Welcome Finance and dodgy AOE

[randomnick]

oh and I got a copy of the cleared cheque from the bank today which was sent with the SAR, it has my name scribbled on the back along with some kind of reference number so I will be submitting that to the court as proof they did receive and process my request, they just chose to ignore their obligations and did not forward anything to me!

[legalpickle]

Ok. Have you prepared the spreadsheet with the breakdown of the payments made to Welcome and 8% interest till the date of the scheduled hearing - 23rd January 2009?

 

If you don't know how to calculate the 8% statutory interest then you can search on this site - there is an interest calculator somewhere - or use the Excel version that I use which I have attached to this post.

 

Copy the cheque copy that you have received 2 times [once for the court and once for the Claimant/Respondent] and draft a cover sheet with the same header that I have put on the draft order in my post with your arguments for the Application. Instead of 'APPLICANT'S PROPOSED DRAFT ORDER', write 'APPLICANT'S ADDITIONAL DOCUMENTS FOR HEARING'.

 

Then write below that;

 

1. The Applicant attaches the following documents for the hearing of his Application on 23rd January 2009 at Norwich County Court. These documents have been served on the Respondent by Royal Mail Special Delivery at least 48 hours prior to the hearing due to the short notice provided of the hearing.

 

a) Copy of Applicant's cheque that was cashed by Respondent for the Subject Access Request that the Respondent did not comply with.

 

b) Breakdown of amounts that the Respondent has received from the Applicant by way of an Attachment of Earnings together with a breakdown of statutory interest on those amounts from the dates they were debited from the Applicant's wages.

 

c) The Applicant's Costs Schedule.

 

Statement of Truth:

 

The Applicant [Defendant] believes that all the facts stated in this document are true:

 

Signed: ______________________ Dated: 19th January 2009

 

---------------------------------------------------------------------

Now you will have a and b, we need to do c. Pursuant to CPR 48.6(4)(b) subject to CPR PD 43-48, Section 52.4 the cost that a Litigant in Person may claim is £9.25 per hour.

 

What you need to do is prepare another document with the same header as for the draft order and for the cover sheet with 'APPLICANT'S COSTS SCHEDULE' written in the header line.

 

Below that you should write;

 

The Applicant [Defendant] claims costs incurred in making this Application at the rate of £9.25 per hour pursuant to CPR 48.6(4)(b), subject to CPR PD 43-48, Section 52.4 and court costs that the Applicant has incurred in making this Application. The court fee incurred by the Applicant is £75.

 

Now you need to make a table with 3 columns. 1st column should have just the item number, in consecutive order, i.e. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5,... 2nd column should be longer as this will be the description. 3rd column will have the amount claimed.

 

The numbers in the first column centre in the box. In the second column write the date in the top left - first line, description of what you used the time for in the second line, third line should be aligned to the right and should say how many hours @ £9.25 per hour. The third column should be bottom centred with the total amount.

 

For example (second column, one row);

29th December 2009

Preparation of Application and supporting documents

2 hours @ £9.25 per hour

 

Don't exaggerate, round the time in 15 minute blocks, don't claim for when you spent 30 seconds calling somebody - if you have any like that, or 30 seconds reading a notification from CAG that you have new post from me, that would be exaggerated. Then provide a breakdown here, so I can evaluate it. If you don't know the date then you can estimate it, but make sure it's logical and they can't prove you wrong, for example if you can't remember whether Monday or Tuesday you logged on to deal with it, then write Tuesday unless on Tuesday you spent your whole day and night in meetings.

 

The last line should have no number in column 1, TOTAL right aligned in column 2, and the total amount bolded in column 3.

 

Copy and paste it here, and then we'll finish it.

MS EXCEL_Interest_Calculation_8%_V1.2.xls

[randomnick]

Ok thats a great help, I will post it as soon as I have it prepared, probably this evening. Thanks again

[randomnick]

Hope this opens ok.....

 

I have included costs way back from the beginning when I got the AOE Notice. I presume this is correct as it all relates to the case.

