How I beat Cabot and Hodsons

[davidro99]

Hi All,

 

I have not posted here for a bit as I was so engrossed in dealing with Cabot and Hodsons.

 

Basically, they sent their standard three line letter saying I owe them money (£5900 ish) and I sent them a three page letter back saying no I dont.. Prove it.

 

They issued and sent the file to Hodsons. I sent part 18 questions to Hodsons and the court along with my defence (about 20 pages long) listing their failures in the case and I today recieved this:

 

[EDIT]

 

It would take a while for me to post everything I sent to them, but if anyone could benefit from my assistance, I will be happy to oblige.

 

I shall be writing to Cabot first thing on Monday beginning my claim against them for costs. If anyone could assist by giving me the name of the director there, I read it here once but cannot remember where. I would like to write directly to him.

 

As a bit of background, I am a lawyer, but I do not deal with debt cases as a claimant. I help friends and family with debt defences and police fines etc.

 

If I can be of assistance, or you would like to know about a specific element of my case, please post here and I will try to respond.

 

Regards,

David.

Edited June 23, 2008 by Rooster-UK
Personal details removed.

[itsamomentintime]

lovely Ken Maynard i believe

[Sol]

Well done!

[pt2537]

righty then, time to stuff them for costs tooo then;)

 

Great result

[PriorityOne]

Fantastic.... !! Please keep us updated.

[Captain Spaulding]

Well done, please post up as much as possible to help the rest of us!!

[davidro99]

Hey,

 

Thanks for the messages, I shall post all of the info on the case shortly. too tired now. It was the part 18 request for further information which i copied from here and amended slightly that I think was the final nail in the coffin for them.

 

Cabot 0 = Dave 1

[davidro99]

Ok,

 

So here is the Defence I filed to their claim.

 

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

 

 

In the NORTHAMPTON COUNTY COURT Claim Number [EDIT] XXXXX

 

 

Cabot Financial (UK) Limited

(Claimant)

 

 

-v-

 

 

 

[EDIT] davidro99

(Defendant)

 

 

 

 

DEFENCE

 

 

 

 

• The Defendant acknowledges no debt whatsoever to the Claimant and/or any other company.
  

• The Defendant has no knowledge of any loan taken out through the Halifax Plc whether under reference xxx or otherwise. The Claimant is therefore put to strict proof of each and every allegation made within the particulars of claim.
  

• The Defendant admits that the sum of £6184.52 has not been paid to the Claimant by the Defendant. However, this is due to the contention that the Claimant has mis-identified the relevant Defendant and that the Defendant owes no money whatsoever to the Claimant.
  

• The Defendant received correspondence from the Claimant dated 27th December 2007 detailing an alleged debt. (See exhibit DJR1 attached)
  

• The Defendant telephoned the Claimant on 31st December 2007 at 11.15am to advise that the Defendant was not the debtor they sought payment from.
  

• The Defendant was advised during that conversation that it was for him to prove that he was not the debtor and not for them to prove he was.
  

• The Defendant sent an e-mail to the Claimant on 31st December 2007 at 11.19am stating that he was not the debtor they sought (see exhibit DJR2 attached). The Claimant failed to respond to that e-mail.
  

• The Defendant received a letter dated 21st January 2008 from the Claimant which had no reference to the e-mail sent previously (See exhibit DJR3 attached)
  

• The Defendant sent an e-mail to the Claimant on 24th January 2008 at 6.47pm further acknowledging no debt to the Claimant and requesting the Claimant provide evidence to show otherwise (See exhibit DJR4 attached).
  

• The Claimant responded to this e-mail on 25th January 2008 at 9.08am stating: “Thank you for your e-mail, it has been passed to the relevant department for review. Please note that our fully responce will be delivered to your postal address”. (See exhibit DJR5 attached).
  

• The Claimant failed to fully respond to this e-mail.
  

• The Claimant then performed a search of the Defendants credit reference file on 28th January 2008 under cover of an ‘unrecorded enquiry’ (See exhibit DJR6 attached). This search was performed without the Defendants permission.
  

• The Defendant then received a letter from Hodsons Solicitors dated 28th February 2008 warning of court proceedings and failing to provide a response to the Defendants letters of 31st December 2007 and 24th January 2008 (See exhibit DJR7 attached).
  

• The Claimant again performed a search on the Defendants credit reference file on 29th February 2008 under cover of an ‘unrecorded enquiry’ (see Exhibit DJR8 attached). This search was performed without the Defendants permission.
  

• The Defendant wrote to the Claimant on 3rd March 2008 requesting a copy of the executed agreement the Claimant was seeking to enforce (See exhibit DJR9 attached). The Claimant has failed to respond to this letter.
  

