hadyanth vs Lloyds TSB **WON in COURT!**

[hadyanth]

Hi all,

 

Just to point out, I am at the stage now where:

 

 

• My court bundle was sent before deadline of 4pm 26th July 2007 (fee also paid)
  
• Court date set for: 10:00 - 11th September 2007 at Willesden County Court, 9 Acton Lane, London NW10 8UX
  
• Contacted Sechiari Clark & Mitchell (Sean Copping) to confirm receipt of bundle *confirmed* (Recorded delivery verifies as 'signed for')

Initially a friend of mine who is an accountant was helping me through this and wrote up the initial letter which I'm assuming was the LBA and wrote up the banking charges summary sheet. I got the charges all laid out on a statement from the bank. The statement was sheet after sheet of ONLY account charges, I'm not sure whether I was lucky in this or just flirted well enough with the assistant in the LTSB branch . Nevertheless I included this - as well as all the necessary documentation after following advice I have read in various threads here (GuidoT and GaryH have helped me out particularly (cheers guys)). I am now on my own with this as my accountant mate has gone abroad.

 

here are the directions I received;

 

========================================================

The Court's Order of it's own initiative stated the following directions.

 

Upon considering the papers filed herein

 

DISTRICT JUDGE STEEL ORDERED that

 

 

1. Allocate claim to small claims track and be listed in accordance with the accompanying notice
   
2. The Claimant to do by 4pm on 26th July 2007

 

(i) clarify the claim by filing in court and serving on the Defendant the following information;

(a) In a schedule under the headings 'date', 'amount' and 'description' give details of each item in respect of which a refund is sought.

 

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

 

© 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 any decided cases and other legal materials to be relied upon.

 

 

(ii) pay to the Court the allocation fee in the sum of £100 or provide evidence that the claimant is exempt from payment of fees.

 

 

and if the Claimant fails to comply with this order the Claim will stand struck out without further order.

3. Subject to the Claimant complying with paragraph 2 the Defendant do by 4pm on 23rd August 2007 clarify the Defence by filing in court and serving on the Defendant the following information;

 

(a) pursuant to what contractual provision each charge identified in paragraph 2 was made.

 

(b) whether such charge is accepted to be a penalty and if not why not.

 

© 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 showing the basis upon which the charge was calculated and all evidence to be adduced at trial to show that the charge was fair and reasonable.

 

(e) The statements of any witnesses whose evidence is to be relied upon at the hearing.

 

(f) Copies of any decided cases and other legal materials to be relied upon.

 

and if the Defendant fails to comply with this order the Defence will stand struck out without further order and judgement be entered for the claimant for the sum claimed.

 

4. Any party affected by this order may apply to have it set aside, varied or stayed provided that any such application is made to the Court in writing no more than seven days after the date on which this order was served on that party.

 

5. The court is of the view that this matter ought to be settled by sensible negotiation or mediation and will take into account the failure of either party to follow such a course when dealing with the question of costs.

 

======================================================

 

Now, I have complied with all the directions set out to me and have sent the complete bundle to the court and to LTSB's solicitors. I hand delivered the bundle to the court because of the risk posed by the postal strikes at the time.

 

I have not heard anything further from the court or the solicitors so far and I am contemplating sending a nudge letter - but I would rather people see my case and comment on anything I can do from now. I'm assuming I have to wait for the defendants deadline of August 23rd to hear anything from them. If I don't then will they then be in breach of the directions set to them??

 

If there is anything further I can put in this post to help anyone help me further then by all means let me know.

 

By the way I have a 'thing' against Lloyds - in that I have been going through all my charges religiously and have spotted one month in 2006 where they charged me a total of £150 charges in the same month. Now I have added this in my statement of evidence and provided the relevent documentation in the terms&condits where it specifically states that there will be no more than £90 of charges in any one month. Now this to me seems like a blow to their defence, but I may just be deluded and the judge will overlook it. What do you think?

 

Anyway i've got blisters now, so, if there is anything else I can do then I would be very very grateful.

 

Cheers

[Audreygreeneyes]

they had to serve ont he court an me by the 24th and faile dot do so.. they were given a stay yesterday by the court. despite my best efforts.......

[hadyanth]

Really? Well thats a pain, so even though they fail to comply with the directions given by the judge they still managed to get a stay granted on the case??

 

That reeks of something rotten!