Costs Schedule.doc

Edited January 16, 2009 by randomnick

[legalpickle]

I'm PMing a mod to approve both our attachments as I can't check it till then.

 

Assuming it's not exaggerated, that should be Ok. I'll look through it when it's approved.

[legalpickle]

Ok, now that our attachments have been approved, I've been able to go through your attachment. Rather than modifying it and posting another attachment and waiting for that to be approved, I'll explain here what should be changed and added.

 

1. The text 'CLAIM NO.: XXXXXX' should be closer to the text above it and should be on the right hand side of the page, preferably on the same line, but if you can't do that then on the next line.

 

2. The lines above and below 'APPLICANT'S COSTS SCHEDULE' should be full lines - like borders. In Word you can normally do that by pressing the '-' button on your keyboard about 10-20 times and pressing 'Enter'. If this doesn't work then go to Format, Borders and Shading and select the top and bottom parts of the image in the right hand box.

 

3. 'Making Application for Re-determination of Attachment of Earnings amount' is not true. You didn't make an Application as such. Rename it to 'Preparing request for re-determination of Application of Earnings amount.'

 

4. You can't claim for making the SAR to the Respondent. Remove that one.

 

5. Don't capitalize all first letters of the words. 'Attachment of Earnings', 'Application' and 'Set Aside Judgment' are the only words within a sentence that should be capitalized.

 

6. 4 should be: 'Attending (incl. travel) hearing for re-determination of amount of Attachment of Earnings.'

 

7. 5 should be: 'Preparation of Application to Set Aside Judgment.'

 

8. 6 should be: 'Preparation of additional documents for hearing of Application to Set Aside Judgment.'

 

9. 7 should be: 'Attending (incl. travel) hearing of Application to Set Aside Judgment'.

 

The line with the amount of hours, should not be bold and should be aligned to the right of each cell. Delete the spare line afterwards.

 

Remove the dash after each date and put the description on a second line.

 

Change the alignment of the text " The Applicant [Defendant] claims costs incurred in making this Application at the rate of £9.25 per hour pursuant to CPR 48.6(4)(b), subject to CPR PD 43-48, Section 52.4 and court costs that the Applicant has incurred in making this Application. The court fee incurred by the Applicant is £75." to 'Justified' which will make it look clearer.

 

You don't need so many spaces; delete some of the lines above and below that text, so there is only one line gap between the header and the text, and the text and the table.

 

Remove the last spare line below TOTAL. (Obviously amend the total due to point 4 of mine above).

 

Finally at the bottom of the sheet, add the following text [one line after the table];

 

Statement of Truth:

 

I believe that the facts stated in this Costs Schedule are true:

 

Signed: _________________ Dated: 20th January 2009

 

Mr. xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

 

 

 

I am not going to comment on the amount of time you have claimed, but I doubt the Judge would accept it. Firstly, did each item take up the whole hour, or did it take 15 minutes, or half an hour less? Secondly, it seems a bit exaggerated to claim 2 hours for these additional documents or 3 hours for seeking legal advice. You are unlikely to get those requests if you ask for so much time, I am talking from experience. There is no guarantee you will get costs but the more reasonable it looks to the Judge the more chances you have. I am playing devil's advocate here, no offence is meant.

 

Once all the documents are ready - my interest spreadsheet attachment has now been approved, so you can use that - prepare a cover letter to the court and the claimant with the following text:

 

Dear Sirs,

 

20th January 2009

 

Re: Welcome Financial Services Limited vs. Mr. xxxxxxx

Claim No.: XXXXXXXXXX

Application Hearing on 23rd January 2009 at xxxam/pm

 

I write further to the above matter.

 

Please find attached further documents, including the Applicant's Costs Schedule and a breakdown of amounts debited by the Respondent from the Applicant's wages in preparation for this hearing.

 

Sincerely,

 

 

Mr. XXXXXX

 

- Add another 2 paragraphs to the letter to the court as follows:

 

Please endeavour to make sure that these documents are on the court file in time for the hearing.

