Consequential Losses

[Empire Strikes Back]

Just wondering if anyone has tried for consequential Losses. I had to sell my business because charges being taken out of the account meant no money to keep stock up to a good level, just thinking if these charges hadnt been taken out could have bought more or better class of stock thus making a profit, which in turn would have improved my bank balance which in turn would have meant less charges being taken and improved my chance of keeping the business running profitably. Have been offered a settlement figure for the charges I have claimed but dont know whether best to accept this and then make a seperate claim for the consequental loss or try and negotiate a sum to be paid extra along with the settlement offer. I have searched the forum but although people have mentioned the consequential side of things cant find anyone that has actually done something about it.

[121o121]

Ummmmm, I think a few people have raised this subject and all have received the same sort of advice. Although all "consequences" are different, I'd imagine you'd be fighting a losing battle.

 

Some people have taken out loans to pay for the charges, some are on about claiming for stress because of the charges implied on their account.

 

Although no expert, I'd imagine the bank would fight you in court if you tried claiming for these loses. Simply because this would open a floodgate to all cases.

 

Just my opinion.

[Empire Strikes Back]

Thanks 121o121, what advise has been given to the others, cant seem to find anything on the site, my Accountant has said it would be worth a try. Am having trouble deciding whether to take the settlementthey have offered and then try a seperate court case for the loss side of things, which I have said I would do on the particulars of Claim for the charges claim, or to see if they would add a bit to their settlement offer. Any ideas anyone out there

[121o121]

Well if it were me I would accept the offer (providing it is full & final settlement with no conditions attached) and forget about the consequential losses. I am assuming you are already down the court route? You would have to amend your claim details anyway to include the additional sum.

[Glenn UK]

I think that regardless of what you call it, consequential losses, damages or whatever, the basic premise is that you need to be able to demonstrate that your loss was as a result of the banks unlawful actions.

 

Seems to me that you need to prepare as if you are going to end up in court and work on whether you think you could present a convincing legal argument about the losses.

 

If you cannot show unequivocally that the closure of your business was due to unlawful charges alone then you may have a tough battle on your hands.

 

FWIW the bank will inevitably fight this action in court so your strategy should be to force them into court over the charges if possible with this as part of the action.

 

The bank will try to settle everything else about the claim other than the damages and this would make it potentially difficult in court because then all you would be arguing about are your losses, possibly without the opportunity to argue about the lawfulness of the charges.

 

Its difficult to say its impossible, its easy to say you would need to be very clear about the difficulty of proving and winning damages.

 

The former its hard enough, the latter will be tougher IMHO.

 

If you think you are going to go for damages, then you should be very careful about accepting the offer.

 

IMHO it is critical you deal with both together.

 

The offer they have made, is this in response to a claim?

 

Glenn