Thread: Sueme V LTSB - Allocation to fast track

Hi everyone,
I have recently been given notice that my claim for £4,900 + interest has been allocated to the fast track.
The judge has ordered that to prepare for trial (yikes!) "Each party shal give standard discovery to every other party by list by 11th June" and

"The latest date for service of any request to inspect for for a copy of a document is 18th June."

I will be basing my list on the suggestions mentioned elsewhere in the site.

However, I was wondering if there was anyway in which I could use this process to request that ltsb provide the Court and I with a Breakdown as to how their charges have been arrived at.

All suggestions welcome.

Sueme

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Thank you so much for your prompt reply.

Sorry to be thick, but when you say, "Post your order in full" do you mean that I enclose it with my Disclosure List to Court and ltsb?

Sueme

Ok will do at lunch-time. In the meantime, I was thinking of including the following as a suggestions for a draft order. What do you think?

"
The Court Manager
****** county court
Court Address
Court P/code

[date]



Dear Sir/Madam



You -v- Bank Plc
Claim Number: *******


It is noted that in my case referenced above that the Allocation Questionnaire has been dispensed with. I am aware that this is likely due to the large volume of claims that consumers are bring against the high street banks. I am also aware that to date the banks have failed to defend a case in the courts and that they often use the court process to extend and delay the period of time within which they deal with these matters satisfactorily.


In light of this the Claimant respectfully suggests that special *directions* may be made as per the enclosed *draft* order.

The Claimant believes the proposed directions will further the Overriding Objectives in that they identify the most fundamental issues in dispute (as detailed below), and allow them to be assessed in advance of any hearing so that this claim may proceed justly and expeditiously.

- The crux upon which this claim rests is the true loss suffered by the Defendant as a result of the contractual breach from which its charges arise. If the Defendant cannot substantiate the cost of each charge as proportionate to its loss incurred, it has charged contractual penalties contrary to the Unfair Terms in Consumer Contracts Regulations 1999 and common law principles established since the early 1900's.

- In the event that the Defendant's charges were accepted as being a fee for a service (which is refuted), examination of its true costs is required to determine whether the price is reasonable as required by the Supply of Goods and Services Act 1982.

The Claimant believes that if the Defendant has the serious intention of defending this claim at trial as is indicated by its defence, that it is incumbent on it to disclose such information. Further, the proposed directions are already routinely ordered in claims of this nature in the Mercantile Court in London, as well as in small claims track cases in Leicester, Derby, Chesterfield, Northampton and Mansfield County Courts.

As the law relating to contractual penalties is long established, the Claimant believes the outstanding issues to be of fact. Accordingly, the Claimant respectfully requests that this claim be allocated to the small claims track, and estimates that the hearing of the claim should last no longer than one hour.

Yours faithfully,

[name]

enc: Draft Order

*THEN ON A SEPARATE PIECE OF PAPER - THIS:*

*Draft Order for Directions*

1. The Claimant shall within 14 days of service of this order send to the Defendant and to the Court:
* a) A schedule setting out each charge repayment of which is sought, showing the date, amount, and reason given (if any) for that charge being made;

* b) Copies of any statement or other document relied upon as showing that each and every charge has been made;

* c) A statement of evidence of all matters relied upon as tending to show that the charges are irrecoverable as penalties or otherwise;

* d) Copies of decided cases and other legal materials to be relied upon.
If the Claimant fails to comply with this order, the claim will be struck out without further order.


2. The Defendant shall within 14 days thereafter file and serve a response to the Claimant's schedule, stating in respect of each item claimed;
* a) Pursuant to what contractual provision such charge was made, producing a copy of the contractual document relied upon;

* b) Whether such charge is accepted to be a penalty, and if not why not;

* c) If such charge is alleged to be a pre-estimate of the Defendant's loss incurred by the Claimant's actions (whether or not such action is treated as a breach of contract between the parties), all facts and matters intended to be relied upon as showing that such was a proper estimate of such loss, and all evidence to be adduced at trial as to what the true cost of dealing with the matter was;

* d) If such charge is not alleged to be a pre-estimate of the Defendant's loss incurred by the Claimant's actions then facts and matters intended to be relied upon showing the basis upon which the charge was calculated and all evidence to be adduced at trial as to show that the charge was fair and reasonable.