 

This can't be right, surely there is something we as consumers can do to enforce the 'already set' rules of the order. Or at least demand that Lloyds explain to the Claimant and the Court the reason for (a) non-compliance (b) grounds for staying the case

 

Maybe i'm just ranting here but this just seems a bit fishy.

[hadyanth]

I'm bumping this thread up because I would really like to know if someone can recommend a letter as explained above.

 

Cheers

[nicsussex]

You seem to have done everything required of you and I think that there is no chance that LTSB will comply with their side of the court order, looks to me that the judge has had quite enough of their silly games! I'm fairly sure that this has been the case in your area before but it's late and I can't find a link to it right now.

[hadyanth]

Cheers nicsussex, I'll admit that I kind of got the same impression that the Judge is taking a no-nonsense attitude towards the bank as well. Someone else mentioned that also - about the same thing around my area. Perhaps someone will bump into a link for it as it would make useful reading.

 

I am reading through my bundle like a Harry Potter novel to make sure I'm fully versed in what my case is all about... might not do any good - but if it gets to court then i'll sound a little more convincing i guess (i hope it doesn't get there)

 

I will wait then until 23rd August and see if there has been a response from SC&M, if not then i'll scout around for the best letter to send.

 

Cheers.

[hadyanth]

Hi there can anyone tell me how to find the templates section (if there is one). I'm finding it difficult to locate the link. I want to send a letter to **** and cc the court in so that I will be complying with the judges order that he/she wants to see fair negotiation and/or settlement. I know **** will not reply to my letters so that will put this in my favour in the judges eyes and I will re-iterate this at the court hearing.

 

I could just go ahead and write a letter, but I wouldn't be able to word it as well as some I have seen here. I really hope someone can set me in the right direction for this I would really appreciate it.

 

Thank you

[hadyanth]

Here is a letter I have copied from someone else's post (sorry will get the name of the person to thank them) and edited some sections to fit my circumstances. I want to send this to [problem] as I have been advised that nudge letters are a good tool to use.

 

Please let me know if the wording is ok and if there is anything I should change, if you dont mind.

 

It all seems a little quiet on my thread :?

 

Thanks guys.

 

 

======================================================

Sechiari Clark & Mitchell

Department SO

PO Box 499

Upper Ground Floor

1 - 5 Queens Road Quadrant

Brighton, East Sussex

BN1 3XJ

 

 

 

Re: ******** – v – LLOYDS TSB

account no: ******* sort code: *******

Case No. *******

 

 

 

After confirming Sechiari Clark & Mitchell have received my court bundle via a telephone call with a member of your staff, I have sent this letter to offer settlement out of court.

 

I am mindful of the vast number of claims with which you are currently dealing. In order to more speedily resolve this matter, I am willing to accept the sum of £2400.00. I do not agree to waive my rights in respect of any other actions, nor do I agree to a clause of confidentiality.

 

I hope to hear from you very soon so that a reasonable conclusion to this claim might be achieved. I am sure that the courts would approve of our settling this matter in a timely manner and without their further intervention.

 

For your records, I enclose another copy of my schedule of charges (updated with the recent allocation fee). I would also request that you supply me with my reference number with Sechiari Clark & Mitchell as I haven’t yet received any correspondence from your office since entering the claim against your client.

 

I look forward to hearing from you.

 

Sincerely,

 

 

*hadyanth*

 

cc. District Judge Steel

9 Acton Lane

Harlesden, London

NW10 8SB

======================================================

[McIavelli]

For goodness sake remove your personal / account details..You never know who's prowling on here!!!

[hadyanth]

For goodness sake remove your personal / account details..You never know who's prowling on here!!!

 

 

Oh sugar!!

 

Thankyou very much for that, totally forgot to blank it out.

 

My hero

[McIavelli]

Just send me your PIN # & we'll call it quits

[hadyanth]

9999

[hadyanth]

Just to update, I plan to send the letter after the defence deadline on the 23rd August 07.

 

This way if they don't comply with the order then I can use it to my advantage if they apply for a stay. I get the feeling that this Judge will not be so lenient as others if LTSB fail to comply (I hope anyway)

 

Cheers,

[hadyanth]

I get the feeling i'm talking to myself here, but i'll ask anyway.

 

It's just about the defaults Lloyds are enforcing on claimants should they be successful (and even before paying out sometimes).

