We are seeing reports come through of cases that were decided some time ago. However they provide illustrations of the problems that can arise and the court's likely approach. Ibbertson -v- Black Horse Ltd [Maidstone County Court] is available on BAILLI where the Deputy District Judge deals with ...
This seems to be a theme of two or three recent cases, with the common theme being the judges’ lack of understanding that a busy solicitors office handles large quantities of mail and that it is completely impractical to create a record individually for every piece of mail that it has been posted. My practice since looking at these cases is now to put an attendance note on any case where the letter getting lost would be important, to record that it has been sent and what I did with it. This is of course another call on my time (and one of the reasons why I am still at my desk well after 8 pm) but I am, of course, a mere footsoldier in the judges’ crusade for procedural perfection. …..and i’m still not convinced that this will be enough to convince some judges that it is more likely that a letter has gone missing at the sorting office than that my letter has somehow levitated itself out of a post tray and into thin air while our post room is doing other things.