Sue an individual if company no longer trading

[Pezza54]

Successful claim award £4k to £100k depending on severity of PTSD

[Northmark]

Thank you. I would want 10 times the higher end of that just for lost income alone.

From what I can see I think his solicitor is his permanent solicitor who deals with matters for all of his various companies.

My first friendly letter was sent to him a little over a week ago. Then there were some email exchanges. Then I received letter from his solicitor. Then I sent a letter of claim, as I didn't think my first letter really would be considered a letter of claim as such.

Seeing press stories and articles about him really does trigger my mental health conditions quite badly. Even at the same time emails were being exchanged there were press releases about him flaunting his ridiculously obscene wealth.

I cannot imagine he would want this made public. If the press did find out about these matters before or during any court claim, does that have any affect on any court proceedings?

[PallasAthena]

I'm sorry if this sounds harsh but I am giving this advice to help you decide what to do next.

To be frank your posts suggest to me that you are way out of your depth on the substantive law, on rules of procedure, and rules of evidence. You now reveal [Post #47] that your claim for the lost wages element alone is going to exceed £1,000,000, plus whatever you hope to recover for personal injury and all the rest of it: "...damages arising from workplace related injuries, non payment of wages, discrimination, bullying, harassment, defamation, breaches of contract, breaches of data and serious invasion of privacy..."

Nevertheless you are proposing to present your own case as a Litigant in Person against an opponent who you have described as a billionaire who responds aggressively to any contact you make with him, having an unsavoury reputation, and who has already retained solicitors to deal with your complaints. The idea that he will want to quietly pay you £1,000,000++ to avoid publicity is wishful thinking in the extreme, and wholly unrealistic.

Have you looked at what court fees you will have to pay upfront to begin a court action on this scale? To make a claim for £1,000,000 lost wages alone you will have to pay a court fee of £10,000 (according to gov.uk). And if you lose you will have to pay your ex-employer's legal costs. And he sounds like the sort of person who will have very expensive lawyers.

So the question isn't can you afford to hire a lawyer but can you afford not to?

As has already been recommended to you earlier in the thread you need to consult a specialist personal injury lawyer and get an objective assessment of the strength of your case.

[Northmark]

Thank you.

I'm sorry if this sounds harsh but I am giving this advice to help you decide what to do next.

To be frank your posts suggest to me that you are way out of your depth on the substantive law, on rules of procedure, and rules of evidence. You now reveal [Post #47] that your claim for the lost wages element alone is going to exceed £1,000,000, plus whatever you hope to recover for personal injury and all the rest of it: "...damages arising from workplace related injuries, non payment of wages, discrimination, bullying, harassment, defamation, breaches of contract, breaches of data and serious invasion of privacy..."

Nevertheless you are proposing to present your own case as a Litigant in Person against an opponent who you have described as a billionaire who responds aggressively to any contact you make with him, having an unsavoury reputation, and who has already retained solicitors to deal with your complaints. The idea that he will want to quietly pay you £1,000,000++ to avoid publicity is wishful thinking in the extreme, and wholly unrealistic.

Yes he is a billionaire and is listed on the Sunday Times rich list. His responses to my communication did come across as a bit aggressive, but then email communications can sometimes be easily misinterpreted. As well as being potentially very damaging to him, having to go through the courts would absolutely not be in my best interests either, so my instinct tells me to try to approach this in the most non-aggressive manner possible, in the best interests of both parties. If believe if my communications to him were made through a legal team, that would be a much more aggressive approach and would maybe be more likely to spark legal proceedings through the court, which is something I would prefer not to have to do.

I still believe that it is possible to negotiate a settlement with him, if I can adequately show him that I have a strong claim and that legal proceedings would not be in his best interests and hope that people on this forum could help me to try to achieve amicable settlement myself, without any need for legal proceedings through the court.

