Lloyds Breach of SAR court claim issued ***Resolved***

[AndyOrch]

Once you have completed your DQ and submitted this allocates the the claim to track and transfer's it to your local county court...the court will issue a Notice of Allocation (N157) with directions and what dates both parties must complete and submit by.

 

The directions will be to file and serve and exchange your evidence (standard disclosure) and witness statement (this is when you respond to their defence )

 

Andy

[Redmountie]

Brilliant thanks Andy. DQ completed today and willl be submitted to Court and Defendant tomorrow.

[BankFodder]

Would you mind emailing me a full PDF copy of their defence please – unredacted – as you know I have a special interest in this.

 

Ta

[Redmountie]

Sure Fodder, I will get it over to you on Monday, and I will also give you the details of the ongoing ICO case. I am just in the process of writing up a chronology of events, as this will assist me and the Court, due to the number of issues and subsequent documents. I will number them all off so I can refer to them in Court.

 

I have been reviewing other SAR non-compliance threads, to see what other CAGERS journey's through Court have been like. Do you have evidence/details of other Claimant's who have taken Lloyds to Court for DPA/SAR non compliance please? This will be part of my response to the Defence when the time comes to exchange evidence and submit my witness statement.

[BankFodder]

Actually, my friends call me BF.

 

If you are a Cagger than that could mean Best Friend. If you're a bank then you can take your choice of acrostic!

[Redmountie]

BF it is!!

[Redmountie]

I received the DQ from LBG solicitors today. They have asked for mediation on the DQ form and want the hearing at their local Court, as that's where there solicitor is based.

 

I am very surprised that they have indicated they want to go through the Small Claims Mediation Service, as they have not been willing to enter into any resolution, prior to the submission of my claim. I have not agreed to mediation when i submitted my DQ, as I have already tried to resolve this matter, before I even submitted my POC. I have several letters, emails and phone calls to prove my pre-action conduct (pursuant to Rule 1.4 Civil Procedures Rule). The emails/letters were clearly marked Open Correspondence with a paragraph on each document, highlighting that i was attempting to discuss out of court resolution.

 

The 8 week FCA timescale for my internal LBG complaint is due on Friday. I haven't heard anything from them for 4 weeks, so I contacted the complaint manager, who stated that they were not going to be in a position to respond to the complaint within the 8 week FCA timescale, as they were waiting for the Court case. I advised them that they have had plenty of time to provide a complaint resolution and that the Court case and my internal complaint were two separate matters. I guess it will be another complaint about LBG to the FoS then.

[AndyOrch]

Hearing is at your Local County Court....you are the Litigant they are a Business.....so their Solicitor will have to get off his Jacksy and travel to your town.

[BankFodder]

Yes - I have seen this kind of bleating from Lloyds before. It it another demonstration of the contempt in which they hold their customers. They hope that if it becomes inconvenient for you, you are more likely to cave in. Same with their threat of costs.

[Redmountie]

It's only going to be about a 2 hour journey for their Solicitor, so shouldn't be a problem.

 

 

I will not be intimidated by LBGs scaremongering tactics! LBG have had plenty of opportunity, via pre-action conduct, and post POC submission, to enter into mediation and provide resolution to this matter! I have my own tactics!

[BankFodder]

[Redmountie]

Still waiting for the Notice of Allocation and Hearing Date from the Court. Hopefully it will be allocated to my local Court. Does anyone know if the hearing fee is still £25, as my claim is for under £300? Also, does anyone have any templates or a list of required documents, so I can start prepping my Court Bundles please?

 

The Information Commissioner (ICO) wrote to me back in early April, advising that they had written to Lloyds Banking Group (LBG), directing them to properly comply with my SAR. LBG had until yesterday to respond to me, but as of today have failed to do so. I have still not had proper disclosure from them despite the direction from the ICO, and despite having sent them a follow up letter on 4 April 2018. I have now written to the ICO and updated them on this.

 

The LBG Complaint Manager has now responded to my complaint and has upheld it stating that they did provide me with incorrect information in relation to the SAR deadline dates, and that the level of service i have received was below the level they would expect. They have not mentioned in there letter that they admit to failure to comply with the 40 day SLA, afforded to SARs.

 

They have awarded me £100 compensation for upset and trouble, and £25 for the cost of any phone calls made to them.

[BankFodder]

There is lots of time to sort out your bundle – so don't think of starting yet. However, here are some tips:

 

 

Judges hate to be confronted by litigants who have to take time to find things in their file. The typical scenario is "Hang on a minute it's here somewhere… No, maybe it's there… I'll find it in a minute… Blah blah". Especially with a 10 minute hearing, you just can't afford to look so disorganised and to take up the valuable time of the court and to give the appearance that you are a rank amateur (which you are of course!).

