Sarajane v Barclays -Mercantile court allocation - then ***WON***

[MARTIN3030]

Thank you for that Sara......its for my own reference

[tigger26]

Now they're playing dirty .

I've just rang Meday court as I haven't heard anything since filing the AQ. The lady has informed me that Barclays have managed to get the case transfered to Central London court .
Apparently as their solicitors are based there, they are entitled to do so.

Is this something to get worried about or do I ask for the case to be returned to my local court .

I've not got the paperwork from the Courts yet but the lady at Medway has given me all the contact details.

Advice needed please :o

[tigger26]

OK, the postie has been & I have a General Form of Judgement Order that states

Upon the Courts own motion. The Court has made this order of its own initiative without a hearing. If you object to the order, you must make an application to have it set aside, varied or stayed within 7 days of receiving it.

It is ordered that

Transfer the the London Mercantile Court to be put before HHJ Mackie QC

This is dated 24 August.

So I have until 7 September to do something - HELP PLEASE

[tigger26]

"So I have until 7 September to do something - HELP PLEASE "

Just had a thought - do I write to Medway Court asking for it to be transferred back there due to costs of me getting to central London, etc., etc.,

Any thoughts please

[Mrs Charlton]

Sorry no advice, hopefully a mod will be along shortly, have you pm'd anybody with a link to your thread? If you only have a couple of days to get this sorted then I can imagine how stressed you must be. I can't believe they would just up and move the case away from the Claimants local court!!!

[tigger26]

Thanks Mrs C

Only slightly stressed - you know, kids going to new schools tomorrow, making sure everything is present & correct, nearly forgot to buy season ticket for eldest, ahhhhh!!!

I'll try pm'ing in a mo.

[Mrs Charlton]

Yeah they pick their moments to give you a deadline eh? I think this is irregular so hopefully someone more 'seasoned' then myself can advise you, I'm sure they won't mind considering the tightness of the deadline. Good luck chick, will keep an eye open see how you get on.

[caro]

I have asked BankFodder to take a look at this. You obviously are running out of time to act. The bank has far more resources than you for travelling, and you obviously need to consider children getting to and from school, child care etc, so this seems unreasonable to me. Have you found out from the court how to go about getting it moved back? Does your letter not tell you how to appeal this if you do not agree?

[jonto81]

You may also point that you are an individual with far less resources at your disposal than a large multinational company who has representives in your area as well as london, and that this move only assists the banks in their attempts to make people give up on their claims

[tigger26]

Thanks for looking Caro - I'm gratefull, but no, nothing in the letter other than what I quoted earlier on, that I have 7 days to make an application to have it varied, set aside or stayed.

I think maybe a letter to my court would be a 1st step - do you think?

[caro]

I think it is rather late for a letter. At the bare minimum a phone call to find out what to do, but preferably a visit so that you can complete any necessary paperwork there and then. You need to know why the court has taken this action, and why the mercantile court? I might be wrong, but I thought the Mercantile Court dealt with business claims, which I don't think your case is.

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[tigger26]

Just an update

With Bankfodder's generous help, a letter marked Urgent for the request of a set aside of the Order was handed into the local Court today.

Just have to wait to hear what District Judge Green has to say now.

[Mrs Charlton]

Good luck SJ, was wondering what was happening, glad to see you got some help

[tigger26]

Well, I never heard a dickie bird from local court.

I got a letter from Mercantile court on 14th, giving date of Case Management Conference for 2nd October.

Again, Bankfodder helped me draft a letter back to Medway to the Judge asking why my apllication for a set aside was not considered & I had a reply from a Clerk in yesterday's mail, saying they are waiting for the Judge's response. :o

So, a letter has been drafted to Mercantile Court London, again with Bankfodder's assistance & Twinkle , stating I'm an individual, etc etc, and asking for the banks to make full disclosure & that'll get sent recorded tomorrow.

Just out of curiosity what is a Case Management Conference?

[Number6]

Originally Posted by sarajane

Just out of curiosity what is a Case Management Conference?

I haven't read and understood it myself yet - too many things to do! But here's some raw information for you in the hope it might be useful to you or others.

D. Case Management in the Mercantile Court

D1.2 Multi-track. While all mercantile claims are allocated to the Multi-track, in
practical terms, if the claim is less than £15,000 (see B3.3 above), the Mercantile
judge may well transfer the claim to the County Court allocating the same to the
fast track or give directions more akin to those which would operate under the
Fast-track regime.

D2. Key features of Case Management. Not all of the ten key features apply or
apply with the same rigour where Case Management is in the Mercantile Court.
Thus:

(1)(a) the Case Management Information Sheet should be
substantially in the form set out at Appendix A thereto.

(2) it is sufficient that there be a simple non-controversial
concise List of Issues prepared by the Claimant. It is not necessary for
that to be exhaustive or even for it to be prepared in consultation with
other parties. It is sufficient if the List provides a general idea of the
principal issues in the case.

it is not mandatory that there should be a formal Case
Management conference by way of a hearing, and in a straightforward
case it should be possible for the parties to avoid the need for attendance
by submitting agreed directions in advance. Where such course has not
been taken, the parties may be visited with an adverse costs order.

-- Whether agreed or not, by (2)(b) the Claimant or other party
applying for a Case Management conference must file and serve a draft
order substantially in the form set out at Annex B thereto, setting out the
directions which that party thinks appropriate. The Court is not obliged
to accept agreed directions and may alter them. It should be noted that
in any event the Court may as part of its general Case Management power
make an order of its own initiative and dispense with attendance. In
either case any party objecting to a direction which has not been agreed or
proposed by that party may apply within 7 days of receiving the order that
it be varied or revoked.

