Appearance Letter

ciarraibhoy

Am I correct in thinking that you send Form 5 to the court within 10 days and then Form 6A within 10 days later. Do you have to forward copies of both forms to plaintiff's solicitors?

Tom Young

This makes absolutely no sense whatsoever. You might clarify and if you're seeking advice, read charter and then contact a solicitor.

ciarraibhoy

I have received an appearance letter, I know I have to respond to it within 10 days. Do I send Form 5, Entry of Appearance to the court or to plaintiff solicitors or copies to both. Do I then send Form 6A, Defence to the court or to plaintiff solicitors or copies to both. I am not seeking legal advice, I just want to know if I am correct as to where to send forms.

Tom Young

I'd imagine to both, but I am not sure.

Jo King

Which court are the proceedings being brought in? High,Circuit or District?

ciarraibhoy

Jo King wrote: »

Which court are the proceedings being brought in? High,Circuit or District?

Circuit

dats_right

OP, I'm guessing you have been served with a Circuit Court Civil Bill and not an "appearance letter". You really should be talking to a solicitor because there is an awful lot more to defending an action then entering an appearance and filling out form 6, which is more commonly known as a Defence(which only need be sent to the Defendant and not Country Registrar) and really needs to be professionally drafted. After you enter your appearance and defence you may find it very hard to find a lawyer who will act for you as you will be at such a disadvantage from not having for example raised particulars, sought discovery (if necessary) and drafted a proper and full defence.

Do yourself a favour and don't DIY it, it will most likely end up costing you more in the long run by not seeking professional help.

ciarraibhoy

dats_right wrote: »

OP, I'm guessing you have been served with a Circuit Court Civil Bill and not an "appearance letter". You really should be talking to a solicitor because there is an awful lot more to defending an action then entering an appearance and filling out form 6, which is more commonly known as a Defence(which only need be sent to the Defendant and not Country Registrar) and really needs to be professionally drafted. After you enter your appearance and defence you may find it very hard to find a lawyer who will act for you as you will be at such a disadvantage from not having for example raised particulars, sought discovery (if necessary) and drafted a proper and full defence.

Do yourself a favour and don't DIY it, it will most likely end up costing you more in the long run by not seeking professional help.

Right, it is an Ordinary Civil Bill which was delivered by registered post while I was away and was not signed for.

dats_right

ciarraibhoy wrote: »

Right, it is an Ordinary Civil Bill which was delivered by registered post while I was away and was not signed for.

Are you a limited company?

ciarraibhoy

dats_right wrote: »

Are you a limited company?

No, I'm an individual.

dats_right

That's very unusual, I've never come across a situation where a registered letter was delivered by An Post without being signed for by someone in the household. Are you absolutely sure that nobody else in your family òr household signed for it? Indeed, even if not signed for it may be that an order for subservice was obtained by the plaintiff or an application to deem service good will be brought, in either case it would not be necessary to even serve by registered post. In any event even if neither apply, as the registered letter will not now be returned to the sender by An Post along with the standard sticker with reason for return inserted thereon, it is likely that the plaintiffs will assume that service was properly carried out and swear the Affidavit of Service to that effect. So if you do not enter an appearance it may result in them either obtaining judgment in the office i.e. informally without Court Appearance or alternatively by Notice of Motion requiring a court appearance depending on the type pf claim; but on the other hand, if you do enter an appearance you would be curing any defects in service. By the way, what I have said to you is very much by way of general observations and general guidance in no way should be relied upon as legal advice.

Op, for all of these reasons and so many more the bottom line is here that you don't just ignore it and go and meet with a solicitor to discuss matters. As I say, there is an awfult lot of factors that need to be considered and particular steps to be taken in a litigation case and unless you have professional legal knowledge and experience you are only disadvantaging yourself by not employing a professional. Do yourself a favour talk to your solicitor.

Best of luck.

ciarraibhoy

dats_right wrote: »

That's very unusaul, I've never come across a situation where a registered letter was delivered by An Post without being signed for by someone in the household. Are you absolutely sure that nobody else in your family òr household signed for it?

No one signed for it, house was empty.

Thanks

Our man in Havana

Postman signed so. Very easy to check that also.

Stick the number off the envelope into this site and request the delivery record.
http://track.anpost.ie/track/trackone.html

dats_right

Bond-007 wrote: »

Postman signed so. Very easy to check that also.

Stick the number off the envelope into this site and request the delivery record.
http://track.anpost.ie/track/trackone.html

But therein lies a problem, because even if the postman signed for it, how is the OP going to able to claim that he knows that the postman signed for it, after cross checking reference numbers on envelope, if the OP is also claiming he never received the registered item himself? Obviously he could not have checked or known this reference number on the registered item unless he actually received the item? Classic case of catch-22. So even if the OP was to make an argument that service wasn't technically correct as the item was not returned by the postal authorities, remember no fault attaches to plaintiff here as this fact would have been unknown to them and they could reasonably have assumed that service was technically correct, and the fact remains that he did actually receive it, it is probable that service would be deemed good by a Court/County Registrar.

In any event, a further catch-22 arises by virtue of; if the OP enters an appearance he automatically cures any technical defects in service, but if he does not he will virtually certainly have a judgment marked against him, either in the office without any further notice to him in the case of debt collection, or by Notice of Motion in the County Registrar's Court in all other cases. So it's really lose-lose situation here and they really need to talk to a solicitor asap.

Our man in Havana

Agree 100%. Appearance will cure any defects.