 

Have all your papers set out in a ring binder. In a logical order which you understand. The best thing is to have them in chronological order. Have lots of dividers with little tabs on. Have the whole thing indexed. This means that you do a spreadsheet and you identify every document you have. In the leftmost margin you put numbers one, two, three, and then each document is numbered as well. Write the number of the document at the bottom or the top right-hand corner so it is easily visible. So your index sheet would be several columns –

 

Number, date, description of document.

Description of document simply needs to be letter from X to Y, N to D, witness statement of xx , claim form, blah blah. Nice short descriptions.

 

Your index sheet should be sellotaped/glued onto the front of the ring binder and also a copy in the first page.

 

If you need a document then you should be able to find it easily by looking down your index sheet, identifying the document, seeing what number it is and then going immediately to that number document in the file. If you take the document out of the file then make sure you replace it at exactly the same place.

 

It is essential when dealing with documents in a court, that you have a file that you understand and that you can access any part of it quickly and easily without missing a beat. This is the way to do it.

 

Plan to arrange your file in in the way that I have described. You will be very pleased that you did.

 

So the way you prepare the file is that you assemble all the documents in chronological order. When they are in order – then you number each one. When they are all numbered, you then enter them into your spreadsheet. You then clip them all into your ring binder. If later on you need to introduce any more documents, then insert them in the correct position in the file and call them 3a, 3b, 10a, 10b, etc.

 

If you do this, not only will you impress the judge, but you will feel more relaxed and more confident that you can deal with things which come up during the hearing. You should always use this system whether it is a pre-trial hearing or at the trial.

 

Finally, you should take three copies of every document. One for you, one for the other side and one for the judge. You can't imagine how often county court documents get mislaid or misfiled. If you need a document quickly then you should be able to access it, pass a copy to the judge and pass a copy to the other side as a matter of courtesy.

 

If there are important passages in your document then make sure they are highlighted for you – and highlighted in the judge's copy as well. For the other side, don't bother to highlight them. They can find the relevant passages for themselves. If you want to be really mischievous, you can highlight them in the wrong places (but don't tell anybody that you got this advice from me).

 

If you want to be really evil, you can redact the other side's documents for the important parts

 

 

 

Have you thought about making a county court familiarisation visit https://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?439553-Guidance-note-Making-a-County-Court-familiarisation-visit

[Redmountie]

It has gone a bit quiet for a few weeks, so just checked my MCOL and it now shows that my case has now been transferred to MY local Court. Once it's transferred to a local Court, does this mean I can no longer use MCOL and have to send/receive all correspondence from my local Court?

 

I guess I will now wait for the Notice of Allocation and Directions from the Court. My Court Bundle and Index is all done and ready to be served. Just need to add a covering letter, check to see what the Court directs, and check in with you guys.

[BankFodder]

Yes, that's broadly right. Money claim is not really in it anymore.

 

At some point you will get directions to provide a core bundle. The other side will receive a similar direction. They will either wait till the deadline or they will simply breach the deadline and that you have it at extremely short notice.

 

Don't be in a hurry to send off your bundle. Let us know what deadline is and you should take it to the wire.

 

I wouldn't be in too much of a hurry to include an index sheet on the defendants bundle or even to number the pages. Let them sort it out themselves.

[Redmountie]

I have now received the Notice of Allocation to my local Court. Next step will be directions.

[BankFodder]

Yes, one of the directions will be about serving your bundle by a particular time. Now is the time to start thinking about what you are going to include in the bundle

[Redmountie]

BF/Andy/DX, in preparation for my Court bundle, can you signpost to any good threads that have a list/templates please? Other than all my evidence and paperwork, I have no idea what else needs to be included. I would like to start typing this up ready for service on the Court and Defence. Although, it will be served last minute of course.

[BankFodder]

I'm not sure that we have a template for this. Every bundle will be different but it will always comprise of all the documents that you intend to rely upon. This might include letters and other correspondence which have passed between you, notes of conversations, but also it might include judgements or statutes or other sources of law. It could include printouts of ICO webpages giving guidance. Anything that you intend to rely upon.

 

You can almost bet your bottom dollar that Lloyds will not respect the deadline and that they may in fact only serve you with your bundle at the very last moment. Then despite any protest from you, the court was still allow them to defend the case and will not give you any extra time to see what they propose to say. However, it's very difficult to imagine that they could do anything about the ICO message saying that Lloyds is probably in breach, and of course it is difficult to imagine that they can resile from their admission of the breach in their own defence.

 

At the end, this hearing is going to be all about quantum. As I think I have said, I would suggest that right at the beginning of the hearing that you draw the judge's attention to the ICO's message and in particular to their defence in which they admit the breach and you ask the judge at that point to enter judgement and to direct that the remains of the hearing is simply about quantum.