-- Even where a Case Management conference does take place by way of
a hearing, while desirable, it is not necessary that attendance should be by
the advocates retained in the case; it is enough that there be attendance by
a legal representative familiar with the case with authority to deal with any
issues likely to arise.

D3. Fixing a Case Management Conference.

D3.4 Time for application. If proceedings have been transferred to the
Mercantile Court, by PD59§7.3 the Claimant must apply within 14 days of
receiving an acknowledgment of transfer from the Clerk to the Mercantile
Court, unless the transferring Court itself held or gave directions for a
Case Management conference when it made the order transferring
proceedings.

D4. Case management system.

There is no formal system for team case management applicable to the
Mercantile Court, Birmingham. Ordinarily the Court will endeavour to
list any case management conference and all applications before the judge
who it is anticipated will be the trial judge. The permanent Mercantile
Judge at Birmingham is currently Her Honour Judge Alton. His Honour
Judge McCahill QC also sits from time to time as a judge of the
Mercantile Court. In addition the Court operates a Shared List system
pursuant to which trials may be given a fourth or fifth fixture and be heard
by any of the Specialist Judges ticketed for mercantile work including His
Honour Judge Norris QC (Chancery) and Her Honour Judge Kirkham
(TCC). Details of the Shared List are set out in the attached appendix.
Consideration as to whether a case should be placed in the Shared List will
generally be given at the case management conference.

D5. Case Memorandum

As set out under D2 above, there is no need to prepare a Case
Memorandum for claims in the Mercantile Court.

D6. List of Issues

As set out under D2 above, it is sufficient that there be a simple List of
Issues. If it be suggested that there be a trial of a preliminary issue, the
parties should seek to agree whether costs should be in the issue or in the
case.

D7 Case Management bundle

D7.2(iii) Case Memorandum. See D5 above.
D7.5 Revision and upkeep. The Case Management bundle should be
revised from time to time, but in cases in the Mercantile Court there is no
requirement for continuous revision of the bundle.

D8 Case Management conference

D8.2/3. Attendance. See D2 above
D8.4 Applications. If a party wishes to apply for an order in respect of
a matter not covered by the Case Management Information Sheet, an
application should be issued to be dealt with at the Case Management
conference.
D8.5 Materials. By PD59§7.7(1)(a) the parties are required to employ
a case management information sheet substantially in the form set out at
Appendix A to PD59.
D8.7(i) The hearing. As to attendance at the hearing, see again D2
above.

	County Court guidebook by Judge Patricia Pearl Follow this link to read the review of this excellent Small Claims Guidebook. This comprehensive and very accessible guide will take you through the process of suing or defending a claim. This guide will help you take control of your litigation and make you more confident about doing it yourself. Applies to England and Wales

[omollmeg]

Gosh Sarajane you've been busy.
I am just about to send all relevant docs to the court and Barclays..
They are dragging all this out a bit.
Good luck

[rogerebaker]

Sarahjane.

Im no expert but have been reading thru loads of threads and am at a very similar stage with Barclays, court date of 23rd Oct.

I would be very surprised if it was Barclays that asked for it to be moved. If this was the case they would be doing it for all our claims.

I suspect your case has been looked at by a judge that has, off his own back decided to transfer it.

It appears in every other case that this has happened it has resulted in a very quick settlement by the bank.

Keep us all informed

good luck

[MARTIN3030]

I agree.

[rogerebaker]

I know its a completely different subject but worth bearing in mind. Barnet Council decided to take a brave stand and challange tha validity of their parking tickets at the high court in August this year dispite all the evidence that they were wrong.

their appeal was thrown out and as a result the whole of the countries parking enforcement is quickly decending into chaos

I cannot see for a minute that the banks will let this happen. Imagine they lose a test case at the Mercantile court. The implications are catastrophic for the banks.

At the moment the current cases are inconvienient to the banks and financially insignificant. The loss of a test case would change all that.

Keep your head up Sarahjane and look forward to your pay day. If it does end up as a test case you will be famous for ever and people will be quoting your name for years to come..

	Bank Charges You should have started your claim for your bank charges by now. Don't wait. You should send your bank a Subject Acess Request asking for all personal data they hold on you - not just statements. You should calculate all of your bank charges and related interest as far back as 1995. You should send your bank a demand for a refund giving them 7 days. You should commence your legal action adding 8% statutory interest. If you wait for the outcome of the test case, you may not be able to claim like this. you may not be able to claim interest. You may only be offered the difference between the charge and the OFT "fair charge". The repayment scheme will try to limit you to refinds from 2001 only. A repayment scheme will not deal with any bank charges related defaults on the credit register whereas in a court action you can ask for these to be removed and to be compensated for the damage caused to you and your family by them. You should also write to the bank and to the CRA and put all charges related credit entries in disupte and warn them that you will want them removed from the Register when the test case is over. Warn them also that you are likely to be seeking compensation for these wrongful data entries. Full and final settlement Have you previously accepted a partial repayment of your bank charges in full settlement? You will still be able to claim the rest of your money back after the Test case is decided. Get all your information back to 1995 and put in your claim now.

[tigger26]

Thanks for the support Roger & Martin.

Just posted my letter to the Mercantile Court & a copy to Barclays, as directed by the Mercantile Court.

Now, looking ahead, if, Barclays do not settle before the hearing date on 2nd October, what do I need to gather. I've had a nose around & icefall has a good selection of docs, anything else? :o