Quinn v NatWest. *** WON ***

[quinny1]

This what I've typed out.Notice that there are one or two slight differences:

(For instance,I have taken out,An additional copy is enclosed.)

 

I write in response to the recently submitted Defence and Request for Further Information you submitted to Northampton Court, to which I have recieved a copy,relating to my claim (claim number – xxxxxxxx) against your client Nat West Bank

 

I understand you have asked for a detailed schedule individually listing all charges debited to my bank account. I have of course provided a schedule of the charges and believe this is sufficient for your clients to exactly understand the details of my case. As your clients have always been fully aware of all charges they have made to my account and indeed, my calculations have been taken directly from information they have supplied me. I suggest you obtain a schedule from your clients as to their confirmation of the charges they have made (and interest thereon).

 

I believe both yourselves and Nat West have been supplied with all of the details necessary to move this claim forwards.

 

I am aware that the Court can order certain and further information from both parties, you appear to have attempted to obtain this information suggesting I am under strict obligations to obey your requests rather than the Courts. With this in mind, I see no reason why I should be sending you any further information relating to this case. It is the Court that decides whether or not any further information is required, not yourselves.

 

Where the Court orders such detailed information, I shall request reciprocal documentation from your clients detailing those same charges and interest to which I am reclaiming along with evidence to confirm the exact costs to which your clients have been subjected and from which they have added profit margins to arrive at the eventual charge made to my accounts for each and every charge.

 

If you feel it other than an abuse of the process to request for further information in the manner you requested it, I have no difficulty in making a reciprocal request.

 

On the advice of other claimants, whose claims are in identical circumstances to mine and who have been passed on to you by Nat West, I will be sending a copy of this letter to the Court.

 

I consider that upon allocation this case will be referred to the Small Claims Track; accordingly I consider your CPR Part 18 request to be irrelevant as Part 18 would not apply. I shall not be responding to your requests. I shall of course respond to the order of the Court leaving the matters to be settled by the Court.

 

Please also note,that this matter is now being handled by xxxxxxxx Court.

.

Yours faithfully.

 

x.xxxxx

[quinny1]

bump

[Michael Browne]

Seems fine to me.

[quinny1]

AQ sent back to the court,and CPR 18 letter rebuke sent to Cobbetts.

 

Ken.

[quinny1]

Not heard anything back yet.Thought by now as the AQ has been submitted,and the rebuke to Cobbetts has gone,without any further information supplied,I may have heard something.

 

What sort of timescale are we looking at now,before anything is heard?

 

Ken.

[Deller]

You probably wont hear anything until the deadline date for the return of the AQ. Cobbetts will return their copy at the last minute...they've just done the same with my claim!!

[quinny1]

Well,I'm just reading my bumpf from the court,and the AQ had to be in by 6/12,which is tomorrow,and I've had no word from Cobbetts yet,so I'm guessing that if I don't hear anything by tomorrow morning,I can file for default?

 

I'm going to wait until Postman Pat has been in the morning,which is usually about 11am when I'm at work,than I shall be phoning the court for an update.

 

Ken.

[Deller]

Probably best to phone the court quite late on, in my claim I phoned the court at 3pm on deadline day and Cobbetts hadn't returned their AQ. By 4pm it was done....typical Cobbetts right to the wire.

[quinny1]

Well,as suspected,Cobbetts left it until the last minute on the 6th,which doesn't surprise me,but what did,was the letter I received from them this morning,which included a copy of their AQ,and in it,the other information reads thus:

 

"Case management directions cannot be proposed until the claimant serves a reply to the request for further information which was due on the 1st December 2006.In light of this,the defendant may amend it's defence or apply to strike out."

 

My letter to them regarding their request for further information,went like this:

 

 

I write in response to the recently submitted Defence and Request for Further Information you submitted to Northampton Court, to which I have recieved a copy,relating to my claim (claim number – XXXXXXXX) against your client Nat West Bank

 

I understand you have asked for a detailed schedule individually listing all charges debited to my bank account. I have of course provided a schedule of the charges and believe this is sufficient for your clients to exactly understand the details of my case. As your clients have always been fully aware of all charges they have made to my account and indeed, my calculations have been taken directly from information they have supplied me. I suggest you obtain a schedule from your clients as to their confirmation of the charges they have made (and interest thereon).