 

Lloyds are idiots and clearly the lawyer who is doing this is also an idiot.

[AndyOrch]

You cant really compile a bundle until your statement is completed with its exhibits with what you wish to rely on...the exhibits make up part of the bundle.

 

Bundles of documents for hearings or trial

3.1

Unless the court orders otherwise, the claimant must file the trial bundle not more than 7 days and not less than 3 days before the start of the trial.

3.2

Unless the court orders otherwise, the trial bundle should include a copy of:

(1) the claim form and all statements of case,

(2) a case summary and/or chronology where appropriate,

(3) requests for further information and responses to the requests,

(4) all witness statements to be relied on as evidence,

(5) any witness summaries,

(6) any notices of intention to rely on hearsay evidence under rule 32.2,

(7) any notices of intention to rely on evidence (such as a plan, photograph etc.) under rule 33.6 which is not –

(a) contained in a witness statement, affidavit or experts report,

(b) being given orally at trial,

© hearsay evidence under rule 33.2,

( any medical reports and responses to them,

(9) any experts’ reports and responses to them,

(10) any order giving directions as to the conduct of the trial, and

(11) any other necessary documents.

3.3

The originals of the documents contained in the trial bundle, together with copies of any other court orders should be available at the trial.

3.4

The preparation and production of the trial bundle, even where it is delegated to another person, is the responsibility of the legal representative5 who has conduct of the claim on behalf of the claimant.

3.5

The trial bundle should be paginated (continuously) throughout, and indexed with a description of each document and the page number. Where the total number of pages is more than 100, numbered dividers should be placed at intervals between groups of documents.

3.6

The bundle should normally be contained in a ring binder or lever arch file. Where more than one bundle is supplied, they should be clearly distinguishable, for example, by different colours or letters. If there are numerous bundles, a core bundle should be prepared containing the core documents essential to the proceedings, with references to the supplementary documents in the other bundles.

3.7

For convenience, experts’ reports may be contained in a separate bundle and cross referenced in the main bundle.

3.8

If a document to be included in the trial bundle is illegible, a typed copy should be included in the bundle next to it, suitably cross-referenced.

3.9

The contents of the trial bundle should be agreed where possible. The parties should also agree where possible:

(1) that the documents contained in the bundle are authentic even if not disclosed under Part 31, and

(2) that documents in the bundle may be treated as evidence of the facts stated in them even if a notice under the Civil Evidence Act 1995 has not been served.

Where it is not possible to agree the contents of the bundle, a summary of the points on which the parties are unable to agree should be included.

3.10

The party filing the trial bundle should supply identical bundles to all the parties to the proceedings and for the use of the witnesses.

[Redmountie]

Earlier in March, I submitted a statutory request to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), asking them to determine whether or not Lloyds Bank had complied with its statutory obligations, under the Data Protection Act 1998.

 

Yesterday, I received a final response from the Case Officer at the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO). The Case Officer’s view was that Lloyds had not complied with its statutory obligations, under the Data Protection Act 1998.

 

In the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) final response, the Case Officer concluded by advising Lloyds has been directed to make contact with me as soon as soon as possible, in order to conclude the matter. Their final closing remark being “I hope that they will take this seriously in view of my assessment which has rejected Lloyds Bank’s claims”.

 

Let's see if Lloyds actually make contact with me. I have been waiting for full disclosure since early April 2018.

[Redmountie]

Does anyone have a witness statement template please?

 

Now that the hearing has been transferred to my local County Court and the judge is reviewing my claim, I want to start looking at my witness statement and what i am going to say.

[dx100uk]

No templates no

But if you use the search cag box of the top redtool bar

 

Witness statement sar failure

Or alike....

[Redmountie]

Brilliant thanks dx

[Redmountie]

Can anyone please clarify if I am entitled to claim Costs and Disbursements back, as a Litigant in Person (the case has been allocated to the Small Claims track)?

 

I understand that a Litigant in Person is entitled to claim £9.25 p/h, but the threads i have read on the site differ between what you can, and what you can't claim.

 

On my POC, I have claimed for damages to the cost of £200, mainly because this amount was what i saw on another CAGERS POC, but also because i wanted all my costs awarded. Lloyds Defence is mainly around quantum, as they admit they did not comply and therefore have breached the DPA. I need to show as much costs/disbursements as possible, so that i can justify the £200 damages to the Court. Particularly as they have put me to strict proof.

 

I have written up a Schedule of Costs and Disbursements and wander if I can claim these and if so, would they be considered as reasonable costs? Again, the Schedule of Costs and Disbursements are from another CAGER.

Claimant Schedule of Costs and Disbursements.doc