Originally Posted by
Annie 12
In the meantime, I have what I am sure are some very stupid questions! How can I find the date by which I have to submit my counter to the court? And should I email or post the counter? Email is obviously quicker, but how do I find the court's email? Should it be on my MCOL portal?
I have had some additional pointers from someone with legal experience.
BA seems to be setting up a potential legal argument about whether 261/2004 compensation applies at all. One way of trying to blunt this is to say that you undoubtedly suffered a significant delay in getting home and all the stress of having to arrange alternative travel yourselves. This loss was caused by BA failing to do what it promised to do: issue a ticket for you to fly home. So it’s loss that you’re entitled to be compensated for. It doesn’t really matter whether it’s strictly speaking payable under 261/2004. Even if it isn’t, the amount that is specified by 261/2004 is a good guide to how much that delay and stress is worth.
Also, don’t let BA get away with refunding the unused half of fare that you paid. If BA had done what it promised to do, the ticket to get home would have been issued, and you would have used it and got home. To put yourself into that position, you had to pay for the Air France tickets (and the additional Covid tests). So it’s those tickets (and tests) that BA needs to pay for.
As a matter of interest, did BA’s offer include the words “without prejudice”?
In other words, if there was no EC261 then you would still have a claim under boring old "breach of contract". You paid BA £800 to get you to Costa Rica and back and BA only did half of that. So in a sense BA can either argue about EC261 or contract fulfillment, whereas you are at liberty to make both points. I think that would be fairly obvious to a judge, but it would be worth in your counter claim making that point crystal clear.
The process now is you get a directions questionnaire from the court, and you have to ensure BA has seen all your documentation / counter claim at least 2 weeks before the court date, which I suspect is some way off yet. BA may apply for it to heard in the Uxbridge area, but you are at liberty to ask for a hearing somewhere local to you after BA makes that submission. Most of the work is done during the hearing, so there is no need to drip feed the court with every email, but just send the skeleton and final appendices to BA and the court about 16 days before the hearing.
I don't think it is too late to claim for food and telephone calls or at least mention that in your counter claim. There is no requirement for receipts, you can simply say what it is, BA can challenge rhat and the judge is there to work out what is reasonable. Make sure you are not missing out on other reclaimable items such as parking, photocopying, postage, phone calls. The judge may well want to take BA to the cleaners be s/he can't add anything you didn't mention to BA 2 weeks before the hearing.