could point out where our obligation is or where the proof was, so the call was terminated by the mediator.

So it's gone to the court office for the judge to decide whether it warrants a hearing or not.

This seems to relate to what you're asking. I'm not a lawyer.

www.justice.gov.uk/courts/procedure-rules/civil/rules/part24

From my reading of it (and legal jargon makes my head spin), you've responded, the court now decides.

This is what I've been referring to but I don't know where to find the application process, or any forms/fees

It's the blind leading the blind here I'm afraid, so hopefully someone with an ounce of sense will wander in soon lol, but from my reading of it, there's nothing further for you to do. (I think)

I'm not going to waffle any further, but if nobody who knows comes along, bump your thread later this evening when people are home from work.

It sounds like a pain in the arse which he has no hope of winning, so try not to worry about it - easier said than done though when it's your friend in the frame and you obviously don't want them to be stressed.

Sounds like you are in the court process.

The matter will almost certainly be listed for a small claim hearing. Courts very rarely on their own volition strike out matters (and then there is an opportunity to apply to set aside).

You could apply to strike out, but you have to pay an application fee, which is £275. Even if you are successful you may not recover that fee. Strike out is a draconian sanction and not commonly ordered.

You also probably wouldn't get your application heard before the trial as it sounds like you are in the court process and the back logs are horrendous.

So you have 3 options:

1. Make an application - which will cost £275 (unless you get fee exemption cause you are on a low wage). Which possibly won't be heard before a trial date.
2. Settle with him.
3. Go to trial and hope you win.

Thanks QwithaC xx yes it's just painful and pathetic! Good idea to bump later, thankyou

The application notice you need to file is form N244. You can find it on the court website.

Thankyou!

Luckily Coffeehousepot has come to the rescue in the interim.
From her options, I'd go with the third one, if your friend is happy to.
Otherwise, I'd probably pay the dickhead if it's stressing your friend too much.

In this circumstance, do NOT do this. You will not get it struck on these grounds.

He hasn't got the wrong person in the legal sense. He thinks your friend damaged his table cloth, he's suing your friend. He's absolutely making a claim against the correct person. The wrong person would be "Jack Willis at 24 Almond Street broke Alfred's door. Alfred made a claim against Jacqui Willis at 24 Almond Road by mistake". You won't get your money back from the other side if you bring this up because it's not a valid point.

Your defence is, I assume, that no tablecloth was damaged at all, correct? So, you can't argue now he's claiming against the wrong person (which means you're open to there being a "right' person to claim against) and then later try to claim there's no damage (so no one that could be claimed against).

Also, you're not representing him, he doesn't need representing at SCC and (unless he's without capacity) you representing him may well disadvantage him on the day (for example if he doesn't actually know all the necessary information). Using the phrase "representing" like this will also make it sound like you're gunning for a dispute, which won't look good for you because parties are supposed to be trying to genuinely resolve the issue without the court.

If he has no evidence then there will be no case to answer - just let it run its course.

The form asks what order you want the court to make.

1. The claim against OP Friend be struck out.
2. The Claimant do pay the costs of this application.

By representing I meant speaking on his behalf on the phone and dealing with the online items, sorry

My sister had a small claim against her which was totally unjustified. Even though I am a lawyer, I don’t do litigation. We could have made a strike out application but it felt like a potential waste of money and we were sure (ha ha, back when I had faith in the court system) that as soon as a judge looked at it he or she would strike it out.

It took over 2 years to resolve, the batshit crazy claimant was given multiple opportunities to ignore the civil procedure rules & carry on, the judge indulged her time and again. The judge never seemed to have read the papers.

Claimant ultimately lost, on the basis of a point we made at the very start but the judge kept on ignoring our arguments.

I wouldn’t attempt a strike out OP, but be prepared for a wild ride depending on the judge you get.

Don't apologise - just don't use that phrase. It's a red flag that you're enjoying the drama and want the case to continue, the court won't be happy.

You've received some decent advice from Coffeepot and Mummbles imo.

On what grounds is he making a claim against your friend? Were they present at the event for which you hired the venue and how was the presumably very fancy tablecloth allegedly damaged?

I'm absolutely not enjoying it, :( I hate it and feel sick about it and wish we could enjoy the memories of our day instead

That's purely my idle curiosity btw.

This kind of thing would be the basis for my comment questioning whether this is a real life situation or an exam question haha. Glad she got there in the end.

Oh God - I suspect this was your wedding?

What a twat.

For peace of mind I'd probably pay the imbecile.

As a wise man once said 'do you want to be right, or do you want to be happy?'