Court Claim - Optima

[d0nnyoz]

I have received a court claim from Optima Legal Services of Leeds.
This relates to a late filing of my company accounts, from Companies House.
Firstly, as it was a debt, this was first passed to a company called Akinika, who contacted me about the debt. I had already replied to Companies House to ask for time to pay but Companies House finally responded to say I could not pay by installments as the debt had been passed to a collection agency.
In that time, the debt was passed to another company called Optima. I have no contact with Optima and have no address from them. I certainly have had no correspondence from them about the debt, which would allow me to open a dialogue for repayment.
(Just to say, I concede the penalty of late filing, which was for a dormant company and therefore has no funds, hence the reason for paying in installments.)

So, out of the blue, I have received a County Court claim from Optima relating to the debt of £150, plus the usual charges.
There is part of me thinking that I should just pay this and get it cleared off, but there is also part of me thinking that Optima have not really followed any procedure here in terms of communication (and I concede I don't know what that procedure might be but I do think they should have at least written to me and entered a dialogue to settle the debt).

So my questions are:
- It is reasonable to expect that a company such as this to enter into some communications with me to repay the debt before going straight to a claim?
- What do I do about the claim? Sure, its easy to just pay it and be done with it, but I'm not sure how I challenge it on the basis of point 1 above.

This is in my company name which has no assets. If I refute the claim and it goes against me (the company), what recourse do they have for claiming the money?
Thanks in advance.

[R0b]

So is the claim against the company or you personally? It would be helpful to see the particulars of claim so we know what has been said.

My company law knowledge is lacking somewhat these but if I recall, any civil penalties are incurred by the company and not the individual though it can be a criminal offence for not delivering the accounts to Companies House but a claim like that would be criminal court not civil.

As far as I remember, penalties for late filings are a strict liability, which in other words means if the act is done or there is a failure to act, there is no defence.

They ought to have issued a letter before action which you should have responded to but that's about it. Arguably they could say instalments are not accepted because the amount is claimed is small. On the flip side, their complete failure to consider any repayment plan and instead head to court could mean they might not recover any costs.

[d0nnyoz]

Thanks rob
This is a claim against the company, and I don't dispute the penalty they have claimed for, but I just dispute the fact that they have made no effort to contact to me or enter into any dialogue regarding repayment.
Should I respond with a counter claim against the fees and costs due to the fact that they have made no effort to enter into communications with me regarding the debt?

[R0b]

Don't think you can counterclaim for fees and costs for their failure to comply with any relevant pre-action protocol. That would be an issue that is raised in court in terms of the conduct and it would be up to a court to decide if there should be an award of costs, assuming they failed to comply with the pre-action conduct and any pre-action letters.

There is no legal obligation for Companies House to agree a repayment plan with you. The debt is owed and payable, it's as simple as that and as I mentioned previously, the debt could be considered nominal that they shouldn't expect to be paid by way of instalments and have the right to pursue for the full amount in a lump sum.

If your defence is hinging on them not agreeing to a repayment plan, I think you might be in for a shock. That said, you could offer to repay the late penalty fine but dispute their costs on the basis that they failed to engage with you at all or (assuming from what you've said, comply with pre-action protocols).

[d0nnyoz]

Thanks again.

No, my defense is not based on the fact that CH would not accept a repayment plan. This is essentially out of CH hands now anyway. It was with Akinika and then was somehow passed to Optima who have brought the claim.
My 'beef' is with Optima - they have never contacted me about this debt in the first instance.

How do I respond to the claim?
As I say, I accept the penalty but I don't accept that Optima have simply filed a claim without discussion, adding to the penalty with fees and costs.
I suppose the issue now is that because its a court claim, the period for dialogue has passed??

[R0b]

So when you say the debt was 'passed' do you mean it was sold, or do you mean that CH instructed a third party to recover the debt on its behalf?

[d0nnyoz]

I'm not sure on the definition of 'passed' - whether that means it was sold or whether they instructed a third party. I'm not sure on the process of these institutions on how the 'debt' is passed around. It has frustrated me that CH seemed very inflexible with the penalty and before I knew it, it was passed on. And not only that, it seems to have gone on further to another company, who have failed to communicate with me. I don't even have a letter from them so I can reply!

Clearly I have to respond the claim in the timescales (14 days from the date of the claim + 5 days) but I'm confused on how I respond based on the fact that I feel Optima have been totally unreasonable regarding communication about the debt. I admit the initial debt/penalty but feel aggrieved that this has now got to this level, with costs and fees added. A £150 penalty has now turned into a £225 debt and I feel that is unreasonable. I feel this would never have got to this level if the Optima had communicated with me.

[R0b]

Passing a debt does not necessarily mean that it was sold. A debt is either sold to a third party who purchases it, or it is passed to a third party to collect the debt on the creditors behalf.

You should know this because it will have the claimant's name on the claim form. If the debt was sold to Akinika and then on to Optima, then the legal term for selling a debt is an assignment. That would have specifically been mentioned in the claim if that was the case.

If you want any real help either to challenge the claim on a defence basis then I would suggest you post up a copy of the claim form and any particulars of claim. If you want to challenge any costs claimed then I would suggest you admit select the option that says you admit part of the debt and file a defence why you don't owe the costs.

If its an Money claim online, then you should acknowledge the claim and give yourself a further 14 days to prepare you defence.

[d0nnyoz]

As this is a late filing penalty, can my defense be that my name is Boris Johnson??
Its seems a little petty to be chasing me through the court system for a late filing when someone like Boris can simply stand up and apologise and walk away (with his £52k late filings)?!