 

I believe both yourselves and Nat West have been supplied with all of the details necessary to move this claim forwards.

 

I am aware that the Court can order certain and further information from both parties, you appear to have attempted to obtain this information suggesting I am under strict obligations to obey your requests rather than the Courts. With this in mind, I see no reason why I should be sending you any further information relating to this case. It is the Court that decides whether or not any further information is required, not yourselves.

 

Where the Court orders such detailed information, I shall request reciprocal documentation from your clients detailing those same charges and interest to which I am reclaiming along with evidence to confirm the exact costs to which your clients have been subjected and from which they have added profit margins to arrive at the eventual charge made to my accounts for each and every charge.

 

If you feel it other than an abuse of the process to request for further information in the manner you requested it, I have no difficulty in making a reciprocal request.

 

On the advice of other claimants, whose claims are in identical circumstances to mine and who have been passed on to you by Nat West, I will be sending a copy of this letter to the Court.

 

I consider that upon allocation this case will be referred to the Small Claims Track; accordingly I consider your CPR Part 18 request to be irrelevant as Part 18 would not apply. I shall not be responding to your requests. I shall of course respond to the order of the Court leaving the matters to be settled by the Court.

 

Please also note,that this matter is now being handled by XXXXXXXX Court.

.

Yours faithfully.

 

X.XXXXX.

 

Basically,I refused to provide Cobbetts with the information,citing the fact that the Nat West already had a copy of the charges that I'm claiming,and if they want their dirty work doing,then they will have to do it themselves,and they reply with the above.

 

Anyone else had this situation,and what was the result,and should I provide them with what they want,or could I be too late?

 

Ken.

[Michael Browne]

Case management hearing is an opportunity for the judge to consider the matters to be heard & to consider what evidence may be needed and give directioms to either party. If that happens the court will inform you of what further information is wanted.

[quinny1]

Another twist.

 

I have just been given another letter that came today,dated 4th December,saying that they look forward to receiving the further information requested so that they can move the case forward.

 

Ken.

[quinny1]

Well I decided to send Cobbetts a list of charges after all,when I read that they may change their defence or apply for a strike out,and that's when my problems started.

 

I lost my original draft,after a hard drive crash,and asked MCOL,for a duplicate copy to be sent,to which they said that it had been transferred to my local court,and to speak to them.

 

I spoke to them about 3 weeks ago,and they told me they were about 2 weeks behind with everything,and to call back later,and they would hopefully be able to help.

 

I left it the required time,and spoke to them last Friday,after Cobbetts AQ was submitted,with the above threat,and they said that they hadn't even got that far yet,but a note was on my file,with my requirements.

 

As luck would have it,I was off work today,and went to see them in person,and they assured me that the file had not yet been sent by MCOL,and that I would have to contact them.So back home,and full of rage,I rung MCOL,and they said that it had definitely been sent,so I asked them to double check,and confirm that it had,and would they kindly ring me back and tell me what had happened to the file.

 

About 10 minutes later,my phone rang,and a lady on the other end,meekly said that they were still in posession of the file,and what did I want.After ranting and raving at her,I told her to fax the document to my wife,who promptly copied it 4 times,and a copy and letter was sent off to Cobbetts.

 

So now that's done,does anyone know what the likely outcome will be,and has anyone had this happen to them?

 

Ken.

[quinny1]

Good news....well kind of.

 

Cobbetts have made me an offer today,of £700,but,as you can imagine,I intend to politely decline their offer,as it falls way below what I'm claiming.

 

Also,as the case was transferred to my local court,and is under £1500,I was under the impression that no further court fees were applicable.Well,they have also wrote to me asking for a further £100 in relation to the case.

