4. What should I do if I decide to defend the case?
If you wish to defend the claim brought against you by the plaintiff, you should file an acknowledgement of service at the Court Registry, stating in it whether you intend to contest the claim within 14 days after being served with the writ. The Court will send a copy of it to the plaintiff. You should then file and serve on the plaintiff a defence (explaining why you are disputing the plaintiff's claim) and a counterclaim against the plaintiff (if any). The defence and counterclaim have to be verified by a statement of truth. This has to be done before the expiration of 28 days after the time limited for acknowledging service of the writ or after the statement of claim is served on you, whichever is the later.
Some explanatory notes about how to prepare a defence and counterclaim, and a sample defence and counterclaim, can be obtained from the Resource Centre for Unrepresented Litigants.
One further point to note is that if you intend to defend the claim, you must specifically answer each and every allegation as set out in the plaintiff's statement of claim. In other words, you must reply in accordance with every point as written on the plaintiff's statement of claim. It will be deemed (considered) that you admit to any allegations that you do not specifically deny in your defence. (Note: The same applies to the plaintiff pleading to the counterclaim of the defendant.)
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