Erudio Claimform - Old Student Loans - poss Statute Barred.

[dx100uk]

the judge cant do that if you respond as told too

they have till xx date to file their skeleton, then you have to 7 days to retort it.

you'll be doing that by the looks of things so the judge cant complain.

job done and free!

 

just relax.

 

dx

 

[Nurselayer]

I have dropped an email to the judge just to clarify if the next hearing is purely about their application for summary judgement or whether it will be a ruling on the whole case.

[Nurselayer]

I've had an email from the court telling me it's inappropriate for the judge to speak to me out of court so that clears nothing up at all.

I'm wondering if I can fit "Vigilantibus non dormientibus seccurit lex" into any argument to repudiate any skeleton argument that they may put forward? In particular with regard to Maritius Shipping v Employment Relations Tribunal where I believe that the court ruled that whilst within time, the application had not been made sufficiently promptly?

I've still not amended my defence, although now I finally have the right forms. Do I need to put in the exact details if I amend my defence or can I just say something like "Due to not adhering to the requirements of the Consumer Credit Act this debt is unrecoverable"?

I'll be honest, this is affecting me hugely. I'm full of anxiety, I'm losing sleep about it and having this hanging over me is really affecting my life. 

[whitelist]

Looks to me you cannot do anything until you receive their skeleton argument for you to do a rebuttal. 

 

Have you received the direction order from the court yet saying when the claimant has to send their skeleton argument to you?

[Nurselayer]

I still haven't received anything from the court.

 

Talking of which, should I advise the court of dates that I'm unavailable for?

What happens if they schedule the hearing for a date when I'm away?

 

[BankFodder]

Open 

[Nurselayer]

Hi folks, got a new hearing date of 30th October.

Have there been any new Doyle/Hart developments in the last few months? I have searched the forum but couldn't see anything relevant.

 

[dx100uk]

not that ive seen.

dx

 

[Nurselayer]

Hi folks,

Not to be too paranoid, but I'm a month away from the hearing date and there's stuff that I'd rather Drydens didn't know about the case that I'm going to put to the court.

I would imagine that if I put up specific details on here about what's been happening with my case to date it'd be easy for them to work out which case they refer to.  Please reassure me that this is very unlikely.

 

[dx100uk]

in a nutshell so what?

we've never seen a case of posted stuff anon on a forum being used at a defendant losing.

dx

[Nurselayer]

Ok, here's where I'm at. 

Spoke to a free law advice clinic and they advised me to ask Drydens to consent to an amendment to my defence.  Wrote out the defence and a draft consent order and sent it to them with a deadline to reply. Got no response. Emailed them on the deadline day and got no response.

Got an N244 form and filled it in, sent it to both Drydens and Erudio but when I took it to the court I found that the court had closed 5 minutes before I got there.

Just as I was about to go to the court the next morning I got an email from them saying that they had signed the consent order.  The received date of the email was 6 days after the deadline I'd set.

The following day, when they must have received the N244 forms, my amended defence, and a claim for costs, I got an email saying that they would be fighting the N244 as they had replied to my email in time - they enclosed a copy of an email that was dated 6 days before I actually received it...it's almost as if they had just manually changed the date.

They also said that they'd replied in writing but to an "old" address - even though the address for reply had been clearly put on the form and has been the one that they've been sending all previous correspondence relating to the court case to. 

Funnily enough, I've not received this reply in writing, even though I have access to post at that address.  It's almost as if they had realised that I was going to go through with this and then were trying to backdate everything to make it look as if they had replied in time. 

No matter, I was able to tell them that I had fortunately not submitted the N244 to court and would instead submit the consent order.  They also offered a response to my amended defence and an offer to settle in advance of the court case.

They have accepted that they have been served with the Amended Defence and today I received a copy of the order from the court allowing it. I shall be sending this onto Drydens and Erudio on Monday morning.

I am minded to make an offer to settle in advance of the case.  I have a figure in mind that would be worth paying simply for my peace of mind. I would appreciate your input on how to make this Without Prejudice offer.

