NatWest : Particularity

[lisaglancy]

Hi ,

Am at court stage against NatWest for a business account claim.

 

Received defence inviting the court to call a management conference to give claimant the opportunity to "properly particularise the claim" & checked with Court Office that I had no need to do anything further until instructed by the court.

 

Subsequently I received an AQ from NatWest, claiming that I had not shown reasonable grounds for bringing the claim - & had failed to remedy the lack of particularity - but still no Court Instruction to do so.

 

However instead of a conference instruction, this morning I received A General Form of Judgement or Order instructing that the claim be stayed as it "makes no serious attempt to comply with CPR 16.4(i) by setting out a consise statement of the facts ( stylised particulars do not constitute compliance )"

 

An updated Schedule of claim for charges has been submitted with each stage of the claim : what exactly do they need from me in order to fulfill the Court's request for "particularity"??

I have until 20 April to comply or it will be struck out.

 

Was offered all fees refunded in Feb - but not the £500+ in interest & charges. Is it too late to accept this now if I can't get my head around this particularity business?? Although I really don't want to bottle it at this stage if I can help it!!

 

Thanks in advance.

Lisa

[livelylad]

Can you post the order please.

[lisaglancy]

Hello,

Sorry to be dumb : what exactly do you need??

Do you mean give dates to each of the stages as above?

L

[Parkvale]

This is CPR16;Contents of the particulars of claim 16.4 (1)Particulars of claim must include –

(a)a concise statement of the facts on which the claimant relies;

(b)if the claimant is seeking interest, a statement to that effect and the details set out in paragraph (2);

©if the claimant is seeking aggravated damages (GL) or exemplary damages (GL) , a statement to that effect and his grounds for claiming them;

(d)if the claimant is seeking provisional damages, a statement to that effect and his grounds for claiming them; and

(e)such other matters as may be set out in a practice direction.

(2)If the claimant is seeking interest he must –

(a)state whether he is doing so –

(i)under the terms of a contract;

(ii)under an enactment and if so which; or

(iii)on some other basis and if so what that basis is; and

(b)if the claim is for a specified amount of money, state –

(i)the percentage rate at which interest is claimed;

(ii)the date from which it is claimed;

(iii)the date to which it is calculated, which must not be later than the date on which the claim form is issued;

(iv)the total amount of interest claimed to the date of calculation; and

(v)the daily rate at which interest accrues after that date.

 

(Part 22 requires particulars of claim to be verified by a statement of truth)

 

Do as Lively lad says and post the order.

[lisaglancy]

Details of Order :

 

IT IS ORDERED THAT

1. The claim be stayed as it makes no serious attempt to comply with CPR 16.4(i) by setting out a concise statement of the facts. ( Stylised particulars do not constitute compliance )

The Claimant must amend or substitute its particulars of claim setting out the Claimant's case in plain English by 4pm on 20 April 207 and in default, the claim be struck out without further notice.

If the above order is complied with the Defendant has permission to file & serve an amended defence in accordance with CPR 16.5 setting out its case in plain English

In my original claim form ( from template ) I contended that " the charges exceed the Defendants losses caused by breaches" - is it this that they need me to particulariseaccording to Gary H's Statement of Evidence ??

 

Thanks.

L

[Michael Browne]

Is this Hitchin or St albans Court. For some reason they often do this.

There are fuller POC's here, which will need amending for a business claim, since consumer laws don't apply to businesses:

http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/barclays-bank/70304-jordash-barclays-bank-defence.html#post661829

[lisaglancy]

Righto, Thanks for that!!

[lisaglancy]

OK : am getting to grips with this now. Just a question though, if N.West have already offered me all of the charges back , do I have to go through the detail of statements etc., ??

Isn't there a way to say to the court "Look they've made an offer for the full amount of charges, I just want the relevant interest & costs "?

It seems to me that the legal defence re: particularity & reasonable charges etc., is flying in the face of the fact that i've already had an offer - so they must know they're on a hiding to nothing.

I know that some have approached the bank direct at this stage : is it advisable with NatWest to say "look if you just settle up for the costs / interest as well, I'll go away" ? - or will they smell the fear??? It's an extra £600 ??

Any feisty ideas welcome!!