Howard Cohen/CL Finance

[petetheflyer]

Re: Howard Cohen/CL Finance

More info.

Cohens didn't respond to the defence, and the case has been stayed. I asked the Northampton Court what this means. It means that the claimant can keep the claim on file for ever and resurrect it whenever they want. That seems quite one-sided to me.

It is possible to ask to strike out the claim by downloading form N244. If I apply to a district judge without representation from either side it costs £40. If I wish to go to a hearing at my local court it costs £75.

So should I let sleeping dogs lie, or do i rattle Cohens cage? It might be good fun to win and sue them for court costs!

[StoneLaughter]

Re: Howard Cohen/CL Finance

You can APPLY to have the claim struck out... just as they can apply to have the stay lifted. I would apply to have it struck out but I'm not sure what grounds we can use. We need Curly to come back and have a look.

[petetheflyer]

Re: Howard Cohen/CL Finance

Re strike out.

1. They never informed me they had bought the debt in March 2008
2. They did not respond to my request for information in January 2009
3. They did not respond to the defence document within the set period
4. They did not respond to any communication I made with them in Dec 2008 after they
informed me that my options were pay the debt in full or go to court
5. They ignored my income/expenditure information verified by the CCCS in Dec 2008
6. They deliberately sent out the summons to arrive Dec 24 to minimise my chances of
getting any help for a period of 9 days, whilst giving me only 14 days to respond.
Surely this amounts to bullying as well as showing they are totally unprincipled
fatherless people
7. I have been paying the correct amount to this company for 4 years, and have continued
to pay them whilst this dispute is in progress

Is that enough to ask for the case to be struck out?

cheers

Petetheflyer

[Curlyben]

Re: Howard Cohen/CL Finance

Well you have already put in draft orders on this case, you just need to push for them to be adopted.
This type of action makes a mockery of the whole process.
When is a deadline NOT a deadline, when solicitors are involved.
After all if YOU missed then they would be moving for a default judgement at 4.01pm !!!

[StoneLaughter]

Re: Howard Cohen/CL Finance

Sounds to me like you have a prima facie case for strike out on the grounds of "Abuse of Process".

[Curlyben]

Re: Howard Cohen/CL Finance

Yep completely agree.
That's the problem with N'hampton though, no REAL judges.

[petetheflyer]

Re: Howard Cohen/CL Finance

A further update

I have now been sent an allocation questionairre by Northampton court which I have to return to my local court by 20 March.

Anyone know what this is about as I thought this case had been stayed. Needless to say I have had no communications from Cohens or CL Finance

[petetheflyer]

Re: Howard Cohen/CL Finance

I rang Northampton

Apparently either CL or Cohen's have applied to have the stay lifted, but they have not provided any supporting documents to either Northampton Court or me.

Are the points I made on a previous posting about CL's total refusal to contact me or negotiate a valid response worth mentioning when I send in the Allocation questionairre, or do I need something more technical?

All answers gratefully received

[Amy]

Re: Howard Cohen/CL Finance

Basically, all the AQ is for is to help the court allocate your case to a particular 'track' to be heard, for example, small claims.

The information you gave earlier should go in 'any other information.'

[StoneLaughter]

Re: Howard Cohen/CL Finance

Test

[petetheflyer]

Re: Howard Cohen/CL Finance

Another update and a couple of questions

I sent in the allocation questionairre as required giving info as per my previous posting.
The nice local judge sent back a general form of judgement telling CL that if they did not submit a completed allocation questionnaire by Apr 20 the case would be struck out. In a nice bit of work by the court that letter only arrived on Easter saturday, minimising the time CL had to respond.

Needless to say CL have not provided my local court with any information, so the case has now been struck out. I hope this means more than having the case stayed.

So a question to anyone watching still.

As CL added Court and legal costs to the debt I owe do I now have the right to request these fees are removed from the debt?

Also if they could not be bothered to pursue their claim does the debt actually exist from a legal point of view?

Look forward to hearing from people on those points

cheers

Petetheflyer

[WendyB]

Re: Howard Cohen/CL Finance

That sounds like a result to me. I think they may be able to appeal against the strike out, someone will confirm this soon, no doubt. I would think that they must remove their charges from your debt, needs confirming though.

Well done for sticking with it.

[Curlyben]

Re: Howard Cohen/CL Finance

Did the order specify a strike out or stay ?
Also you need to give them a few days then give the court a bell to see what happens next. Courts can and do bend deadlines, especially for solicitors. I'd wait until Friday and call them.

As for the court costs, well as they haven't actualy been to court they are invalid and will NOTbe added to the debt at all.

[petetheflyer]

Re: Howard Cohen/CL Finance

Hi CurlyBen

The wording of the General form of judgment is

"It is ordered that unless the claimant do by 4.00pm on 20th April 2009 file a fully completed Allocation Questionnaire, then the claimants claim will be struck out without further order of the court"

I went down to the court this morning and was told that the strike out is automatic on their computer system and was put in place last night

Cheers

Petetheflyer

[Curlyben]

Re: Howard Cohen/CL Finance

Excellent.
So that's game over for Cohen's