Have you looked at what court fees you will have to pay upfront to begin a court action on this scale? To make a claim for £1,000,000 lost wages alone you will have to pay a court fee of £10,000 (according to gov.uk). And if you lose you will have to pay your ex-employer's legal costs. And he sounds like the sort of person who will have very expensive lawyers.

Yes I have seen that before, although somebody I know once had a claim brought against them for a considerable amount of money (over £50K), but the claim form showed a court fee paid of only around £200-£300, stating "special damages". Is that possible?

I do not feel I have much to lose really, as I am no longer in any position where I could potentially lose my job and the defendant would have no possibility of recovering any legal costs from me anyway.

So the question isn't can you afford to hire a lawyer but can you afford not to?

As has already been recommended to you earlier in the thread you need to consult a specialist personal injury lawyer and get an objective assessment of the strength of your case.

Yes, I agree it would probably be more sensible to have a legal team representation if this has to be dealt with through the courts, but feel I should wait for a response to my letter of claim before deciding what action to take next? If an amicable agreement can be made without any need for court action, that would be in my better interests and I would be grateful for any help on this forum in trying to achieve an amicable settlement.

[R0b]

I agree with PallasAthena, you need to get your head out of the clouds and stop dithering about. Each of the claims you are seeking to make requires specialist advice possibly from multiple lawyers and neither you nor anyone on this forum will be able to help you craft something just as good as they would to give you a strong legal position.

There is absolutely no reason for you to wait for a response to the letter before action because, any legal representative will have to re-issue another letter before action to comply with the pre-action protocols on personal injury, defamation, data protection etc. all of which I am assuming you never complied with in your original LBC.

You need to get proper legal advice on each of the elements of your claim. Your claim for £1m+ seems to be a figure plucked from thin air and I can be pretty certain you are unlikely to get anywhere near that. Unless of course your personal injury for example caused you to lose all of your limbs or you now require 24/7 round the clock care, then that's the only other reason how I think a court might even consider a remedy of the size you're talking about.

The rest of your claim, is unlikely to get anywhere near £100k unless you can produce something spectacular in court that warrants something bigger. Any law firm who thinks you have a chance of succeeding and obtaining £1m+ in damages will snap your hand off to bring the claim and you should have no problem getting the right legal representation.

In reality, quite a lot of people who post on here tend to think they can claim stupid amounts of money but the merits of the claim either don't meet the required legal standard or the compensation would be no more than a modest amount. It would be telling that if a law firm declined to represent you, that would usually suggest that your claim is has no legs, or the compensation award is not worth the cost of pursuing the claim on a no win no fee basis.

Please be honest with yourself and take our advice to seek professional help and report back on how it goes. Someone with the financial means and the serious allegations you are making is simply not going to hand over any substantial sum of money without challenging it. If you are refusing to do that, then I would have to question whether the events you are described are real or if you are some kind of troll because nobody in their right mind would ignore doing the obvious thing.

Yes I have seen that before, although somebody I know once had a claim brought against them for a considerable amount of money (over £50K), but the claim form showed a court fee paid of only around £200-£300, stating "special damages". Is that possible?

No and I fail to see how that ever could happen. Court fees are fixed based on the value of the claim and if it was £50k then it would be £2,500 fees as it's 5% of the claim for damages over £10k but less than £200k.

[Northmark]

Thank you. Your post is a bit overwhelming for me to reply to quickly. I will try to reply more fully when I can, but for now have answered a couple of questions below.

I agree with PallasAthena, you need to get your head out of the clouds and stop dithering about. Each of the claims you are seeking to make requires specialist advice possibly from multiple lawyers and neither you nor anyone on this forum will be able to help you craft something just as good as they would to give you a strong legal position.

There is absolutely no reason for you to wait for a response to the letter before action because, any legal representative will have to re-issue another letter before action to comply with the pre-action protocols on personal injury, defamation, data protection etc. all of which I am assuming you never complied with in your original LBC.