I'm fairly convinced that I will win at court but the amount that I'm going to offer, if accepted which I doubt it will be, is small enough that I can afford to pay it and won't even cover their initial court fee.  It would purely save me having to attend court and it would mean that this isn't hanging over me for another month. 

 

[dx100uk]

i  would concur they appear to be on the back foot, as it stands with all you've been through, it would not have dragged on so far if drydens were so sure of their stance. they would have forced it through, they didnt..speaks volumes.

dx

 

[Nurselayer]

When you apply to lift a stay on proceedings, do you have to state to the court in your N244 that you wish for the stay to be lifted, or is it enough just to request a summary judgement?

 

[AndyOrch]

Both 

[Nurselayer]

So, say a case was stayed and then the solicitors submitted an N244 asking for an order that: 

1) For the defence to be struck out, and/or
2) Summary Judgement on the whole claim; and
3) A costs order against the defendant

But made no statement about requesting the stay be lifted, would that mean that they had done it wrong?

Scratch that...they made the request in the witness statement.

[AndyOrch]

 Ideally there should be directions attached to the application what the application is requesting.

 

 

.

[Nurselayer]

Does there have to be a reason for a delay for them to apply to lift a stay? 

I can see that there if a) the defence is that the amount has been paid or b) if it is not defended or admitted then the claimant MUST submit a reason for the delay, but I can't see where it deals with this if a defence has been submitted?

 

[AndyOrch]

The longer a claim is left stayed the more a legitimate genuine reason is required as to why when making said application. A judge would question why a claim was issued initially if the claimant wasn't ready to proceed once a defence was submitted and then make consideration whether to allow the application to proceed.

Claims have been issued in the past simply to stop the limitations clock and park the debt to stop it ever becoming statute barred.

Of course visa versa a defendant can make application to lift the stay (although unlikely) knowing that the claimant is not fully prepared to proceed with its claim for various reasons.

Stayed claims normally fall of the system after 3 years but I have seen older resurrected.

[Nurselayer]

I understand that, but from what I understand under Part 15 of the CPR link here - 

PART 15 - DEFENCE AND REPLY - Civil Procedure Rules

WWW.JUSTICE.GOV.UK

It says that in cases of a claim where either the amount has been admitted or not defended, or where it is claimed that the amount has been paid the claimant MUST submit a reason for the delay.  I can't see where it deals with claims where any other defence has been submitted.  I think the wording of "MUST" is important, which is why I'm asking.

 

Edited October 7, 2023 by Nurselayer

[Nurselayer]

So, in response to my original question - MUST claimants declare the reason for a delay in their application for a stay to be lifted where a defence has been submitted?

 

[AndyOrch]

On 09/10/2023 at 12:44, Nurselayer said:

MUST claimants declare the reason for a delay in their application for a stay to be lifted where a defence has been submitted?

Yes I've already previously stated. There cant be a stay if a defence has been filed unless the claimant didn't respond to proceed or one or either party have made an application to stay the claim.

 

 

.

 

 

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[Nurselayer]

Ok, but there was a stay on my case after a defence was filed.  Here's the timeline - 

Early Jan 2020 Court proceedings issued against me through MCOL
Late Jan 2020 Defence Submitted
Then nothing happened and the case was posted as "stayed" on MCOL.
Then suddenly in June 2022 they applied for a lift on the stay.

Shouldn't the case have been struck out after they didn't respond to the defence after Jan 2020?

If you go back and look at Post 80 in this thread you can see me asking about it back in 2020...I think it's on Page 3.

 

Edited October 9, 2023 by Nurselayer

[AndyOrch]

That's only 2 years 5 months delay as per initial post I have seen stays in place up to 5 years then the claimant successfully applied (with reason) to lift the stay.

15 minutes ago, Nurselayer said:

Shouldn't the case have been struck out after they didn't respond to the defence after Jan 2020? No

[Nurselayer]

In your last post you said that "There cant be a stay if a defence has been filed."  

Can you direct me to where is says that they "MUST" give a reason for a delay where a defence has been filed?  

This would be very helpful if I can quote it in my WS when I go to court.

 

[pellegrino]

Then what if they have applied to lift the stay and NOT given a reason for the delay on their application?