General Query regarding Stat barred and defending court action

[Deb T]

Just as a query

 

Scenario;

DCA collect on a debt, alleged debtor, stops paying and fills DCA's mailbox with CCA's Sar's, nothing provided,

DCA keeps reqesting payment even though they have not provided paperwork,

in the end the allged debtor says file for court or bugger off.

 

4 Years later since the last correspondence and out of the blue

a court summons lands on the doormat of the alleged debtor from the DCA.

Defence is filed, no admission within the counter defence is given, debt is denied.

 

The DCA acknowledge receipt of the defence via the online court system and the next move is theres.

..regular checks are made on the court website,

 

 

no letters from the courts are received and as such the case does not head to court,

it's not stayed, no application from the defendant is made to stay/strike it out or whatever the terminology is but thats where it stayed.

 

7 years from the last payment made and 3 years from the intial court summons/counter defence being filed and and still nothing heard.

 

is it right to assume that it's now stat barred anyway and that no clocks are reset when filing a counter defence in a court actin where no admission or acceptance of the debt is given is said defence?

 

I know the answer but it would be nice if it could be confirmed?

 

The alleged debtor was considering going back to the court to have the original application struck out , but I see no sense in that.

 

Deb

[BazzaS]

Statute Bar "clock" stops (but isn't reset) when the court issues the claim.

So, if it wasn't statute barred when the claim was issued, it still isn't statute barred.

 

However, they only get the one bite at the cherry of a court claim: if that claim is struck out or discontinued, they can't restart a new claim on the same particulars without leave of the court.

 

What is the status of their claim? is it 'stayed', and if so, at who's request?

Edit: you say it isn't stayed, but if it isn't stayed it would usually have moved forward by now.

Have they paid their court fee?.

[AndyOrch]

Just as a query

 

Scenario;

DCA collect on a debt, alleged debtor, stops paying and fills DCA's mailbox with CCA's Sar's, nothing provided, DCA keeps reqesting payment even though they have not provided paperwork, in the end the allged debtor says file for court or bugger off.

 

4 Years later since the last correspondence and out of the blue a court summons lands on the doormat of the alleged debtor from the DCA. Defence is filed, no admission within the counter defence is given, debt is denied.

 

The DCA acknowledge receipt of the defence via the online court system and the next move is theres...regular checks are made on the court website, no letters from the courts are received and as such the case does not head to court, it's not stayed, It is stayed if there is no response and they have not informed the court they wish to proceed. no application from the defendant is made to stay/strike it out or whatever the terminology is but thats where it stayed.You dont make an application to stay it..its auto stayed..nor can you strike a claim out if its stayed..or you would be very foolish to attempt it.

7 years from the last payment made and 3 years from the intial court summons/counter defence being filed and and still nothing heard.

 

So is it right to assume that it's now stat barred anyway and that no clocks are reset when filing a counter defence in a court actin where no admission or acceptance of the debt is given is said defence? Was it statute barred when they issued the claim ?

 

I know the answer but it would be nice if it could be confirmed?

 

The alleged debtor was considering going back to the court to have the original application struck out , but I see no sense in that.What application ?

 

Deb

 

Regards

 

Andy

[Deb T]

Not altogether sure as to if the last payment was made 6 years prior to the court action or the 4 as stated above, there was an amount of correpondence to and from for a few years..I'll need to mail to get them to check exact dates of last actual payment made to the northern based DCA.

 

Application, apologies Court Summons.

 

For my own curiosity and from reading above I guess DCA's in some instances issue summons simply to stay what is approaching a stat barred debt that they're administering?

 

So in essence they could issue a summons on an alleged debt that is 5yrs and 364 days since last payment/admission of debt and so extending indefinitely the stat barred clock?

 

If the above does apply then is it possible that the sneaky tactics of DCA'a in going down the court route in the circumstances as described in the hope that somewhere, some judge will make a ruling in a dca's favour that sets a precedent and thus opens the floodgates too all cases stayed?

[Deb T]

Ok, had something back

 

Court Summons issued by the DCA, a defence was submitted (no admission )and that is the last thing heard.

 

Last payment made to the DCA 2009, Court summons sent 2014, no reply after defence entered

[AndyOrch]

So not quite then...only 5 years (unless in Scotland)

[dx100uk]

if the claimform was issued in 2014

then it would be pretty poor for any court to allow the claim to now continue

as if the last payment was in 2009, then without the claim, it would have been SB'd in 2015

 

 

to all intend and purpose, surely most judges would conclude and support a defendants cry of:

this is unfair, it was a speculative claimform, hoping for a default judgement, that I thwarted by entering a defence of 'prove the debt'

 

 

the claimant had failed to date, some XXyrs later, to provide such proof,

is this not unfair with regard to the limitations act by using a speculative claim to pause a clock that would by now have expired the 6yrs time frame??

