Express Solicitors @ExpressSols- Breach of Contract, court summons *** Claim Dismissed - with costs!!!***

[BankFodder]

I've made quite a number of amendments to the proposed defence – so if you can go back to that post please and look at it carefully again.

Also, I use dictation software so you also had better check for typos et cetera

[Stormy1976]

Good morning and thank you for the amendments. I have now open my own account so following the thread and will be taking over from my husband.

 

I have checked for both accuracy and spelling as copied and pasted in a word document and saved it in my laptop. Thank you for putting that together. Spot on. Attending a work meeting but will monitor frequently and do the rest of stuff I have to sort out this..

 

Many thanks again.

 

@BazzaS Thank you for your comments, yes I did have legal expense cover through my own insurance that covered me fully. Express did not advise or mention that I may choose to go through my own insurance, or check why I hadn't gone with my own insurance per se.

 

Kind regards

[BankFodder]

Okay on the basis of what you have just posted above, I have made a further amendment to the proposed defence. Please read through it as usual.

I haven't pointed out where the amendment is – but this will prompt careful reading once again to make sure that it is properly cleaned up.

Also, please will you engage with it and let me know anything else you would like added to it. If you have sent off your acknowledgement with intention to defend then we have time to do this carefully.

Just to outline the situation – I'm proposing that you defend against the claim and that to a great extent that you leave it up to the judge to consider the possibilities of an unfair term and also unfair commercial practice.

With these kind of allegations made I think you will find that the claimant will fight back very hard because to get extent we are challenging their business model and if you win, then they will be obliged to revisit what they do and the way they do it.
Look forward to a serious struggle.

You don't need to do this. You can put your hands up – but as far as I can see, your only risk factor will be having to pay the allocation fee which for a claim of this value will be about £150 or so.
If you put your hands up now you will still have to pay the entire claim and their other costs.

So if you consider that by defending you are risking a further £150 – as well, of course, of the stress of dealing with it and eventually having to deal with a court hearing – which is likely to be on video or telephone – or a remote possibility that it would be a physical hearing in your own local court, then you will need to calculate whether you think it is worthwhile challenging this claim.

Having reflected on the whole thing your chances are better than I thought they were but it is rather evenly balanced.
Another scenario is that when the claimant sees your defence, they may feel sufficiently challenged by the possible consequences that would follow if you won, that they would make you a settlement offer.

Once again, we will have to deal with this when it arises.

I can imagine that if they do make you an offer then they will probably make it without prejudice and in confidence. Personally I would recommend that you don't accept any without prejudice correspondence or agree to anything in confidence – but that will be a matter for you.

Regardless, if you decide to go ahead with this defence and we file it with the court and send a copy to the claimant then if you agree not to have any without prejudice exchange, we will have to accompany it with a letter which makes that position clear.

They were then realised that anything they propose will be brought to the attention of the court. They won't like this – but if it's not good for them, then it's good for you. You can always change or modify your position later on.

In the meantime, please doublecheck the further amended defence – and also as I've said engage with it and let me know if there's anything else we need to know – and then eventually, make a decision as to whether or not you want to defend. It seems to me that there is so little to lose that you may as well

 

In fact I have just made a further edit so there are now 53 paragraphs

[Stormy1976]

Hi @BankFodder

 

Thank you, I intend to defend the case and go through all the steps, this will be my summer time project.

I will be acknowledging the court paper today, - it's really unfortunate that my work is so demanding and I have been on 4 meetings so far.

 

Reg settlement without prejudice - no I won't accept that and if we come to this point I will ask for advice.

 

I will review the updated account and I have called my GP too for the letter.

 

Do I still send that letter please?

Also just logging SAR on line today.

 

Many thanks

 

 

[BankFodder]

Do everything you can to obtain all information. There's nothing wrong with obtaining information – especially if it doesn't cost anything.

[BankFodder]

 

 

Okay at some point you will file a defence. Then within a couple of days of that you should send the defendants a copy of the defence accompanied by the letter which I have suggested below if you're happy with that.

It's a pretty abrupt and aggressive letter. You can amend it to suit your own style.

 

Quote

Dear Sir/Mdm

Reference number X X X – claim number X X X

Please find enclosed a copy of the defence which I have filed with the court today.

Please note – but for the avoidance of doubt, I'm not prepared to enter into any without prejudice correspondence or confidential correspondence with you without my prior agreement.

