Thread: Mercantile Court 27th March

re the interest it accumulates up until either a judgement is entered or they settle the claim.

Re costs you can claim costs based on 9.25 per hour for research etc, and for standard letters i believe its 2/3 for the legal exec rate for your area based on 6 minutes per letter received or sent (the rate in my area is 106 per hour)

Then you can claim for disbursements eg copying, postage travel to court.

This is set out in CPR 48.6 and other bits of the various court guidance notes.

What you need to do is prepare a schedule of your costs up to the court attendance and take it with you if it gets that far. If it does ask the judge if they would consider costs in your favour since the banks have been unreasonable.

If the bank settles before the hearing ask for costs again send them a schedule. they will no doubt haggle but since they have failed to enter into sincere negotiations i expect they have forced this court action on you and you are entitled to recover your costs.

HTH

Glenn

Hi, I am also for the 27th but I "May" not have to attend.......and I would suggest contacting them for a prod

Hi Laura,

I am also at London Mercantile @ 9:30 on 27th March. However I will be travelling down from the highlands of Scotland. I do hope that Abbey will pay my travel expenses as it will not be cheap!!

Is it a directions hearing that you have to attend as my case has just been transferred there?

Likewise ShAbbey have also been totally uncommunicative despite numerous attempts to contact them.

What should I expect in the hearing? Whats the best way to prepare?

I noticed you have drawn up a CMI with j.barton posting do you have the link?

Thanks in advance.

RRFCFAN

All those claimants wanting to copy the CPR 59 Case Management CMI sheet, see the thread 'Mercantile Court Guide' at the top of this forum (in that thread skip post No.1 and go to post No.3 by me) .

Also see the thread 'Mercantile Hearing 20th Feb'. Read postings dated 9th and 10th February in that thread. I have repeated the CMI info there and J Barton has given a set of example answers, further clarified by me.

To RRFCFAN,

See the various threads regarding Mercantile Hearings and Directions Hearings in this forum. Many cases get settled in the days leading up to the Hearing, only a very few seem to actually go as far as the Hearing.

Thanks Calculator for this information. ,

I have filled in the CMI sheet and have faxed it to the Mercantile Court. I will send copy to Abbey Legal Dept.

I guess when Abbey receive this they will know I mean business. Should I be expecting a settlement prior to the hearing or at the 11th Hour?.

I wouldn't mind a day out in London if Abbey are going to pay my travel costs.

Has anybody successfully attended a hearing with the Bank?

Laura, any news on your case?

Hi rrfcran,

When my Shabbey claim was transfered to the Merc in 24th Jan, I contacted the Shabbey Legal Dept 3 days before (I think) and they seemed to be waiting for the call.

Settlement of the full claim + costs was made 45 mins after the call.

You could try this number, it was Direct line to Inga, Abbey Legal dept on 020 7756 4332 and spoke to a Inga Kirkman (I think thats her name).

Best of Luck

BB

Hi Laura,

I have not had the pleasure of annoying Barclays but I know someone who has. She has the numbers for Legal bods there so I have asked her to have a look and let you have them.

Hope it helps.

BB

Hi Laura,

I have a main number 0207 116 1000 which you can call and ask for either:

Paul Quinn - legal bod

Tom Hickey - another legal bod...try his direct line too. 0207 116 4523

I hope this helps

That's good to hear, it is practically in the bag - Just stick to your guns when you call them on Monday (if they don't first) and just make sure they don't fob you off with anything less than the full amount right down to the last penny. Have this full amount in front of you making sure you've included everything (interest, daily interest, fees etc) and say that you will settle at this amount or you will see them in court tomorrow. They will agree the full amount, they won't faff around because they will not want to see you in court. Also ask them to make the payment into your account that day, so that you can fax the court in time to let them know you won't be attending the hearing.

Good luck and look forward to seeing your 'won' post on Monday

Originally Posted by laura1303

Hi All

I'm going to try and negotiate these on Monday, any advice on strengthening my arguement?

Yes.

Don't "negotiate".

It's YOUR claim, if they want to settle, they pay 100%, including interest up to date, court fee, aq fee, no confidentiality clause, and you want the money in your account before you'll even consider telling the judge they've settled. In fact, have a read of a few settled Mercantile cases, I'm pretty sure that you can get them to pay your costs as well.

It's only a matter of keeping your nerve and not blink first. You can do it.

Listen to me: Every single claimant who has held out to Barclays has got every penny back. Every single one of them. No reason why you should be any different.

Now breathe. You're going to be OK.

I would advise anyone involved in this to attend. It is not essential but it shows the banks and the judge that you are a serious litigant. You will be able to claim your reasonable costs of travel from the bank.

Don't worry about phone calls etc from the bank. If they want to settle then they can write to you.
You are entitled to hold out for unconditional 100% satisfaction of your claim.

Everyone is talking about costs here but what track is the claim on?

I have been to one mercantile hearing where the judge made a small claims track order. This means no costs for either side - other than reasonable expenses.

If you are claiming costs then you need to keep a very detailed schedule of everything you have spent and time you have put in over the months - including time spent on-line reading, letter preparation etc. For every letter you have written it is reasonable to put down 1 hour. Inlcude time spent on the phone etc.

List it all in a detailed spreadsheet and keep it up to date.
I have seen Abbey pay out a huge claim and then nit pick over a few hundred in costs. They are such fools.

For the moment you wil not need to worry about costs or extra interest etc.
Go the court with your complete file and blank paper to take good notes.

Make sure that you take our proposed order fro directions.

Warn the judge that you would like to present video evidence in court as if it ever goes to court then you should play extracts of the Whistleblower programme. You will point to the Yorkshire Bank costing system and explain that it is inconceivable that the bigger banks don't have exactly the same systems in their organisations.

The most important this is to get the disclosure order.

If you are contacted by the bank about settlement. If they offer 100% of your claim unconditionally then you must accept. They will not have calculated interest until that point so interest is a "given". You don't need to agree the figgure then and there. Just get the to confirm that it will be plus interest which you will calculate. If they don't say an unequivocal yes then tell them to go away until they agree.
Tell them that you want it in wirting because you have seen Whistleblower and you don't trust them.
If it has been fast tracked then simply say yes to their offer - but that you will be calculating your costs and you will let them know what they are. If they try to get you into a fixed figure then refuse and tell that you will do it your way - not theirs.
If they refuse then you tell them that you are proceeding with the case until they give you an unequivocal agreement.
You can remind that that they got themselves into the mess and so they shouldn't try to do you any favours.
Don't pussyfoot with them. You have seen the programme. They operate within a dishonest selling culture. Don't start trusting them at the last moment.

Look beyond the lace bonnet and the ruff collar. It's not grandma!