Legal Action: how to start off. IMPORTANT IF YOURE BEING SUED

[jason_mnm]

I have a poor POC from Restons, I have sent CPR31.14 on 20th Jan, Till now no reply from them.. I got till 09Feb to file my defence.

 

Now should I apply for stike out or file embrassed defence? Your kind expert advice will be much appreciated. The link to my thread is

 

http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/mbna/239030-mbna-reston-threating-court-12.html

[diddydicky]

I have a poor POC from Restons, I have sent CPR31.14 on 20th Jan, Till now no reply from them.. I got till 09Feb to file my defence.

 

Now should I apply for stike out or file embrassed defence? Your kind expert advice will be much appreciated. The link to my thread is

 

http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/mbna/239030-mbna-reston-threating-court-12.html

 

it is always better to file some sort of defence (embarrassed will do nicely) before you apply for so

 

 

makes it more difficult for them to re issue if at all

[the_shadow]

it is always better to file some sort of defence (embarrassed will do nicely) before you apply for so

 

 

makes it more difficult for them to re issue if at all

 

Agree, as I understand it no defence filed and the double jeopardy rule then doesnt apply.

 

S.

[pt2537]

please check with northampton county court bulk centre

 

but i can tell you that, when an application is recieved due to non compliance, then the claim will be barred from judgment til the outcome of that application

 

 

i would also question if it is an abuse of the process to bring a vague claim and fail to back it with documents which you are entitled to under 31.14??

 

 

this si what Blackstones says regarding abuse of the process and application on that point

 

The first half of CPR, r. 3.4(2)(b), gives the court power to strike out a statement of case

which is an abuse of the court’s process. This is a power ‘. . . which any court of justice must possess to prevent misuse of its procedure in a way which, although not inconsistent with the literal application of its procedural rules, would nevertheless be manifestly unfair to a party to litigation before it, or would otherwise bring the administration of justice into disrepute among right-thinking people’ (per Lord Diplock in Hunter v Chief Constable of the West Midlands Police [1982] AC 529 at p. 536). Applications to strike out for abuse of process should be made shortly after service. Once the defendant has filed a defence and defended on the merits he is taken to have acquiesced, and it is too late to take the point (Johnson v Gore Wood and Co.[2002] 2 AC 1; Coca-Cola Co. v Ketteridge [2003] EWHC 2488 (Ch); LTL 4/11/2003).

[the_shadow]

please check with northampton county court bulk centre

 

but i can tell you that, when an application is recieved due to non compliance, then the claim will be barred from judgment til the outcome of that application

 

 

i would also question if it is an abuse of the process to bring a vague claim and fail to back it with documents which you are entitled to under 31.14??

 

 

this si what Blackstones says regarding abuse of the process and application on that point

 

Brilliant info as ever PT however I note the defended on the merits part... wouldnt an embaressed defence be exactly the opposite, you are defending on the claim having no merits at all?

 

S.

[pt2537]

Brilliant info as ever PT however I note the defended on the merits part... wouldnt an embaressed defence be exactly the opposite, you are defending on the claim having no merits at all?

 

S.

sadly this is a contradiction, how can you properly assess the merits of the claim without the documents you need?

 

hence why you ask under 31.14 for the docs.

 

now the lender fails to comply, you have a claim that effectively amounts to an abuse of the process as the pleadings are vague, fail to state the account number, fail to set out the nature of the contract in most cases , therefore, how can you defend this?

 

if you do file a defence, then its really going to be 2 or 3 lines

 

The Defendant is unable to plead due to the Claimants failure to comply with its CPR 31.14 duties in disclosing requested documents

 

The Defendant is embarrassed at the lack of detail within the claimants claim and therefore cannot plead due to the Claimants ongoing failures.

 

The Defendant reserves the right to amend this defence and intends to make an application to the court for an order compelling disclosure.

[the_shadow]

sadly this is a contradiction, how can you properly assess the merits of the claim without the documents you need?

 

hence why you ask under 31.14 for the docs.

 

now the lender fails to comply, you have a claim that effectively amounts to an abuse of the process as the pleadings are vague, fail to state the account number, fail to set out the nature of the contract in most cases , therefore, how can you defend this?

 

 

Thanks for clarifying PT.

 

S.

 

S.

[vint1954]

POOR Particulars of claim

 

If i had a pound for every set of pleadings which i saw and which said "the claimant claims monies due" and very little else id be very rich ineed. In fact these forums are rife with them,

 

Now, the problem is when people recieve a claim like this they answer it with some lengthy verbose defence which pleads that you cant plead cos the POCs are vague

 

then what happens , is this plods along for 8 9 or 10 months when you get to a trial

 

and you go in and say but i didnt know or understand what this case was about cos the pleadings were too vague, then the judge looks at you and says " well you silly boy, why didnt you do something about it earlier, youve let this go on for so long............" and either you get A) an order that the Claimant must replead and you have to pay their costs or B) you get told tough you should have made an application and then you have a trial on frankly a CRAP set of pleadings, doesnt do you any good nor do you get justice

 

If the Claimants claim is sooo damn vague that you honestly do not understand what its about, then you should ask the claimant to replead their case properly at the same time as you ask for disclosure. put it clear, the pleadings are not good enough for a trail and therefore ask them to plead their claim properly or you will make an application to the court for an order compelling them to plead proper. After all, a judge will want a properly pleaded claim and defence and both cannot be achieved unless you have all the documents etc that you need and the case is properly put together,

 

So start using the rules to your advantage,

Optima use the excuse that they are restricted to 1080 charachter ( including spaces) as to why their POC is not fully detailed.