 

I can confirm that these documents have also been served on the Respondent by Royal Mail Special Delivery at least 48 hours prior to the hearing.

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Sign all documents. Print copies for yourself and sign those too. Take copies of everything to the hearing. Make sure that the Costs Schedule, Breakdown of amounts they've debited and everything else including special delivery receipts and cover letters is taken to the hearing, preferably in a folder with each document in another plastic.

 

Send the relevant documents tomorrow by special delivery (not recorded delivery) to the Court office and the Respondent.

 

Best of Luck!

 

Keep us posted.

[randomnick]

Just had the hearing, got the same Judge as last time. He has dismissed the application, saying that there is not enough evidence to suggest I would have a successful defense in a claim, and more importantly to him, that it was not made promtly.

 

He made reference to the Data Protection Act and said that he was not in a position, or was his court, to make comment on that!!! What????????

 

In a word. Gutted.

[legalpickle]

Just had the hearing, got the same Judge as last time. He has dismissed the application, saying that there is not enough evidence to suggest I would have a successful defense in a claim, and more importantly to him, that it was not made promtly.

 

He made reference to the Data Protection Act and said that he was not in a position, or was his court, to make comment on that!!! What????????

 

In a word. Gutted.

I don't know what to say. You really got a pillock of a judge.

 

Maybe somebody more experienced than me will be able to help. I think you may need a Solicitor.

[randomnick]

yeah I have just been on the phone trying to arrange one. I take it there is always a right to appeal in these cases?

 

Thanks for all your help so far, I had a bad feeling as soon as I saw the Judges name on the sheet in court.

[legalpickle]

yeah I have just been on the phone trying to arrange one. I take it there is always a right to appeal in these cases?

 

Thanks for all your help so far, I had a bad feeling as soon as I saw the Judges name on the sheet in court.

There is never an automatic right to appeal!

 

You should have asked for a different judge from the clerk. In the big courts they are normally willing to change the judge's. I would have said to them that I want a different judge. I've done it before, as long as you do it before you even go in to the courtroom and ask the clerk.

 

Please keep us posted.

[randomnick]

WOOOOOOOOOOO!!

Received a call from Welcomes solicitors today (Young and Pearce)

I had a succesful appeal hearing in August, and my retrial was set for next week. Now Welcome have decided that it will not be cost effective to pursue the matter and have drafted a consent order for me to sign which sets aside the judgement, removes it from the rigister, dismisses any future claim and cancels the attachment of earnings order, obviously this means all I have paid to date under that order will be repaid to me.

 

All I have to do is sign and return which I will do tomoro by fax. The only condition is that there be no claim for costs, which I can live with if it means the whole sorry mess is put to bed.

 

I dont believe for one minute that their reasons for not pursuing it are down to cost, I would like to think I have made such a good case over the last year that now its facing retrial, they realise its not going to go their way!

 

So... I now am in the Welcome Won Club, well once the court stamps the order. Thanks guys for all your help on this!

 

Nick

[randomnick]

bump!

[postggj]

Randomick

 

Please Please Post Up Or Email Me The Consent Order To Check It Out And See If Its Legit

 

Let Me Know If You Need My Email Addy

 

welcome To The Welcome Won Clud

 

A Growing Band

[randomnick]

Hi

Thanks for the message, as the hearing is due to take place tomorrow, I dont want to post the order for all to see, but Im happy to email it to you, cant add an attachment on the email system here tho.

[postggj]

ill send you my email addy for you to send the attachment

[postggj]

hi randomnick

SEEN THE CONSENT ORDER AND I AM HAPPY WITH IT

IME SURE THERE WAS MORE TO THIS THAN MET THE EYE

ALARM BELLS TELLING ME,

WHAT DID WELCOME NOT WANT TO RELEASE IN COURT FOR THIS TURNAROUND

 

HATS OFF TO YOU THOUGH

 

WE GOT THERE IN THE END

 

 

WELCOME TO THE WELCOME WON CLUB:D:D:D:D