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Important changes from 19 march 2012 (26 April 2013)

Date: 26/04/2013
Duncan Lewis, Civil Litigation Solicitors, Important changes from 19 march 2012

Salford Business Centre now operates the new County Court Money Claims Centre for the whole of England and Wales.

If you now want to make a Part 7 county court money claim you must send the claim form to the County Court Money Claims Centre (CCMCC) in Salford instead of your local county court. Once your claim has been issued all subsequent documents will also need to be sent to Salford until your claim has been transferred to your preferred court.

Practical problems:

Will my local court issue claim forms if required?
No all part 7 claims forms will be sent to Salford unprocessed.



What about limitation?

In the event that limitation is at the end of the week. To be sure that proceeding will be issued it is important that you get your cover letter date stamped by your local county court before you send this to Salford. The date received by your local county court (rather than the date issued by Salford) is the relevant date for limitation purposes. However where there is sufficient time before the expiry of limitation you should send your claim form directly to Salford. It is important to note that should you wish to serve proceeding at a later stage, that the 4 months time limit will begin from when the court received your documents (as oppose to the date the claim is issued). Salford’s processing time to issue claims within is 10 working days.




Other important information:


Changes have been made to the following parts of the CPR and Practice Directions:

Part 2 - Application and Interpretation of the Rules

Part 3 - The Court's Case Management Powers

Part 12 - Default Judgment

Part 13 - Setting Aside or Varying Default Judgment

Part 14 - Admissions

Part 23 - General Rules about Applications for Court Orders

Part 26 - Case Management - Preliminary Stage

Part 30 - Transfer

Practice Direction 7A - How to Start Proceedings

Practice Direction 7D - Claims for the Recovery of Taxes and Duties

Some of the forms have also changed. From 19 March 2012 you must use new form N1 (claim form together with notes in form N1A) which has the additional requirement to state your preferred court.

Allocations questionnaires will no longer be provided. The court will instead issue a notice on each party identifying the appropriate allocation questionnaire that will need to be filled.

If the defendant fails to file a defence, a request for judgment can be made to Salford. If the amount of money needs to be decided by the courts then the court will transfer the claim to the preferred court upon receipt of the request for judgment. The transfer of proceeding is covered by Part 26 and it states that ordinarily transfer will occur when all parties have filled their allocation questionnaire or the period for filling the allocation questionnaires has expired.



Contact details for Salford:

POST: Salford Business Centre, PO Box 527, Salford, M5 0BY
DX: Salford Business Centre, DX 702634, Salford 5

Telephone number: 0300 1231372

Email enquiries: ccmcccustomerenquiries@hmcts.gsi.gov.uk
E-filing enquiries: ccmcce-filing@hmcts.gsi.gov.uk

Note: This applies to claims started after 19 March 2012.

Ducan Lewis is able to provide you with practical and efficient advice and implications of the changes of law in relation to all aspects of your case. We have the expertise to advise on a wide range of legal issues and offer various funding options, please contact us to discuss.



Understanding your contractual obligations is critical.


In a recent case, a leading supermarket (the defendant) made an agreement with an external company (the claimant) to monitor cars parked it its car park and specifically deal with drivers who overstayed the permitted parking time.
In accordance with the contract the claimant took the necessary steps to perform its obligations. They installed automated systems and issued penalty tickets for drivers who contravened the permitted parking times. This was followed by a robust debt collection service.

Following on from an influx of complaints received by the defendant from the users of the car park the defendant took a decision to cancel its agreement with the claimant. This resulted in the claimant pursing legal action for the termination of the contract and the subsequent loss of profit.

The defendant put forward that the contract was performed unlawfully, and dishonest in intent therefore rendering it unenforceable. The claimant in response argued that whilst it debt collection activity were misleading these could have been corrected had they been made aware.

The court was of the opinion whilst the debt recovery tactics employed by the claimant were aggressive and the defendant did face difficulties with its customers. However, it did not render the contract unenforceable. The outcome was in favour of the claimant.

This case highlights the importance of understanding your contractual obligations. If you are unsure of your contractual obligations or are facing a contractual dispute we can advise you on all aspects of your case. We also offer a practical, efficient debt recovery and enforcement service.


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