• The Claimant performed yet another search of the Defendants credit reference file on 3rd March under cover of an ‘unrecorded enquiry’ (See exhibit DJR10 attached). This search was performed without the Defendants permission.
  

• The Defendant also wrote to Hodsons Solicitors on 3rd March 2008 on similar terms to that sent to the Claimant of even date (See exhibit DJR11 attached). Hodsons Solicitors have failed to respond to this correspondence.
  

• The Defendant avers that the Claimant has brought a claim against an innocent person who has no connection with the Debt claimed. The Defendant attaches a list of possible alternative Defendants and the Claimant is put to strict proof that it has explored all of these possible alternatives prior to issuing these proceedings against the current Defendant (See exhibit DJR12 attached).
  

• The Claimant has failed to provide responses to correspondence and enquiries with the Defendant and/or provide satisfactory evidence that the Defendant is the correct Debtor in this instance pre-action.
  

• The Claim for interest is noted.
  

• The Defendant therefore denies any connection with the debt whatsoever, in any form, and at any time. The Claimant is put to strict proof of each and every allegation within its Particulars of Claim.
  

I believe that the facts stated in this Defence are true.

 

 

Signed. ………………………………..

[EDIT] davidro99

 

 

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

 

Any questions about this, please ask.

 

I shall shortly post the Part 18 Request.

 

Dave,

Edited June 23, 2008 by Rooster-UK
Personal details removed

[davidro99]

Ok guys,

 

SO here is the part 18 Request for further information which I served on the Claimant in this instance.

 

I find it important to use this document in the correect manner. I have seen it referred to on this site incorrectly and incorrect descriptions of what it is and how it should be used.

 

A request for further information under Part 18 is a document which should be lodged at the relevant county court at the time of serving it on the other party. In my particular case, I sent this in with my N150 (Allocation Questionnaire). Usually, the court would then set directions leading to a hearing, but the court simply sent a copy od my request to Hodsons without dealing with directions.

 

This suggested to me that the judge who reviewed the matter decided that he would like to see the response before making any decisions and, wholly in my opinion, he saw that their case was week.

 

21 days after service of such a request, you can make an application to the court for summary judgement in absence of their compliance but in my case (unfortunately) I did not get thet far.

 

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

 

 

 

 

Cabot Financial (UK) Limited

 

(Claimant)

 

 

 

-v-

 

 

 

[EDIT] davidro99

 

 

(Defendant)

 

 

 

 

 

Part 18 Request FOR FURTHER INFORMATION

 

 

 

 

 

Under Part 18 CPR the Defendant hereby requests that the Claimant provide the following information:-

 

 

1. If it remains your case that it is your case that the Defendant is the correct Defendant in this instance and not a mis-trace, please supply the following:

• 
  
  • A true copy of the executed credit agreement and any terms and conditions that applied to the account at the time of default and at the time the account was opened,
    
  • Details of the Branch at which the loan was issued,
    
  • The address given by the applicant at the time when the loan was issued,
    
  • Any previous addresses given by the applicant;
    
  • The account details the loan was paid into,
    
  • A copy of the applicants signature
    

2. Please provide copies of all correspondence sent to xxxxxxxx

 

3. Details of when you purchased the Debt, from whom and the cost of this Debt;

 

4. Please provide details of the number of searches performed on [EDIT] davidro99 and the number of different matches obtained.

 

5. Of any other possible matches for the Debtor, please explain how you have eliminated them from your enquiries.

 

6. Please provide copies of all correspondence sent to any other address in relation to this matter.

 

7. All records you hold on me relevant to this case, including but not limited to:

a. A transcript of all transactions, including charges, fees, interest, repayments and payments and both the original amount of the loan and any repayments made to it the account.

b. True copies of any notice of assignment and/or default notice or enforcement notice that you or the original creditor sent me, with a copy of any proof of postage that you hold.

c. Documents relating to any insurance added to the account, including the insurance contract and terms and conditions, date it was added and deleted (if applicable).

d. Details of any collection charge added to the alleged debt; specifically, the date it was levied, the amount of the charge, a detailed financial breakdown of how the charge was calculated, and what the charge covers.

e. Specific details of the fees/charges levied by any other agency in respect of this alleged debt and a detailed breakdown of said fees/charges and what each charge relates to and on what date said fees/charges were levied.

f. A genuine copy of any deed of assignment, or proof that you have a legal right to this money.

g. A genuine copy of any notice of fair use of my data as required by the Data Protection Act 1998

h. A list of third party agencies to whom you have disclosed my personal data and a summary of the nature of the information you have disclosed.