[gh2008]

Optima use the excuse that they are restricted to 1080 charachter ( including spaces) as to why their POC is not fully detailed.

 

My response would be that they should have served the Particulars separately.

[DonkeyB]

Yeah, via a real court, with all the evidence referred to in the PoC attached to the claim.

 

And then I woke up.

[vint1954]

My response would be that they should have served the Particulars separately.

And some supporting documents would have been helpful. ( still not received legible ones)

 

These people call themselves solicitors.

[gh2008]

Imagine if we, as LiP, were to submit POC, taking theirs as our example how far we'd get ..........

[straftat]

I'm being sued by a DCA at the moment and before we can even go to trial the claimant has filed for summary judgement to have my defense thrown out!

[emandcole]

I'm being sued by a DCA at the moment and before we can even go to trial the claimant has filed for summary judgement to have my defense thrown out!

 

Usually a sign their claim is weak, not always of course but they may be trying a cheap shot at your expense. Two bites of the apple and all that

[straftat]

So should I just wait for the hearing to throw out my defense?

[diddydicky]

no you have to attend you do not need to prove the case- just show that there is a triable defence

 

they try this on to "test the water" to see what sort of a case you haev got and what sort of judge they have got

[emandcole]

So should I just wait for the hearing to throw out my defense?

 

Do you have a thread for this at all?

[fedupofthis]

EDIT: New thread started here: http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/legal-issues/246218-bryan-carter-lowell-court.html#post2753372

 

Hi there,

 

After reading these threads for some time I thought I had better register and have a little input!

 

Today I received a letter from Bryan Carter & Co dated 3rd Feb saying that on the 10th Feb they would be issuing court proceedings for a debt of 498.97 for Lowell.

 

I thought this may be interesting for people on the forum for a few reasons.

 

Firstly, a bit of history. After a seperation and (her) failed business about 5 years ago there are a number of defaults (5) on my file. These debts have never been acknowledged, no correspondence EVER entered into and passed around agency to agency over the years with the usual letters from the usual suspects.

 

So, in a nutshell, the first correspondence from Bryan Carter is the 7 day notice letter. I have NEVER received anything recorded from anyone, had any home visits or ever answered or had any telephone conversations.

 

I will be out of the country on the 10th for a week so in no position to do anything for at least 7 days.

 

I think as a "green field" case this may be a good opportunity to see how something can be handled from start to finish and the ensuing results. My personal feeling is to wait until I get (or dont get) a court date and take it from there.

 

I would be happy to post more in depth information here later today (I am just off out after getting the post this morning!) and answer any questions etc. by private message.

 

If anyone has any comments or advice to post I would love to read it.

 

Thanks

 

Regards

 

"T"

Edited February 6, 2010 by fedupofthis
updated info

[vint1954]

Hi fedupofthis and welcome to CAG.

 

The first thing would be to start your own thread. You will get more advice tat way, tailored to your case.

 

The dates of default and your last payments are important, as is the date that you last acknowledged the debt. After 6 years ( 5 years in Scotland), the debt becomes statute barred.

 

Whenever you write to anyone from now on include the sentance " No debt to your company or client is acknowledged"

 

You could start off with a bemused letter to Brian Carter and check to see if you have any Default Notices.

 

Also spend as much time as you can, reading other peoples threads involving BC.

 

Post the link to your thread by editing post #118.

[straftat]

Sorry heres my thread emandcole

 

http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/legal-issues/233016-robinson-way-court-case.html

[LB145]

i wouldnt let it get to allocation without the agreement, cos that implies youve filed a defence, which should not have happened without the agreement cos how can you defend a claim when you dont have the key principle document which the claim is based upon?

 

Hi PT - wonder if you could give some info - I am putting together my defence (I am reading so many threads that I am getting too complex and off track) -finally received reply from defendants solicitors - now 2nd attempt at defence - application form (not CCA - this is their claim) devoid of all prescribed terms - reverse badly copied does not belong - DN is ok though - have been advised now that there is no embarrised defence as have received these documents - I had everything ready but now getting more confused than ever. I am reading all the defence threads but its becoming one!

[emandcole]

Hi LB, do you have yoor own thread we can follow? If you're at this stage you need to make sure you have all the documents the claimant has relied upon in the PofC together with ones not specifically mentioned such as a full statement history etc so you can audit the account. Do you have all of this too?

[LB145]

Hi LB, do you have yoor own thread we can follow? If you're at this stage you need to make sure you have all the documents the claimant has relied upon in the PofC together with ones not specifically mentioned such as a full statement history etc so you can audit the account. Do you have all of this too?

 

Thx - this is my thread - have been fine until now and have rather embarrised myself towards the end as I had defence kind of sorted and then the letter arrived with some info - not quite all information received but I went to pieces which is so unlike me

 

http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/mbna/242602-county-court-claim-received.html

[emandcole]

Will go have a look . Stay calm, you need to keep a sound mind

[babble]

Hi There

 

I'm going to start a thread on my new case but one question I have is what is an embarrased defence?

 

I have just received a claim form from Northampton CC and the particulars of claim are as follows:

 

the claimants claim is in respect of monies due pursuant to an account maintained with the claimant

 

and the claimant claims:

1. 8139.98

2. costs

 

I find this pathetic.