[AndyOrch]

Its irrelevant anyway DX as a stayed claim is almost if not equal to a statute barred debt...whilst its stayed it is safe from further litigation...only if the claimant wishes to proceed after a unfair length of stay does it become a problem again.

If they never proceed then the debt is as good as a statute barred debt.

 

Andy

[Guest]

and, there is case law against a claimant who uses a claim issue just to stop a bar.

[Deb T]

if the claimform was issued in 2014

then it would be pretty poor for any court to allow the claim to now continue

 

to all intend and purpose, surely most judges would conclude and support a defendants cry of:

this is unfair, it was a speculative claimform, hoping for a default judgement, that I thwarted by entering a defence of 'prove the debt'

 

 

It might be poor of court but it's still a possibility and for sure 'most judges' would most likely kick it in to touch, but that still doesn't allow for a permanent solution (stat barred) prior to any restart of the action.

 

In reality and to counter the poor of a court/most judges.... it is not beyond the realms of possibility that a DCA could construct an argument for the delay that would convince a court/judge to allow it to be brought out of stasis.

 

So in essence, any DCA administering a debt and where it's approaching stat barred can with very little outlay to them stick in a court action and if the defendant does file a defence the DCA can go quiet

 

 

but still feel all warm inside with the knowledge that they still have a chance of collecting in the hope that

A/ The alleged debtor makes a mistake in correspondence or by making a payment (see below)

B:/ Legislation changes in favour of DCA where court action are stayed or

C:/ A case gets a sympathetic judge towards a DCA and a precedent set thus allowing the floodgates open for the DCA to proceed with all other cases stuck in the stayed position?

 

In the case of my Aunt

the action taken against her was stayed as mentioned further up into the thread,

 

 

however, since the stay and although nothing has been heard from the DCA direct,

what has happened and on semi regular basis (4 times a year)

one of the DCA's hired hands have been sending letters asking for money/offering 60% reduction for settlement/offering a Tomlin order as a sweetener etc...

 

 

..All of which is post the original summons/defence/stay and all on a debt that was a year from statute barred and had it not been for the summons would have been almost 8 years old and stat barred anyway,

 

 

but now where a DCA has by their cunning actions reset or at least halted indefinitely the stat barred clock allowing them to carry attempting collection legally (thinly used but) for what could be decades to come.

 

No closure, DCA wins

[AndyOrch]

In that scenario you retain all the letters and place them in your court claim file....and continue to forget about it.

[dx100uk]

all the letters she has had are thus begging letters...

 

 

I'm sorry and i'm not pointing fingers

but some people when they get a court claim

or

on the run up to a court claim

enter into totally pointless letter tennis with DCA's.

 

 

that very letter tennis is what makes the DCA goto court on these debts in the first place...

if they'd only kept quiet...

 

 

dx

[Deb T]

There is always a point where no further communication should be entered into, in this instance it was reached almost 8 years ago with the DCA and other than filing a defence 2 years ago that is it, however in the two years post the stay they've received 8 letters from 2 different hired hounds which doesn't quite allow a person to forget about it.

[dx100uk]

i would suggest the letters are from the same group

 

 

lots of dca's have merged in the two years you have been away from CAG deb T

[Deb T]

Indeed DX , i'm playing catch up on that score, at least when taking shots back at them the target is a bit bigger. ( not applicable in this instance)

 

I'm not convinced (head in the sand moment) a stay on what should have been a stat barred debt is equal or as close to it being stat barred.

 

I always thought that access to ones credit file is supposedley restricted to those where a financial relationship exists, be that amongst other things a loan/credit card/bank account/application for credit whatever... does a stat barred debt which by being so is no longer legally enforceable dissolve the relationship thus removing the DCA's abilty to wander over your credit file?

[dx100uk]

anyone that has a csl can search your file

[Guest]

I'm not convinced (head in the sand moment) a stay on what could have been a stat barred debt is equal or as close to it being stat barred.

as has been posted, there is case law that supports that a claim issue just, in the circs, to stop a bar isn't acceptable. do a search on it.

[AndyOrch]

In Barton Henderson Rasen v Merrett [1993] 1 Lloyd’s Rep 540 Saville J said that it is an abuse of the court’s process to issue proceedings with no intention of taking the case any further. In contentious matters the courts exist for the purpose of determining claims. Therefore, starting a claim with no intention of pursuing it is not using the court’s processes for the purposes for which they were designed. ‘Parking’ proceedings in an attempt to achieve a settlement with other defendants justified striking out with indemnity costs in Sodeca SA v NE Investments Inc. [2002] EWHC 1700 (QB), LTL 27/8/2002.

[brassnecked]

That case needs to be on a sticky Andyorch.