 

 

 

 

THE DEFENDANT HEREBY REQUIRES THE ABOVE INFORMATION WITHIN 21 DAYS OF SERVICE OF THIS REQUEST. THE CLAIMANTS REPLIES MUST BE ENDORSED WITH A STATEMENT OF TRUTH.

 

 

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

 

If there are any queries regarding this document, please reply.

 

Dave,

Edited June 23, 2008 by Rooster-UK
Personal details removed.

[Captain Spaulding]

Awesome and an excellent thread to help others out!! Well done fella...

[pt2537]

ah , from my reading of this, you had no knowledge of the debt in the first place? if this is the case then its a different scenario to what many of our members find themselves in

[tifo]

glad someone has won!

 

i'm having a nightmare with all my creditors .... big one is Lowell.

[babybear39]

Subscribing...

 

Congratulations

[scottygal]

Well done

 

WE all love to see them being kicked where it hurts for a change LOL

[davidro99]

Hi,

 

In relation to what PT has said above, the way in which I dealt with the claim could be of assistance to many of the users here. Whilst I was genuinly not the correct debtor, a defendant is wholly within his rights to neither admit nor deny the claim and put the Claimant (Cabot) to strict proof of their allegations.

 

On this point, they will surely fail. Then all you need to do is lodge similar Part 18 requests to mine above and they, again, will fail to be able to comply with this.

 

had I not recieved the discontinuance, then my next step was a simple application to the court for summary judgement because 'the claimant has no real evidence in support of his claim'.

 

Hope my information may have helped someone.

 

Dave,

[volvo]

Well Done Davidro99

 

Info may be useful in the future.

 

VOLVO

[Rooster-UK]

Hi davidro99,

 

I have just gone through this whole thread and removed all personal references. Everything that could be used to identify you.

For your own protection, please be careful what you post. Don't give the enemy the bullets to shoot you with.

 

Regards, Rooster.

[pt2537]

Hi,

 

In relation to what PT has said above, the way in which I dealt with the claim could be of assistance to many of the users here. Whilst I was genuinly not the correct debtor, a defendant is wholly within his rights to neither admit nor deny the claim and put the Claimant (Cabot) to strict proof of their allegations.

 

 

Hi davidro99

 

I totally agree there, if you look over any defence i have written it always puts the claimant to strict proof of their allegations

 

what i was trying to point out was the difference between your case and others as people to have a tendency to copy stuff from the forum and i just wanted to point out the difference and the distinction between your case and cases where the person has had a financial relationship with an organisation

 

 

sorry if it caused any misunderstanding

 

regards

paul

[davidro99]

Paul,

 

there is no mis-understanding here and I agree that people may well be doing themselves a dis-service by simply copy and pasting things off here.

 

It is important that people understnad that they need to make it their own with some amendments specific to them.

 

People just need to remember that it if for the Claimant to prove their case and not the Defendant to prove otherwise. Always the best way in law.

 

Here's to more success.

 

Dave,

[Rhia]

David may well be the victim of mistaken identity, however the principle is exactly the same as Cabot buy up debts for a fraction of face value WITHOUT any paperwork except the OC's statement that someone named such and such at a particular address owes £XXX.

Cabot then go hell for leather pursuing that person without any further proof i.e. properly executed agreement etc etc and Hodson's abuse the court system by bringing proceedings without the correct paperwork.

They have been getting away with this for years until CAG and CFC started challenging them so welcome aboard David your expertise is very welcome.

[PGH7447]

Excellent thread well done

[davidro99]

Hey guys,

 

My letter to Ken Maynard went to him today by e-mail and post. I shall not post the contents yet, but will do so once I hear from him. If I do not hear in a few days, then I will post anyway.

 

Dave,

[davidro99]

Hey all,

 

I recieved today a letter direct from Willem Wellinghoff regarding my coimplaint to Ken maynard. He is, apparently, investigating it and will contact me within the next 10 working days.

 

I will not hold my breath just yet!

 

His response will be posted here!!

 

Dave

[BeauBrummie]

Subscribing

 

A+++ top thread.

 

BB

[alamand]

Hi Dave and well done.

 

But if you had previously been paying a debt and offered a full and final settlement offer and then received an unenforceable agreement, how can you deny the debt.

 

There has been many agreements on here that has been unenforceable according to the CCA 1974, but when you put the argument in front of the county court, their cases have lost because, by paying token payments or being on a DMP or just by having statements, you have proved you owned the debt.

 

I am pretty new to this and I am currently going to court with 1 of the major banks. Hit hard times like many others and tried to offer reasonable offers to settle, but they havn't accepted. But I have read many times on here, cases losing, when agreements are obviously wrong.I am just wondering how your scenario can help our situation, when according to the courts, we have acknowledged the debt.

 

Thanks

Alamand