You need to get proper legal advice on each of the elements of your claim. Your claim for £1m+ seems to be a figure plucked from thin air and I can be pretty certain you are unlikely to get anywhere near that. Unless of course your personal injury for example caused you to lose all of your limbs or you now require 24/7 round the clock care, then that's the only other reason how I think a court might even consider a remedy of the size you're talking about.

I do not think somebody would have to either "lose all of their limbs" or "require 24/7 care" to be entitled to any considerable amount of compensation.

The rest of your claim, is unlikely to get anywhere near £100k unless you can produce something spectacular in court that warrants something bigger. Any law firm who thinks you have a chance of succeeding and obtaining £1m+ in damages will snap your hand off to bring the claim and you should have no problem getting the right legal representation.

In reality, quite a lot of people who post on here tend to think they can claim stupid amounts of money but the merits of the claim either don't meet the required legal standard or the compensation would be no more than a modest amount. It would be telling that if a law firm declined to represent you, that would usually suggest that your claim is has no legs, or the compensation award is not worth the cost of pursuing the claim on a no win no fee basis.

Please be honest with yourself and take our advice to seek professional help and report back on how it goes. Someone with the financial means and the serious allegations you are making is simply not going to hand over any substantial sum of money without challenging it. If you are refusing to do that, then I would have to question whether the events you are described are real or if you are some kind of troll because nobody in their right mind would ignore doing the obvious thing.

I would expect them to "challenge" it or require evidence and adequate information, which I would be happy to provide them with.

Yes I have seen that before, although somebody I know once had a claim brought against them for a considerable amount of money (over £50K), but the claim form showed a court fee paid of only around £200-£300, stating "special damages". Is that possible?

No and I fail to see how that ever could happen. Court fees are fixed based on the value of the claim and if it was £50k then it would be £2,500 fees as it's 5% of the claim for damages over £10k but less than £200k.

That did happen. The person I know received communications from a solicitor demanding payment for an alleged debt of over £50K, which was disputed. The person then received court claim stating "special damages" and the court fee paid on the form was for a minimal amount of £200-£300.

[Pezza54]

Out of interest have you been diagnosed by a medical professional with PTSD? If so, when?

The reason I ask is because the time limit for a claim is 3 years from the date of diagnosis. Some people suffering from flashbacks, anxiety, nightmares etc may not realise they are suffering from PTSD.

Can you relate your symptoms of PTSD back to an occurrence or occurrences during your employment with this company?

Perhaps an accident causing physical injury or frequent bullying? If yes, did you report this officially to your manager or personnel?

[atticus]

I agree, the OP appears to be well and truly out of his depth.

As to levels of compensation - I suggest that he finds and reads the Judicial Studies Board guidelines on damages for personal injuries before dreaming up 7 figure sums. This may bring him down to earth.

[Northmark]

Thank you.

Out of interest have you been diagnosed by a medical professional with PTSD? If so, when?

The reason I ask is because the time limit for a claim is 3 years from the date of diagnosis. Some people suffering from flashbacks, anxiety, nightmares etc may not realise they are suffering from PTSD.

Yes, although I was not aware of this until a few years later when I requested copy of my medical records.

Can you relate your symptoms of PTSD back to an occurrence or occurrences during your employment with this company?

Yes.

Perhaps an accident causing physical injury or frequent bullying? If yes, did you report this officially to your manager or personnel?

I didn't really have a specific manager or personnel to report to at the time, as I was employed on a freelance/self-employed basis. I believe I did at the time try to complain to the office staff at the company about the payment of wages, but did not pursue any legal claim at the time due to reasons previously mentioned.

I believe I have a very strong claim, but am unable to disclose any detailed information, as this could easily identify the director/owner and would not want to to risk my claim by any potential claim against me for alleged defamation.

In addition, the persons who might have considered to be my "manager" at the time were the people who committed some of the unlawful acts against me.

[Northmark]

I agree, the OP appears to be well and truly out of his depth.

As to levels of compensation - I suggest that he finds and reads the Judicial Studies Board guidelines on damages for personal injuries before dreaming up 7 figure sums. This may bring him down to earth.

