Disclaimer: This quasi-legal article is meant for the reading pleasure of the ordinary layman and should not be taken, read or construed as legal advice in any way. Contact any of our lawyers for professional legal advice.
Let’s say that you receive a Writ of Summons and a Statement of Claim from the Plaintiff stating monetary claims against you.
What should you, as the Defendant, do?
A Writ of Summons requires you to enter an Appearance on the Return Date that appears on the Writ, or Fourteen (14) days from the date of service on you. There are different modes of service, but we are not going to discuss them here. Let’s just assume that the service on you was good, effective and in order.
Firstly, you must ask yourself, is the claim legitimate?
If yes, then the next question should be, do you have the means to pay it within a reasonable timeframe?
If you received a Writ, chances are that you have already received a Letter of Demand before, and you have refused, failed and/or neglected to settle it within the stipulated time frame, which is normally Fourteen (14) days as well.
If the claim is legit, but you’re able and willing to pay it promptly or in instalments, then congratulations.
All you have to do is to appear in Court and pay the full amount or alternatively offer a reasonable settlement proposal acceptable to the Plaintiff. Case closed, you don’t need a lawyer (unless the case is in the higher Courts).
If the claim is not true, then obviously you need to engage a lawyer to fight the case. Most of the time, however, the case is legit, but either you are incapable or need some time to pay. Hence some people engage a lawyer just to file a “sham defence”.
A sham defence is a very weak and often baseless defence, consisting of bare denials and is meant to just buy time for the Defendant. It is to prevent the Plaintiff from proceeding to obtain a Judgement In Default, which will then lead to them proceeding to file execution proceedings real fast. It is simply a delay tactic and can be considered to be a dirty trick which actually most reputable self-respecting lawyers are hesitant to accept cases.
But there are always some unscrupulous dishonest lawyers who are willing to take such cases, as long as they get paid. The moment you fail to pay, they will file a withdrawal as solicitors. This is an undesirable practice actually. One too many such cases and this kind of lawyer will soon start to lose respect from the Honourable Judges.
Of course,
The Rules of the Courts do have some provisions to overcome this scenario. One of them is the Summary Judgement rule. It is, as its name implies, an express and simplified hearing based on the documents available. It is fought just based on affidavits, without having to bring or produce witnesses. These are possible when the case against the Defendants is strong and straightforward.
As said earlier, filing a sham defence is just a delay tactic.
A good, honest lawyer will advise you against employing such a trick. Better save your money to pay the Plaintiff, rather than forking up good money to pay bad lawyers.
Maybe we should formulate some ways to prevent such cases from wasting the courts’ time.
Let’s say, if the Plaintiff’s claim is legitimate and you still try to deny and defend it, there should be a stiff penalty if you lose. Likewise, there should also be a stiff penalty if is proved that the claim was frivolous, false or fabricated. In fact, this law principle is already being used in some jurisdictions (but not under English Law).
We at CSQ specialize in all kinds of litigation; be it commercial or corporate. But we are very selective, in that we only take genuine clients with genuine cases. We don’t accept clients who want to engage us just for the sake of delaying the matter. It would be a sheer waste of time and money; for us, for them and for the honourable Courts. Which we wish to avoid.
After all, we believe steadfastly in the maxim “Justice Delayed Is Justice Denied”.