 

I don't think there is anything on my claim that covers this matter and I would really want to include in the claim or at least include it in a recorded letter - that way they either have to acknowledge this or remove defaults from my name (not alter or amend).

 

Is there any relevant letter I could send that would cover this point without seeming like I wrote a letter just because of that alone (i guess because it shows a weakness). My credit file has been ruined by lloyds defaults and I am planning to buy a house and get married, so getting the defaults off would be better ten-fold than getting the money back.

 

Any help would be wonderful - if all is still silent then fair enough, i'm sure you all have your own cases to worry about

 

Cheers

[Castlebest]

Did your banks solicitor make the deadline of the 23rd ? if not have a look at post #1 of this thread theres a letter written by Rob the Viking (in green) regarding striking out the defence for abuse of proceedure, I think you should be able to edit that toi suit, I'm sure GaryH did a similar one too but I cant find it at the moment.

 

http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/hsbc-bank/71343-when-you-have-filed.html

 

With regard to default notices against you, there is a paragraph in the preliminary letter / LBA template I think you could adapt and add to your letter.

 

pete

[hadyanth]

Sorry about the long gap in the update, I was burgled recently and lost a lot of stuff...

 

Anyway, the defence has not been submitted yet as far as I know - but I haven't been able to focus on it and call the court to confirm. Thank you for the link Castlebest. I want to get the defence struck out and have left a few days afterwards in case of error in postage.

 

However I knew this would happen judging by the other posts I've read about [problem]'s behaviour.

 

I will edit the letter and post it up here before sending - to see what you guys think.

 

Thanks for the continued help. Perhaps i'll be able to afford to replace the stuff that went missing...

 

P.S. I have moved address now and I have changed the address with the bank, is this sufficient or should I inform the solicitors as well?

 

Cheers.

[hadyanth]

This is the letter I have chopped and changed from other letters to suit my particular situation.

 

Please let me know what you think as I want to get this sent ASAP.

 

Thank you all

 

Mr *hadyanth*

*************

*********

************

*******

*** ***

 

+44 (0) 7000 000 000

 

For the attention of:

District Judge Steel

Willesden County Court

9 Acton Lane

Harlesden

London NW10 8SB

 

 

hadyanth vs Lloyds TSB

 

Claim No: 7QZ21921

DATE: 03/09/07

 

RE: Defendant’s non-compliance in submitting defence by deadline 23rd August 2007

 

District Judge Steel,

 

I write to bring to your attention to the fact that the above deadline has passed and I am not aware of any correspondence or contact regarding the defendant filing a defence as instructed in paragraph 3 in the order of directions. I quote:

 

"3. Subject to the Claimant complying with paragraph 2 the Defendant do by 4pm on 23rd August 2007 clarify the Defence by filing in court and serving on the Defendant the following information...

 

…and if the Defendant fails to comply with this order the Defence will stand struck out without further order and judgement be entered for the claimant for the sum claimed."

 

Over 11 calendar days have now elapsed since the submission deadline of the defence as instructed by District Judge Steel in the order of directions. In my opinion I believe this to be totally unacceptable, with the defendant showing a severe disregard for the clear instructions set out by the Court and complete failure to contact either the Court or the claimant.

 

Therefore, in accordance with paragraph 3 in the order of directions set out by District Judge Steel, I respectfully request that the defence be struck out on the grounds of direct non-compliance.

 

I am aware that the defendant is now routinely requesting a stay in proceedings in claims of this nature, by either indicating an intention to negotiate a settlement in section A of their allocation questionnaire or on the grounds of the pending OFT test case.

 

I am strongly opposed to such requests for a stay, upon the basis that the defendant, both during and prior to this litigation, has rebutted or ignored all prior attempts by the claimant to narrow the issues in dispute, or otherwise engage in meaningful dialogue which may have facilitated an amicable settlement to these matters.

 

It is submitted that such a request by the defendant is highly likely to be an attempt to further frustrate and delay proceedings, and the pattern of settled cases so far would strongly suggest that the defendant does not intend to settle these matters until a hearing date is imminent.

 

Accordingly, I respectfully request that any such movement by the defendant is turned aside.

 

In my attempts to resolve this matter without further misuse of the Courts time, I had twice attempted to contact Sechiari Clark & Mitchell by phone and was abruptly disconnected on both occasions when I asked to speak to the relevant person. Unfortunately I cannot provide evidence of these events; however I now feel that it would not be prudent to continue this method of communication. Therefore I have sent this letter to relay any and all concerns at this time.

