Litigation
Steps to be taken in a Litigation matter
1. Send a letter of demand to the Defendant, unless the Plaintiff had already done so.
2. If there is no response to a letter of demand, issue a summons. It takes approximately 3 days to have a summons issued by the Clerk of the Court.
3. Send the issued summons to the Sheriff for service upon the Defendant.
4. Once the summons has been served, the Defendant has five (5) working days to file an appearance to defend the action.
5. If the Defendant fails to serve and file an appearance to defend within 5 days, an application for default judgment may be lodged with the Clerk of the Court. Once judgement had been granted, a warrant of execution may be issued and the Sheriff may then be requested to attach and remove the Defendant’s assets for a sale-in-execution.
6. If the Defendant serves and files an appearance to defend, then in such an event the Defendant has 10 working days from the date of service of the appearance to defend, to serve and file a request for further particulars.
7. If the Defendant fails to request further particulars within 10 days, then in such an event the Defendant may be required to serve and file his plea to the Plaintiff's claim immediately.
8. If the Defendant fails to serve and files his plea, the Plaintiff has the right to serve and file a notice of bar upon the Defendant. In terms of the notice of bar the Defendant is compelled to serve and file his plea within 5 days from the date of service of the notice of bar, failing which, the Plaintiff may apply for default judgment against the Defendant.
9. If the Defendant serves and files his plea to the Plaintiff's claim, the Plaintiff may serve and file the Rule 23(1), (3) & (4) notices upon the Defendant. In terms of these notices the Defendant has 10 working days from the date of service of the said notices, to serve and file a discovery affidavit that sets out the documents that the Defendant is going to use at the trial of the matter.
10. Once the Defendant had served and filed his discovery affidavit, the Plaintiff will apply to the Clerk of the Court for provisional trial dates. Once the said provisional trail dates have been received, the matter will be set down for trial upon 15 working days notice to the Defendant.
The above should not be interpreted as an extensive guide to the steps to be taken in a litigation matter, but should be seen as a brief guide.