Davey

[campervangirl]

Given 21 days out of the blue by Cabot to make an offer on a debt that's been stayed for 32 months, they were going to go to court if I did not respond to lift the stay and make a judgement, I received Cabots paperwork after only 5 days telling the court I did not respond

[echat11]

Hi CAMPERVANGIRL

Welcome to LB

Can you tell us a bit more about the debt, background etc?

You could write to Cabot and the Court, stating that you received their last correspondence after 5 days, when they had initially given you 21 days.

They will need to give the Court a good reason to 'lift the stay', have they given you a reason?

You Defended the claim, are you going to carry on doing that?

So what have you received from the Court?

Is there a Hearing date?

[campervangirl]

morning and thank you for your help, the debt was stayed in 2022 as we believe there was not enough iformation as the debt as been there for many years and also been passed to 3 other debt collectors before Cabot, the debt is around £4800.
I contacted their solicitors and asked for all the information they had and they just sent me a breakdown of their fees if which will be added to my debt which has made me even more stressed, but that seemed like their objective

The case is on the 26th February I am defending the case and and yesterday I emailed my defence, will the court take it into consideration due to the fact that we haven't heard from Cabot in 2 and a half years and they lied on their witness statement stating they had not heard from us after they gave us 21 days to respond and a few days after the dated letter we received all the paperwork from the court.
We only asked for all the details from all the other debt collectors on exactly how much we owed, there didn't seem to be anything different there in the pack than in 2002, surely this couldn't have taken more than 2 years.
I did write to their solicitors telling them about this time difference.
I don't want to go to the hearing but I'm worried I'll get a ccj, that would be devastating to me as I'm 67 now and had to give up work, my home is due for a remortgage so it's a very worrying time. Thank you again for listening.

[campervangirl]

After writing to their solicitors about time difference they I have not heard from them, it's a very worrying time and I do feel as though I'm being bullied.

[campervangirl]

In the pack from the court was the details of the hearing and all the details of the credit card details from 2008, which covered everything from Halifax and the sale of the debt from them to Cabot but no mention of the 3 other debt collectors between Halifax and finally Cabot I what we've been asking for.

[echat11]

Can you post your Defence onto this thread (the one you sent yesterday).

You need to do a Witness Statement, that needs to be emailed to the Court and Cabot's solicitors. We can help with this. You need to get this done by Sunday, so it can be emailed Monday Morning to the Court and Cabot's solicitors.

[echat11]

'Given 21 days out of the blue by Cabot to make an offer on a debt that's been stayed for 32 months'

Pezza54

You need to point out to the Judge that the 'stay shouldn't be lifted' and the case should be 'struck out'.

The claimant should have a very good reason for waiting 32 months to make an application notice to lift a stay

To lift a stay the judge should apply the test of "appropriateness"

In applying this test Chief Master Marsh considered in a 2016/17 case involving the Premier League -
Football Association Premier league LTD v O'Donovan (2017) EWHC 152 (Ch):

1. Whether the claimant had an adequate explanation for the delay?

.................................................. .................................................. ........

2. Whether the claimant's claim has (at least) a real prospect of success?

.................................................. .................................................. ....................................

3. The defendant's behaviour and whether any of the delay was caused by the defendant?

.................................................. .................................................. ................................................

4. The nature and extent of any prejudice the defendant would suffer in the event that the stay is lifted?

.................................................. .................................................. .................................................. ...................

5. Whether any attempts were made by the claimant in the 6 months to revive the claim?

.................................................. .................................................. .................................................

Note this case was for a 6 month delay not 32 months

Draft your witness statement accordingly, covering items 1 to 5

Be ready to answer questions about how you have been disadvantaged by the delay.

The judge will want to listen to your answer to determine how sincere you are about the stress and anxiety you've suffered since the claimant applied to restart the claim.