Hi Guys,

I need help please. My case has been stayed on Nov 14th and I want to apply to have the stay lifted on the grounds of hardship.

I have had no communication off anyone other than the court who sent me a notice of stay dated 15th August.

I am filling in the N244 form and need to know if I have to send anything else with it? I have filled in section C and have also made a personal statement of my circumstances to enclose with it. I am not sure if I should enclose the statement or not.

I will ring the court tomorrow to see if I have to pay the £35 fee (some others have not had to so I am crossing my fingers on that).

I still cant decide whether to fill in asking to see the judge or not.

I have just rang the Cardiff court who have told me that at this stage, all I have to do is to send a letter to the judge appealing for the stay to be lifted, and my reason why. I have been told that sending an N244 form in is more formal, and at this stage not really necessary. I was also told that a fee will be payable when I do send the form in.

Can anyone help by giving me an idea of what they have written in a similar letter? Probably best thing for me to do now, is to write a letter stating my reasons for having the stay lifted, and see how that goes now that I have been given that advice. Hope I am doing the right thing, and hope someone will help me !!!!!!!!!

I have just rang the Cardiff court who have told me that at this stage, all I have to do is to send a letter to the judge appealing for the stay to be lifted, and my reason why. I have been told that sending an N244 form in is more formal, and at this stage not really necessary. I was also told that a fee will be payable when I do send the form in.

 

Can anyone help by giving me an idea of what they have written in a similar letter? Probably best thing for me to do now, is to write a letter stating my reasons for having the stay lifted, and see how that goes now that I have been given that advice. Hope I am doing the right thing, and hope someone will help me !!!!!!!!!

Lacey

It seems that lifting stays is very difficult because the courts are determined to support the banks now every inch of the way. There is a formal CAG guide to this, but I posted the info below on a thread recently in answer to a similar question. I hope this helps.

I've been studying this intently for weeks, and basically the shotgun approach of appealing all stays does not work. Common sense arguments about injustice and human rights have been brushed away with this conspiracy of the test case - of which the courts are a part now.

The only chance IMO is to focus a succinct application around your personal case and circumstances.

1 Are there special circs about your case? Close to judgement, bank failed to send papers, used delaying tactics etc. Stuff that argues why your case should really be over now anyway. Dish the dirt on the bank.

2 Your hardship. This is the subject of much debate, because like most stuff around the test case nothing is clear, so the courts stay everything (even credit cards), the banks win and we lose. You need to stress particularly if you receive benefits and whether the bank has been taking these. What debts do you have - especially priority ones like arrears of mortgage, utilities, income tax, council tax etc.

3 Threat of further problems. If you don't get your money back will there be mega grief, possibly leading to bailiffs, repossession, court claim against you, defaults etc. These are very strong grounds if you can show them.

4 Also stress the hardship of having forked out for claims and now finding that this money will not be returned for at least a year. This is small point, but very symbolic of the injustice, particularly where you paid it before the test case was announced and paid it in good faith believing that the court would deliver the service it was paid for.

I hope these points help. I would appreciate any feedback from members on these observations, or suggestions for amendment.

Varangian

Ok, Posted the letter to ask the judge to lift the stay today. I laid it on thick about the debt and circumstances and how terrible the bank has been. Just hope it works. I will let you know.

Just wondering if anyone knows how long it will be before I get a reply to my letter, is there some kind of timescale?

Im feeling a bit nervous about it now, I really hope the judge will lift the stay.

when i applied the judge came back to me within 7 days and although I had ticked no hearing -he agreed to see me. I did not have to go as bank settled. If you go to FSA website there is the agreement where it says in black and white - hardship cases should be filtered through- suggest you print that off to take with you - and send a copy to your bank.

Jan

Well I have no idea yet if he will ask to see me. What do I do if he doesnt, and he wont do anything about lifting the stay?

Well, I have just received a response back to my letter.

Its on a form headed GENERAL FORM OF JUDGMENT OR ORDER and it reads

Before DISTRICT JUDGE HENDICOTT siting at Cardiff County Court Civil Justice Centre.

UPON READING the Claimants submissions objecting to the proposed order of stay IT IS ORDERED THAT

1 The sjbmissions be treated as an application to remove the stay in the order of 15-Aug-2007

2 The application be refused.

3 As this application has been refunsed without a hearing, either party may apply fot the application to be reconsidered at an oralo hearing. Any such application shall be on notice, and is reserved to HHJ Hickinbottom or DJ Hendicott unless expressly released by either.

What can I do now, is it worth my while asking for an oral hearing (send in the official form), or will I be wasting my time? Or does this mean that I would be welcomed to appear and put my points over orally? I can not add any more information to my application than what I have already given in the letter I sent in. I really need this cash.

Hi, looks like all us Cardiff claimants are going to receive exactly the same as you... drop in in the Cardiff thread in the Barclays forum...we can all put our heads together and discuss the pros and cons of appealing (again).

Can anyone help me?????

As I have already said, dated 11th Sept I received a response letter of the court to the letter I sent asking to have any stay lifted. In that I was told that the application for the stay to be removed has been refused.

Dated 15th Aug, I had a letter off the court stating that the claim be stayed with immediate effect, pending the ultimate determination of the commercial court litigation, and then said what to do if I wanted to apply to have the stay lifted.

After sending my letter asking appealing to the judge to continue with my case, and after having it refused, I came to the conclusion that it was a waste of time continuing.

However, on 21st September I received a letter of DG Solicitors saying that they were going to apply to the court for an order to stay the action until resolution of the banks proceedings with the OFT.

How can the court tell me my case has been stayed, when its not until weeks later that I get a letter of the solicitors telling me that they are going to apply for a stay? I really dont understand.

DG solicitors have obviously sent out the letter in error and not updated your file with the stay information.

You might want to phone the court just to check.