Thank you. I do not believe my claims are any kind of "dream" and would expect an 8 figure sum would be more realistic.

I appreciate you do not have all of the info. I wouldn't have any problem disclosing the identity of the other party, or the full details of the claims, unless it would potentially put my claim at risk at all?

I have this afternoon received a reply to my letter of claim.

[atticus]

8 figures - No chance. Sorry, but you are in some kind of cloud-cuckoo land. Your posts and your reactions to others' replies show that you have no idea of the very great difficulties that you face even to get a claim off the ground.

Or am I wrong in that the reply you have received admits everything and asks you to say the amount to be written on the settlement cheque?

[PallasAthena]

I have this afternoon received a reply to my letter of claim.

What does it say?

[Northmark]

What does it say?

Thank you. I don't really feel inclined to share at the moment based on some of the most recent replies, as I prefer to keep my personal stress levels to a minimum, but will have a think about things and come back to you if and when able to.

Thank you for any information or thoughts in the meantime.

[Northmark]

8 figures - No chance. Sorry, but you are in some kind of cloud-cuckoo land. Your posts and your reactions to others' replies show that you have no idea of the very great difficulties that you face even to get a claim off the ground.

Or am I wrong in that the reply you have received admits everything and asks you to say the amount to be written on the settlement cheque?

Thank you. I think I am aware how difficult it would be, which is why I have not claimed sooner and is why I would prefer not to have to pursue any action through the courts at all.

How much then do you think would be reasonable to claim for lost income, both past and future? Obviously somebody who has been injured and lost 2 weeks of minimum wage income is a bit different to somebody who has potentially lost many years of income and surely it would depend on the level of annual income, or is there only a specific set figure or guideline of income anybody can claim?

[Northmark]

I agree with PallasAthena, you need to get your head out of the clouds and stop dithering about. Each of the claims you are seeking to make requires specialist advice possibly from multiple lawyers and neither you nor anyone on this forum will be able to help you craft something just as good as they would to give you a strong legal position.

There is absolutely no reason for you to wait for a response to the letter before action because, any legal representative will have to re-issue another letter before action to comply with the pre-action protocols on personal injury, defamation, data protection etc. all of which I am assuming you never complied with in your original LBC.

You need to get proper legal advice on each of the elements of your claim. Your claim for £1m+ seems to be a figure plucked from thin air and I can be pretty certain you are unlikely to get anywhere near that. Unless of course your personal injury for example caused you to lose all of your limbs or you now require 24/7 round the clock care, then that's the only other reason how I think a court might even consider a remedy of the size you're talking about.

The rest of your claim, is unlikely to get anywhere near £100k unless you can produce something spectacular in court that warrants something bigger. Any law firm who thinks you have a chance of succeeding and obtaining £1m+ in damages will snap your hand off to bring the claim and you should have no problem getting the right legal representation.

In reality, quite a lot of people who post on here tend to think they can claim stupid amounts of money but the merits of the claim either don't meet the required legal standard or the compensation would be no more than a modest amount. It would be telling that if a law firm declined to represent you, that would usually suggest that your claim is has no legs, or the compensation award is not worth the cost of pursuing the claim on a no win no fee basis.

Please be honest with yourself and take our advice to seek professional help and report back on how it goes. Someone with the financial means and the serious allegations you are making is simply not going to hand over any substantial sum of money without challenging it. If you are refusing to do that, then I would have to question whether the events you are described are real or if you are some kind of troll because nobody in their right mind would ignore doing the obvious thing.



No and I fail to see how that ever could happen. Court fees are fixed based on the value of the claim and if it was £50k then it would be £2,500 fees as it's 5% of the claim for damages over £10k but less than £200k.

Sorry if have offended by the level of damages I wish to claim, but certainly haven't just plucked some random figure out of the air. If a specialist personal injury solicitor suggested my claim is worth merely a few grand, when it is worth much more, then I certainly would not bother employing them to act for me.