MCOL from Swiss Bank

[Aerodesign]

I had a UBS current account and credit card 6 years ago when l lived in Switzerland. There were 3 disputed transactions during that time which with 2 disputes left open (i.e. l am due a refund). By 2016 there was a balance left on the credit card which l was unwilling to pay but had offered a full and final settlement to close (which was agreed verbally by UBS with a formal letter by myself which they did not accept in writing). In 2019 l received a Claim via MCOL for an alleged outstanding credit card balance. This claim states Claimant is UBS Switzerland but it was in fact made by a UK based debt collection company. Their director signed the claim but stated he is a bank. Does this appear to be a misrepresentation of fact?

The contract signed in Switzerland states very clearly that the contract is subject to Swiss law and the place for debt payments is Zurich, Switzerland, even for foreign-based debtors.

It states:
"This agreement is governed by and construed in accordance with
substantive Swiss law. The exclusive place of jurisdiction for all
legal proceeding is Zurich, Switzerland, or the location of the
branch holding the account. This shall be the place of performance
and the place of debt collection for cardholders domiciled abroad.
Any mandatory legal places of jurisdiction are reserved."

I filed an Acknowledgement of Service and a defence. The defence questions the court's jurisdiction and states the facts from my side, it gives the history of the account and mentions the open disputes.

I want to make an application for the Claimant to have the Claimant statement struck out on the grounds they have no grounds to bring the case. And that the court is not within its jurisdiction to make a Judgment in English law. I assume l have to make this application via a form N244 which may be subject to a fee. Any advice on the wording of this application is welcome.

The Claimant did not lay out the heads of claim (as per CPR pre-action protocol) nor has he actually listed the UBS account number. This appears to contravene the CPR requirements, making the claim non-specific. Advice?

[R0b]

You are going to have no such luck striking this out for lack of jurisdiction because there is a specific process for that. You would need to tick the option that says you dispute jurisdiction and an application would need to follow requesting the court declare that it has no jurisdiction. Because you filed a defence, you are deemed to have accepted jurisdiction.

Also, you've already filed a defence and except for paying to amend your defence, I don't think there's much we can do for you. It's not clear whether the UK based debt collection agency is acting as the claimant in these proceedings or as it's agent. If the former, then you could have had a clear cut case for strike out on the basis the debt collection co. has no jurisdiction.

Non-compliance with the pre-action protocols is likely going to be a cost issue but probably not warrant striking out the claim.

Finally, you've not provided us with a copy of the claim form so it's difficult to see if there's any problems in that regard, not to mention that the contract is subject to swiss law and I doubt very much anyone on here is an expert on that!

How much is the claim by the way?