Paying small claim

[I'mfromLogie]

Hi, new here and trying to find answer to a claim at work.

We have received a court date for early May, were going to strongly defend. However, the decision has been made to settle, but nowhere on the paperwork does it say what we need to do, what costs are involved in addition to the original debt, who we need to advise. Or is it simply a matter of sending payment to the creditor and it is up tho them to advise the court? Any advice gratefully received.

[warwick65]

Hi
It would be remiss to just give blanket advice

Is settling the best option and would they maybe settle for a lower amount?

There are some cases which may appear a sure fire win to the untrained eye but when you look at it , they don't have a leg to stand on - just read some of the posts on here,

http://legalbeagles.info/forums/foru...ing-v-shinybee

On that one shinybee was considering bankruptcy but with a good defence - well they won

maybe you would care to elaborate

If you don't want to share , if it were me

I would write a letter headed without prejudice
In it i would make an offer to avoid wasted time and costs - dependant on what the claim is for you could start at say 50% of what they are claiming

However, every case is different - I also had a claim fairly recently which the firm Diana M works for saw off for me , and I had decided to fight it and if I lost then go BR just to p lowell off but it wasn't necessary. I am not BR and lowell are down not just the amount of the claim but they also had to pay costs

[I'mfromLogie]

Thank you Warwick, the dispute was over fees charged before agreement to use the consultant. We were happy to pay some of it, but creditor was not having anything towards a compromise. Tried to re-read the claim submitted to the court, gave up again,too much unnecessary detail submitted, which would probably explain the high cost of invoice to us in first instance.

Anyway, decision made that there are more important things in life. Will take your suggestion on the without prejudice letter, maybe offer to pay the original invoice but not any additional costs. That way both sides win, they get paid and we have made it difficult for them.

[ostell]

Would it not make sense to NOT put "Without Prejudice" on a reasonable offer for settlement? If it goes to court it can be shown that the defendant tried to resolve the matter AND if the claimant is awarded an amount similar to that offered then the defendant can make a claim for costs from the claimant.

[des8]

The potential problem in not using "without prejudice" is that the correspondence could be used to undermine a defence.
You should mark the letter "Without Prejudice Save As To Costs". which then allows reference to the correspondence when the question of costs arises.

[warwick65]

The potential problem in not using "without prejudice" is that the correspondence could be used to undermine a defence.
You should mark the letter "Without Prejudice Save As To Costs". which then allows reference to the correspondence when the question of costs arises.

If memory serves, there have been instances of a letter with the WP omitted has been put in front of the court as an admission

I'mfromLogie
I see your point - my skills tend to be more based on consumer credit debt (which is why I was asking questions that may have seemed intrusive) whereas this is blatantly different

[ostell]

But this is a case when they are partially admitting the money is owed so offering what they think is owed should not affect a defence.

[des8]

Not really sure if the claim is to be defended strongly (post !), or offer partial settlement prior to court as per post 3.
If offer to settle is declined and case proceeds to court they may wish to defend total amount claimed so better to use WP.