WE WON!!!! Am a bit paranoid about posting more details as there is a confidentiality clause attached.....do I need to be??? Thank-you all for your help.....donation on way

Thank-you again everyone for giving me such great advice and help. Am off on holiday tomorrow afternoon, in court with my mum in the morning. Will try and log on and let you know the outcome straight away as it might be of use to other people. If it takes a long time though, I might not get a chance but will try my hardest and if not, will update you on my return! Wish us luck, fingers crossed! x

Thank-you so much for taking the time to find out the information for me. I did some research myself last night and found out the same sort of info on without prejudice matters (reporduced below) but wasn't sure how true it was. Your clarification has been really helpful and put my mind at ease somewhat. Will let you know how we get on! Definition from Social Enterprise Coalition website: "However, this does not mean that without prejudice communications can never be brought to the courts attention - they can be mentioned to explain delay and, most crucially, where an offer made in a without prejudice communication is accepted by the other party to the dispute, the act of acceptance can create a legally binding contract, upon which the trail of without prejudice communications becomes open and can be entered as evidence to enforce a partys rights".

aaagggghhhh - really need some help...am in court on Friday (24hours ish) and have a MAJOR problem.... Just been putting court bundles together with my mum and sorting out our defence etc. Have just realised that both the settlement offers from LLoyds are "strictly without predjudice - confidential" and not admissable in court. On both occassions where they made an offer they sent another letter (dated the same day) which says they intend to defend the case in court. They have covered themselves completely. What do we do about the settlement offer letters if we can't show then in court? Can we refer to them at all? They are our only proof that an offer was ever made. Also in my mum's letter back accepting them she says "I accept this offer without prejudice" - can we include those???

thanks (again!). Will be focusing on the fact they have already made an offer, don't really see why they should be allowed to go back on it because of test case but we will have to see what the judge says I guess!

*bump* If I am a 'lay representative' does that mean I will have to speak for the whole case or that my mum can do the main stuff and I can speak to the judge directly if needed? Also, I notice that in the court bundle one of the items is an application for removal of the stay. As this is the stay hearing and one has not been put on the case yet should we include this? Should we have sent this letter already and can we add it to the court bundle in case the stay is given? Soz, not really sure what to do with it....

Sorry one more thing....Do we have to give the bank a copy of our case/papers before the hearing? I know that this is good practice but as it is next week, I don't think we will have a chance to get it together and send to them before then.

Thank-you. Sound advice. Will let you know what happens.

Hadn't thought about the phonebill - thanks! We have copies of both settlement letters. With the first (sent on 20 July) my mum crossed out the amount and replaced it with what it should have been had we added up the spreadsheet properly (sounds ridiculous I know, but the solicitors said that we should do that rather than going back to court to change it). After not receiving the money my mum called them and they said that because she had changed the figures they wouldn't agree to it. She explained that she had been told to do that and they said the lady who instructed her to do it had since left the company. She signed a second acceptance form this time for the stated amount and agrred to all the conditions, confidentiality etc. She did this beacause the test case had now been announmced and she wanted a quick resolution. Still nothing. On 20 Aug we received a letter from the court to say a hearing date had been allocated for late November. On 19 Oct we recieved another letter to say Lloyds hearing for a stay on the case would be heard on 9 November. Can they do this??? What should we do now???

*bump* is anyone there? Could really do with some advice. Spoke to bank's solicitors earlier in the vague hope that they might honour the offer and we would not have to go to. They made it clear that there was "no way this case would be settled out of court" and suggested our telephone dealings with them had been "unprofessional" - read stressed. Don't think we kept a log of the calls - are we scuppered?

Hi, Apologies from the outset this is likely to be a long post - please bear with me as I could really do with some advice! My mum is in court next Friday as Lloyds have applied for a stay on her case. We are not sure what we need to do and what type of information we will need to take with us. Is this a proper hearing? I understand that the stays seem to be going in the bank's favour at the moment - has anyone actually succeeded with this? I am very annoyed at my mum having to go through this as the bank orignally made her an offer on 20 July (approx 1 week before the test case was announced). When we checked the paperwork we realised we had made an errror on the court form and should have claimed for a further £350ish but had added up two columns wrong (stupid I know, don't know how that happened as had already done my own claim and helped a few friends do theirs also). She called and spoke to one of Lloyds solicitors who said not to worry about going through the process of changing the amount with the court as she could see the calculations herself but just to amend the amount on the paperwork and send it back and they would honour it. We couldn't believe they were being so straight-forward and figured that as the test case had just been announced they were clearing any outstanding cases quickly. How wrong we were.... Since then we have been chasing them for the money to no avail. My mum has had numerous phonecalls with the solicitors acting on behalf of LLoyds Bank. When they told her she was misinformed about being able to change the amount on the form she asked for another to be sent to her and signed it as it was and sent it straight back. Since then we have heard from the court that Lloyds have applied for a stay on her case and this is to be heard next Friday. Can they do this when she has already accepted their offer twice? Also should we have written to the court before now to object to the stay hearing?

please ignore as posted in wrong place

Thanks to both of you for your messsages. I can't reclaim the £500 seperately as it was a mistake I made when calculating the 8% interest you add on at the court stage. I feel a bit gutted about it as my mum does need the money and the bank have made her life difficult for years. If the test case hadn't been announced I would definately go for it but I just don't know. She has got 10 days to respond before the offer is withdrawn, do you think it is best to wait till end of week and see if anymore info becomes available re: the test case?

I have been helping my mum claim back her bank charges and she had an offer from her bank for the amount she asked for last week. When we went to double-check it was the amount she had claimed, I realised I had made a massive error and her claim should be for £500 more. It is already at the court stage, I know I could pay £30 to change it but she is worried that with this test cases looming the bank willl either make things difficult or request a stay. What do you think we should do? She really needs the money and is tempted to take it. I think she deserves the whole lot and should file an amendment with the court. However, I don't want to advise her badly and risk her not getting anything for ages.....arrrggghhhhh I am so confused.... Also, the banks put lots of conditions on th eofffer - confidentiallty, not being able to claim in future etc. DO people get the impression that the banks are now playing hardball?

don't think I explained myself properly - if I settle for the amount they offered it would be £750.00 less than I am owed as they have effecvtively taken it off twice