French v. Abbey (3) - Into the breach once more my friends!

[srfrench]

Good news in sofar as:

 

Taken from the BBC website this morning 24 August 2007

 

 

A judge has stopped Barclays bank taking any more penalty charges and interest from a customer who sued for their return.

 

Judge Abrahams, at Luton County Court, has ordered Barclays to stop applying the charges until a High Court test case settles the legal issues involved.

 

Barclays said it will be entitled to reclaim any further charges from Nadine Fry should the test case be successful.

The five main banks have handed back almost £400m in charges since January.

 

Barclays itself has so far repaid £87m in overdraft charges this year.

 

'Not general policy'

 

Judge Abraham's decision is likely to be deeply disturbing to the UK's banks, in case other judges around the country adopt a similar line.

Luton county court's order against Barclays bank

 

 

 

A spokesman for the Judicial Communications Office (JCO), which speaks on behalf of judges, said: "This is not a general policy - each case is assessed on its own merits."

 

In the past year, tens of thousands of bank customers have been winning refunds of overdraft penalty charges from their banks, amounting to millions of pounds.

 

 

To resolve this vexed issue, the banks, along with the Office of Fair Trading (OFT), agreed at the end of July to stage in the High Court next year a test case on the legality of the charges.

The OFT believes they are an unfair and illegal penalty under consumer protection regulations.

The banks say they are a fair charge for providing a service to their customers while their accounts are in the red.

 

Waiver win

 

At the same time as announcing the test case, the banks won from the Financial Services Authority (FSA) a waiver from the current rules so that they can largely stop processing new claims against them until the legal issues are sorted out.

Likewise, the Financial Services Ombudsman (FSO) decided to stop dealing with the thousands of similar complaints it has been receiving.

The banks also asked the courts to suspend all existing legal actions against them for the time being. However, any decisions on cases that are already before the courts have been left up to local judges to decide.

 

 

:D

[srfrench]

Had another letter from the Court today (Leeds Merc) stating that my application for a CPR Part 18 Order will be heard at the hearing on the 29th August 2007. So I was right, this "Hearing" is a Directoions/Case Management Hearing and not the full hearing as others suspect! No harm in going in prepared though as it will give the Abbey a few pins in the backside and eyes!

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Well there was @ 120 of us peeps in the Merc Courts today in Leeds and whilst the Judge agreed the arguments made and made a special reference to mine and a few others, he honestly could not give anything other than an individual stay on all claimants - not a blanket!!! that's important.

 

His argument as I would have expected was sound and just and he gave a cut-off (without exception) that in Feb 2008 it will be lifted regardless of the decision made by Justice David Steele (Judge in the OFT Test Case).

 

That is significant!

 

Costs for the day is given to the parties. In my case it amounts to an extra £83.

 

My 2 Credit Card Claims were a joke (with diff providers) and they have 6 weeks from today to settle/provide a defence, but the JUdge does not want to see a another Case Management Hearing dealing with these. A Stay was applied for in the case of both but were quickly dropped!

 

All in all an exhausting, interesting day and one that will keep me in cigars through winter!

 

Roll on Feb 2008!! hink of the interest that is continuing to mount on a daily basis.

 

Oh...... and the Barrister and Solicitors were tornoff a strip a little by the Judge and I was informed by one of the Claimants that when I was presenting my case to have the Stay removed, she blanched! (She was also dealing with me!)

I approached her later as she indicated settlement, but realised I was going the full hog and claiming costs to. She tried to intimidate me a little with the fact that no way would I get costs, to which I replied, "of course I will...... have you actually read my POC as you will see that even as you have demonstrated at sneakily trying to put monies into my account, which the Judge frowned upon and ripped into her, it also asks for a legal declaration that the level of levied charges imposed was unlawful and unenforceable. In other words, settle the monetary side and the claim still carries on darling!" I also told her to smile a little, she didn't which is a shame, because she was quite attractive........ methinks it's either PMT or she needs a holiday!

 

So that's it in a nutshell peeps, I will post the full orders and resoning as and when I am a party to it from the Court.

 

No worries..........

[srfrench]

Now.... bugger off I want 40 winks!

[srfrench]

I was sat where the Barristers normally sit!

 

It was only because it was standing room only :o

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Yup....... now I'm raring to go as I have to be up at the crack of a Sparrows fart!

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Gosh....seems like an absolute age since I last posted on here.

 

Anyway, little development this morning. I received a letter from Ashursts stating they have served a notice of Change of Solicitor with the Courts.

 

Si, in effect then, Abbey are stopping the handling of claims and transferring them to Ashurts. (Are they the in-house solicitors anyway?)

 

I wonder why the change and wonder why now......ideas anyone? 8)

[srfrench]

Nope that's standard for Solicitors or practices with a number of "Partners". LLP stands for Limited Liability Partnership.