This means that I will not be unilaterally bound into some without prejudice exchange or duty of confidentiality unless you agree it with me first.

To be completely clear, this means that all correspondence you sent to me is at large and may be disclosed to the court or any other party.

If you feel that you cannot correspond on these terms then I suggest that you don't correspond.

Yours faithfully
 

Did you give them any indication that you were in shock or in depression at the time that you had the initial conversation with them?

[Stormy1976]

Thanks - I told them I was in shock but didn't mention how I was feeling.

[BankFodder]

55 paras.

[Stormy1976]

Hi @BankFodder

 

Thank you and I have reviewed the 55 paragraphs as a word document. I have the following changes, which I have made in my local version:

• par 27- Calls were made at random times during the day – but generally speaking when I was at work and whilst driving home after work, and it was often extremely inconvenient to take the calls. There were many calls.
• par 42 - just changed a typo - they're..

Huge appreciation, for your help, I sincerely mean it.

 

Kind regards

[BankFodder]

Are you able to access your call records?

[Stormy1976]

i will try check my previous phone bills if i can access them.

[BankFodder]

Sent the phone company an SAR

[Stormy1976]

thanks will do

 

Hi @BankFodder

Can i please just confirm the following course of action is what i should proceed with?

• Acknowledge to court by selecting defend the case
• In a few days submit the defence statement to court and copy to Express including your letter above
• Request SAR to Express
• Obtain letter from Doctor

I would be grateful if you could help me please.

Regards
 

[London1971]

5 hours ago, Stormy1976 said:

Hi @BankFodder

 

Thank you, I intend to defend the case and go through all the steps, this will be my summer time project.

I will be acknowledging the court paper today, - it's really unfortunate that my work is so demanding and I have been on 4 meetings so far.

 

Reg settlement without prejudice - no I won't accept that and if we come to this point I will ask for advice.

 

I will review the updated account and I have called my GP too for the letter.

 

Do I still send that letter please?

Also just logging SAR on line today.

 

Many thanks

 

 

I'm going to defer on the mechanics of a defence to others,

 

But one of the most sensitive subjects that any organisation, be it private or public is around depression and vulnerable people. You only have to Google 'debt collection suicides' and it's easy to see that it's toxic for them to pursue you any further. Especially for the sake of a few measly thousand.

 

You are on a strong antidepressant, my wife is on these, they are not a joke. Anybody running a law firm should know they are not a joke. In fact Tax Credits backed down over our £12,000 over payment because of this.

 

The person with the best understanding and most to lose here is the Managing Partner, hence why you send the letter to him, who has the power to stop this in it's tracks, as opposed to some poorly trained junior solicitor just out of uni.

 

You also have absolutely zero to lose!

 

 

 

 

[Stormy1976]

Thank you so much. Yes totally agree with your the topic on MH and the dreadful  stats on debt related suicide.

Kind regards

 

 

Thank you @London1971

Reading back on the post above, you make such perfect sense and I feel for your wife that she's on strong antidepressant too. Pregabalin which i take twice a day at 100ml is a Class C prescribed drug because of high fatalities, and my GP often is surprised how I manage work under that prescription.

 

But i can only do work and home, i can't deal with a lot of other things, which  is sadly why I am here.

 

Anyway, thank you for your contribution to my issue.

 

Kind regards

 

[BankFodder]

I'm sorry but I'm sure I've made this quite clear several times.

You file the acknowledgement with intent to defend – now.

You send the SAR – now – in fact it should have been sent this morning.

Get all the reports you can from the doctor – now.

 

SAR the phone provider to get the call records – now

In about 20 days time you file a defence. Shortly afterwards you send a copy of the defence to the claimant. With a copy of the letter which I have suggested or something else which you prefer.
 

And then what I didn't tell you so far – but you really should be doing some reading on this in order to understand the steps because this is meant to be a self-help forum and therefore I shouldn't need to tell you is that normally you would file a defence within 14 days of receiving the claim papers. By sending an acknowledgement with intention to defend, you get an extra 14 days so you have 28 days altogether since receipt of the papers to file a defence. Because you don't want to be a moment late and you don't want to rely on the postal service too badly, I suggest that you send your defence to the court at day 20 – day 22.

This is assuming that you are finding it by post. It seems to me that the claim has been issued on paper – not online. You should have a look at all the papers you received to see what it says about filing a defence.