 

I don't mind paying it,as it all ends up being claimed back,but I need to be sure that NO further fee was payable,in relation to the case,as it was under the stipulated amount.

 

Ken.

[quinny1]

In my received correspondence from the court,I note the following:

 

Interest per S.69 County Courts Act 1984 of 8%-£200.84 continuing at 8% until judgement or settlement at a daily rate of 26p.

 

So when I finally send my letter to Cobbettss declining their offer,which should I go for?

 

Ken.

[Michael Browne]

I don't mind paying it,as it all ends up being claimed back,but I need to be sure that NO further fee was payable,in relation to the case,as it was under the stipulated amount.

 

 

Phone your local court to check.

[Deller]

Yes I agree with Michael, as I too believe that the fee is not required as your claim falls below £1500.

[quinny1]

That's what I will do tomorrow.

 

But another matter has crossed my mind.

 

My original claim was for £985 + £200.84 in interest as of the 16th October,when I initiated the claim.Including the original court cost of £120,it came to a grand total of £1305.62.

 

Does the interest of 8% fee get calculated daily,weekly or monthly,on the original gross amount,and if so,I'm assuming that this ends and reverts to 26p per day,once they've offered me a settlement figure?

 

So close now.

 

Ken.

[Deller]

Yes the interest is calculated daily.

 

Quick question though, the £985 is the total of your charges, yes??

 

If so, then I calculate the daily rate to be £0.22.

[quinny1]

£985 is my total charges.

 

So yes,you are right.£0.22 is the daily figure,although in the court bumpf,they have it as £0.26 for some strange reason.

 

So to re-cap......

 

£1185.62 (Figure as of 16th October,including interest to that date.) x 8% daily is..........

 

A lot of money.

 

Ken.

[Michael Browne]

£1185.62 (Figure as of 16th October,including interest to that date.) x 8% daily is..........

 

A lot of money.

 

Not really. 16th Oct - 14th Dec = 59 days x £0.22p = £12.98

[quinny1]

Thanks Michael.That's what I've worked it out at also.

 

Here's a draft of my letter to Cobbetts,and I'm sure I've read somewhere about refusing to agree to disclosure to a third party,but can't seem to find the relevant phrase:

 

 

 

Dear Sir or Madam,

 

Thank you for your letter dated 13th December 2006.

 

I respectfully decline your offer of settlement and request, once again, that you return to me all charges imposed on this account, totalling £xxxx.xx as of 14th December 2006,which includes interest of £0.xx per day, from the date of the original claim, and further interest of £0.xx per day until final settlement,and court costs of £120,which are also payable by your client.

 

I will accept the sum offered only as part settlement and on the clear understanding that I will pursue recovery of the remainder, with a County Court claim if necessary.

 

I trust this clarifies my position.

 

 

Yours faithfully

[quinny1]

Bearing in mind,that if I have to pay the local court a further £100,that will also be added to the letter.

 

Ken.

[Michael Browne]

This one?:

I am also not prepared to agree to any confidentially clauses you try to impose, unless of course your client wishes to make an offer of due consideration in addition to the amount of £xxxxx, in order to be afforded this privilege by myself.

[quinny1]

Should £10,000 do it?

 

Ken.

[quinny1]

The letter in full:

 

Response to settlement offer.

 

Dear Sir or Madam,

 

Thank you for your letter dated 13th December 2006.

 

I respectfully decline your offer of settlement and request, once again, that you return to me all charges imposed on this account, totalling £xxxx.xx as of 14th December 2006,which includes interest of £0.xx per day, from the date of the original claim, and further interest of £0.xx per day until final settlement,and court costs of £120 which are also payable by your client.

 

I will accept the sum offered only as part settlement and on the clear understanding that I will pursue recovery of the remainder, with a County Court claim if necessary.

 

I am also not prepared to agree to any confidentiality clauses you try to impose, unless of course your client wishes to make an offer of due consideration in addition to the amount of £xxxxx, in order to be afforded this privilege by myself.

 

I trust this clarifies my position.

 

Yours faithfully.