[srfrench]

PMSL.................I have my moments

 

Do you realise that since the stay was imposed on this claim I have "earnt" another £1000+ in Contractual Interest............ oh please dont lift it yet Ass Hurts!

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Or as another wag in the CAG forums so subtly put it.............. KERCHING!! LOL

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2 days to go and the slumbering beast stirs......................

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LOL............ any news yet from the Press or the Courts?

[srfrench]

So how long is the Justice Andrew Smith going to take for his hols?

 

Whilst the interest has been mounting on a ridiculous scale, just when will the historical T&C's judgement going to be made ......... 2008 or 2009? :-?

[srfrench]

So what's the judgement?

[srfrench]

So we now have the second Judgement go our way.

 

The Banks in the coming weeks will be applying for permission to Appeal. However, IMHO, it won't be granted and therefore game over for the Banks.

 

All that is really left is for the OFT to publish officially their findings on the unfairness of the Bank Charges.

 

All that this will do whilst the stays remain frozen until the above 2 events are concluded, is that interest continues to accrue!

 

Either way, because now it is fairly well proven that the charges were UNLAWFUL you can get the full amount claimed back plus interest.

 

It doesn't matter what the OFT sets as an acceptable charge, it can only be applied from the current or future date.

 

At the very least, the Banks will have to disclose their ACTUAL costs if they want to lessen the eventual payout. This they won't do, period!

 

So for everyone out there, sit tight, submit your claims and rest assured in the coming few months all will be on the table!

 

Views expressed in this post are purely mine and mine alone. I do not speak for all on CAG and am not a moderator. However, all I am intending to do is give a little stability to a rumour fest of supposition. STOP IT!

[srfrench]

Wow....someone's been doing a lot of reading!

 

My opinion of the comments raised is whilst the banks could face further problems with funding, that's highly unlikely as a majority of the funds refunded will end up staying in the bank albeit in their customers accounts rather than in staff bonuses and fat cat board members salaries!

 

So, all in all, the sooner the House Of Lords reject their approach for permission to Appeal the better as the FSA could then be reliably challenged to release the stay on claims.

 

After all once the monies are refunded in full and with SEMPRA interst added the sooner Joe & Joan Public can start sorting not only their financial issues out but start to put money back into the economy.

 

The Banks and Labour created this problem...deal with it by taking the deserverd punishment, don't penalise the people because of your mistakes!

[srfrench]

Well, update time.

 

I wrote to Ashursts LLP on the 7th of June 2009 with a request to amend my POC making it clearer, less ambiguous and added support to my claim quoting case law. I did this to get their consent in getting my POC into Court without the hassle and cost of an N244 Application.

 

Whilst I can afford to submit one, I have given them till the 22nd June to do so, trusting in a mature response from them. Either way I've requested they write to me one way or the other by the 22nd.

 

I'm sure if I have to submit an application without their consent the costs will hopefully become theirs once approved.

[srfrench]

Oooooo' eck!

 

Aha....but since you wanted to be 31 again....I thought that all birthdays were suspended?

 

I thought it was going to be 16th September?

[srfrench]

LOL.... well I'm sure it'll be "Service as Normal" soon following the HoL Appeal.

 

Ah the witty banter, the tongue in cheek inuendo, the blatant overtures of wanting to see justice done and more importantly the opening of such great minds to the benefit of the world.....all will be evident in the coming weeks and months.

 

I was just working out the interest on my last of the 2 claims I currently have on hold. If I projected it into 2015 I would get £248,000 (and yes, it is correct)

 

In many ways I pray for another stay!

 

If the judgement in the HoL Appeal goes the OFT's way, then I expect the stays to be lifted. There is no other "Test Case" lodged in the High Courts so what would the arguments be for a stay to remain? After all many of us are so far in the system that the next step in the process for us, esp me is an actual Court Hearing.

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Oh and Lula........10,000+ POSTS WOMAN!!!!!!

 

Fer goodness sake....breath woman, breath

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Glances at watch, sneaks a peek at the calendar, Rolls Eyes Heavenwards.......

 

 

Soon oh soooooooo soon!

[srfrench]

The October Judgement my little roll of loo paper

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Oh coooommmmmmmeeeee oonnnnnnnnnnn! FFS....... we all know where it's heading, just deliver the judgement and lift the stays!!!!!

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Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaarrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrgggggggghhhhhhh!!!!!

 

Now it transpires the HoL Judegement will be handed down on or soon after 26th October.

 

Effing hell! Going back to sleep again!

[srfrench]

Well.........apparently the HoL Judgement will be handed down in the SCoJ on Thursday 19th November 2009.

 

Not to sure if I could give any credence to this "latest" date.

 

Methinks, that's when the it will be announced on the SCoJ noticeboards of Judgements to be made for the next week.

 

So on that thought I think / hope / pray the Judgement will once and for all be made between the 20th and 25th Novemeber 2009.

 

They really need to get a grip and start to speed up the process but not to the detriment of a well thought out resolution/judgement.