 

I am mindful of the vast number of claims with which the defendant is currently dealing with. In order to more speedily resolve this matter, I am willing to accept the sum of £2400.00 as a final settlement of this case. I do not agree to waive any rights in respect of any other actions, nor do I agree to a clause of confidentiality.

 

Please note that I have changed address as the lease on my previous address has expired. My new address is at the top of this letter; my new address has been registered with Lloyds TSB via their telephone banking service. I would like to confirm that – irrespective of my change of location I am still willing to attend court proceedings in Willesden County Court.

 

Should you need to contact me about any matter that may arise in this case, please do not hesitate to do so using either the above address or phone number.

 

I look forward to hearing from you.

 

 

Yours respectfully,

 

 

 

 

 

*hadyanth*

 

 

 

cc. Sechiari Clark & Mitchell

P.O. Box 499

Upper Ground Floor

1-5 Queens Road Quadrant

Brighton

East Sussex

BN1 3XJ

[hadyanth]

I have just spoken to Willesden Court and they said that they are dealing with the correspondence that goes as far back as the 23rd August. So that means there may be a letter from [problem] to request for a stay. I am going to fax the letter to both [problem] and the court today after Lunch so I'd really appreciate if anyone could provide some feedback on the letter above i.e. grammar, correct terms etc...

 

Pretty please! as I don't want the court to make a decision based on [problem]'s letter alone - I want them to consider mine at the same time. Once the stay is granted to those b****ds it will be impossible to remove.

[TBeckett100]

I have just spoken to Willesden Court and they said that they are dealing with the correspondence that goes as far back as the 23rd August. So that means there may be a letter from [problem] to request for a stay. I am going to fax the letter to both [problem] and the court today after Lunch so I'd really appreciate if anyone could provide some feedback on the letter above i.e. grammar, correct terms etc...

 

Pretty please! as I don't want the court to make a decision based on [problem]'s letter alone - I want them to consider mine at the same time. Once the stay is granted to those b****ds it will be impossible to remove.

 

i am in the same boat, court has made a second request for a stay but the backlog means the case will continue on Friday. happy days.

[hudu]

Just subscribing. Fingers crossed for you.

[hudu]

I have just spoken to Willesden Court and they said that they are dealing with the correspondence that goes as far back as the 23rd August. So that means there may be a letter from [problem] to request for a stay. I am going to fax the letter to both [problem] and the court today after Lunch so I'd really appreciate if anyone could provide some feedback on the letter above i.e. grammar, correct terms etc...

 

Pretty please! as I don't want the court to make a decision based on [problem]'s letter alone - I want them to consider mine at the same time. Once the stay is granted to those b****ds it will be impossible to remove.

 

Just to add, letter looks good to me - I did a similar one http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/show-post/post-1077577.html

- much shorter version.

 

Just check spelling of District Judge - missed the 'T' off the end.

 

Good luck.

[hadyanth]

I've sent the letters to both [problem] and The court by fax and posted out copies.

 

Well it's the waiting game from here on out. I really didn't want to get to the Court hearing stage. One can prepare till he's blue in the face - but if you haven't been in a court before it's guaranteed to be 'pants-crapping' time!

 

Ahh well i'm good at things 'on-the-fly' so here's hoping

 

Thanks guys and girls for the support

 

P.S. Thanks for spotting the correction Hudu It's been updated before it was sent. Cheers.

[fzrkitten]

Hi Hadyanth,

 

You made me laugh - I'm at the 'pants' stage this friday!!!

 

Fzrkitten.

[hadyanth]

Good luck there Fzrkitten, I was told by a friend who is - let's just say 'experienced' in court proceedings, that the best thing to have before a nerve-wracking experience is the herbal spray 'Rescue Remedy'. I used it on my driving test years ago and I didn't panic once.

 

It will either work wonders or the Judge will think i'm stoned... either way at least it will be over.

[Pablo Fr]

Hi Hadyanth

 

Thanks for pointing me in the direction of you thread.

 

Reading your letter I have neither contacted the banks solicitors or the court and as my deadline has just past I'm wondering whether it is worth sending the letter yet as I'm sure the court has a huge back log.

 

What do you think I should do, my court hearing date is on 14 Sept.

 

You advise would be appreciated