* e) Any witness statements.

* f) Copies of decided cases and other legal materials to be relied upon.
If the Defendant fails to comply with this order, the Defence will be struck out without further order."

Here is the order
District Judge Travers has considered the statements of case and allocation questionnaires filed, and allocated the claim to the fast track.
"The tial of the claim will take lace during the period commencing 10 September and ending 28 September at a venue to be notified.
The judge orders that you and the other party is prepare for trial as follows:
Disclosure shall take place as follows:
Each party shall give standard discovery to every other party by list.
The latest date for delivery of the lists is 11 June 2007.
The latest date for service of any request or for a copy of a document is 18 June 2007.
Each party shall serve on every other party the witness statements of all witnesses of fact on whom he intends to reply.
There shall be simulateous exchange of such statements no later than 25 June 2007.
Each party must file a completed pre-trial checklist no later than 6 August 2007."

Sueme

Thanks very much for your help.
Do I need to send in all the document by Monday or just the list?

Sueme

Phew, that's a relief... do you think I should also list Current account terms and conditions in the list of lauthorities? - Not that I have a copy yet. I'm rather hoping your plea for copies will come up trumps. My account is a Gold account.

Sueme

So here it is the 14th June and SCM/ltsb have failed to serve their standard discovery by list either to me or the court. (The court order said discovery by all parties had to be done by 11th).
The case management team in the court have advised me to write to the court then the judge will decide whether or not to allow extra time or strike out!

Hi sueme,

Just read your thread. I'm about to send my request for refund to Lloyds and your case seem to have some similarities to my own.

Your claim for 4900 + interest, did this take it above the Small Claims threshold? What interest rate did you use in your calculations and which spreadsheet did you use?

I'm about to claim 5606 + interest at 15.7% (the LTBS gold service o/d rate), I'm very nervous as to me this is a vast amount of money, potentially life changing. Any pointers or guidance would be really appreciated.

Have to take my hat off to this garyh, what a gentleman!

Finally, I wish you all the best and fingers crossed you're almost there.

Regards,
Matt

Hi Mattemotion,
I limited my claim to under £5000 + interest as I thought it would "automatically" keep in the small claims court. I have absolutely no idea why it ended up in the Fast Track!
I calculated the interest using Martin Lewis's tool on the moneyexpert website which is at the statutory interest rate of 8%.
In terms of guidance and pointers I guess you just need to read as much on this site as possible.
I'm about to claim approx £500 from Barclays but I am going to pursue the Ombudsman service first and hope things will be settled via that route as I am finding the court process pretty stressful.
All the best.

Sueme

Thanks Sueme,

I'm going for the 15.7% because I've been in an o/d situation throughout the 6 years and as these charges were taken illegally, it's arguable that my o/d is made up entirely of these charges, for which I'm additionally being charged 15.7%!!!

As my claim is in excess of 5000 anyway, I might as well go the whole hog as it takes my claim up to over 10000. Probably why I'm nervous and don't want to make any mistakes!

Anyway, stress-less, your almost there and soon you can treat yourself to a nice holiday.

Matt

It's now the 20th and as I've not heard anything from the court (nor [problem]) I need to get preparing my Witness Statement. I'll base it on the templates in the "Got a Court Date?" thread.
However, I have a question.
The Court order states that
"Each party shall serve on every other party the witness statements of all witnesses of fact on whom he intends to reply. There shall be simultaneous exchange of such statements no later than 25 June 2007."
What exactly does "simultaneous exchange" mean?
Any suggestions gratefully received.

I'll just send the copies on the same day then!