If it's been issued online then you would acknowledge with intention to defend online. Whatever you do, don't get it wrong because you will dig yourself deeper into the whole that you have already dug for yourself.

I think it's about time that you started taking some responsibility and that means that you should start reading around on this forum about bringing a small claim in the County Court and also about defending. It's important that you understand the steps. Your opponents – you are solicitors understand the steps fully. You probably won't manage to understand all the ins and outs as well as they do – that you can do pretty well in order to gain confidence and not be fazed by the things that come your way.

Do you understand the situation now?

 

In fact do I gather that you haven't sent the SAR yet to Express?

 

By the way, if you send the acknowledgement by post – which I believe that you will have to, then you should send it by registered special next day delivery. Keep it tracked and follow it.

When you send a copy to the claimant, then you can send it by tracked first class post.

Also, I see that they have indicated that any hearing should be held in their local court – Manchester.

Of course when it comes to allocation you will be given an opportunity as to which court would you prefer the matter to be heard – and you will give the name of your own local court. Because you are the defendant and also because you are a litigant in person, the case will be transferred to your local court. However, when you get that allocation questionnaire, let us know and we will make sure that you are able to fill in correctly and to your greatest advantage.

 

Also, have you contacted your insurer and inform them that you are going to be bringing a claim against the third party?

Also, do you have the identity of the third party and all of their details insurance details et cetera?

[Stormy1976]

Hi @BankFodder

 

I have submitted the SAR electronically maned for Expresses  data protection officer as advised on their website and about to post the acknowledgement to court-  next day delivery and signed for.

 

The court papers were issued to me by post, there are options to respond by email, but I haven't got the patient with our flimsy scanner -so going to post them.

 

I have read a bit on the forum and i endeavour to do a lot more of it to familiarise myself with the County Court stuff-as you say above, albeit I might not understand everything so will be here asking sensibly. ( I am also not English!- so certain terminology might be an issue)

 

I understand I am in a bad place- and I will fight it even though they are sharks!

 

Thanks and have a good evening.

Kind regards

 

[BankFodder]

Where are you from? Do you have a pronounced accent? Do you think you have a good ear for English?

[Stormy1976]

Thank you @BankFodder

 

I haven't contacted my insurance yet but i will do so this week, it's been so much to take on from yesterday. I have submitted the SAR, completed the acknowledgment, and contacted my doctor so will see him tomorrow.

 

I will now write to the MD as you suggested. I have made a list to follow the sequence of events.

 

I am from South Europe, and i have lived here for 22 years. I got educated here to Master's level.

 

I have a very good ear for English- married to an Englishman. I head up a Transformation  department in a local government establishment, so I have 12 Project & Programme Managers i hope i understand them and so do they. But obviously i didn't study law.

 

And thanks for all your effortless contribution, and the strong push..to get things done. I do work very hard, 10 hour day- particular now at this time- but still now excuse to be slack. So thank you once again.

[BankFodder]

thanks. I was hoping that we might be able to leverage the fact that English was not your first language and that it was obvious during the telephone call and yet they continued to recite their are legally technical script at you when it was obvious that you you might not have been fully able to understand.

It seems we'll leave that one alone

 

[Stormy1976]

Ah I would have liked that. Thanks Bankfodder.

[BankFodder]

You haven't responded as to whether you have actually sent off the sar today

[Stormy1976]

Hi @BankFodder

 

i replied to an earlier post stating that I have sent the SAR letter attached and   by email this afternoon.

 

I have directed the SAR letter to Express solicitors Data officer 

 

her direct contact details were on Express website. 

thanks for checking though. I would have probably missed it if it wasn’t for one of you’re earlier posts.

 

thanks for today- and have a good sleep. 

[Stormy1976]

Good morning @BankFodder@London1971

 

Just a quick update, -

• SAR to Express Solicitors - submitted on 29/6
• SAR to telephone provide - to be done today
• Acknowledgement letter to court - 30/06/20
• Doctor letter- 30/06/20 - expected
• Letter to MD of express - 30/06/20 (yet to be sent)
• Defence -  submit in about 20 days
• Read on this forum about County Court Claims- ongoing

 

Thanks for your help to get me to this stage. 

 

[BankFodder]

Excuse me but what letter are you proposing to send to the MD of express?

I'm not sure that I suggested you should do this. Please don't send anything until we know what it is