County court claim defend or not to?..any advice will be appreciated.

[Dolly77]

Hi
please could I get some advice.

i have just received papers from the county court following a dispute with a so called friend. In 2008 she gave me money out of a lump sum she had received totalling £125 to do a professional course. I declined the offer at first as I was due to go onto maternity leave and worried about repaying her, she said that she did not need it and did not want it back and to see it as a thank you for help I had given her which resulted in her lump sum. I have 2 witnesses who recall the conversation and remember it being given as a gift. I continued to remain in contact with her and supported her through workplace issues were she denied profusely allegations regarding her midwifery practice.

In November 2011 she attended a nursing and midwifery hearing were she was found guilty of misconduct by her own admission. Naturally I was horrified that she had lied to me and decided to break contact with her. She continued to try and contact me for a catch up and coffee but I couldn't do it. In may last year I received an email, followed by messages on my home answer machine requesting repayment of the money she had lent me. I replied saying she had told me she didnt want it back etc. I have had many emails threatening court action and she knows very well that I do not have the money to pay her back as things for us are just about manageable each month.

ive now received the court papers and am worried whether to dispute it or not. On the particulars of the form the dates she has given for lending/giving me the money are wrong. she has put 1/5/2007 when it was february 2008, does this matter? i
just know that this is the result of me not wanting contact anymore as opposed to the money side of things. She is a couple of bands higher than me in post as she was dual trained, so although couldn't work as a midwife, could use her nursing to get the post she has now and I feel she is enjoying intimidating me and putting this pressure on me. I would be grateful of any advice as to how to deal with this.

[gravytrain]

Re: County court claim defend or not to?..any advice will be appreciated.

I take it you have received a small claims form N1.

If so you need to respond otherwise she will gain a judgment in view of your failure (default judgement).

The matter of whether you admit the claim and make an offer of payment, at a rate you can afford, or defend and say that you do not owe the money and as claimant put her to strict proof that she has any contractual right to demand repayment of what was a gift, is up to you.

[Dolly77]

Re: County court claim defend or not to?..any advice will be appreciated.

HI
thanks for that. I want to defend it purely because I know it's just her being nasty because we have fallen out. I've got 2 statements from colleagues (also nurses) that witnessed the exchange of the money and recall her saying she did not want it back. She actually accepted the bottle of wine and chocolates I got her as a thank you. I wouldn't have waited 4 years to repay her if it was a loan and we remained in regular contact after the 'loan/gift' right up until I learned she had lied to me. Only then did she start asking for it back.

does it matter that she has given the wrong dates on the particulars of the claim? Also she has put that I have repaid her £10 of it when I have not.

[gravytrain]

Re: County court claim defend or not to?..any advice will be appreciated.

HI
thanks for that. I want to defend it purely because I know it's just her being nasty because we have fallen out. I've got 2 statements from colleagues (also nurses) that witnessed the exchange of the money and recall her saying she did not want it back. She actually accepted the bottle of wine and chocolates I got her as a thank you. I wouldn't have waited 4 years to repay her if it was a loan and we remained in regular contact after the 'loan/gift' right up until I learned she had lied to me. Only then did she start asking for it back.

does it matter that she has given the wrong dates on the particulars of the claim? Also she has put that I have repaid her £10 of it when I have not.

Yes I would point out that you had made no payment as this may be construed as a tacit agreement to repay the debt.

As claimant the burden of proof regarding the existence of a contract to repay will be on her, the court will decide on who to believe based upon this and who has the most probable story.

sorry IMO the dates are not going to be a factor one way or the other, although I suppose you could mention that if she cannot remember the dates how on earth is she to remember who said what to who, if it should come to it.

[Dolly77]

Re: County court claim defend or not to?..any advice will be appreciated.

Does anybody have any useful tips that I can use to word my defence? I am going to defend this because the amount of money involved for this does not justify the problems she has caused. The facts are that I never at any point 'asked' her if I could lend any money, she came to me with the cash and in front of my colleagues told me to take the money and pay for the course. It was the last day to sign up for the course and I had been waiting for an answer from management regarding funding, on the last day I learnt that I couldn't receive funding as it wasn't a course 'compulsory' to my role.

For the next 4 years we remained friends and were in regular contact, at no time did she mention repaying any of the money. The first mention of repaying was only after I broke contact with her.

She has also requested in the particulars repayment of interest under a court ruling at 8% and given the total calculated from may 2007 when it was feb 2008 she gave me the money. As she is representing herself I would have thought the particulars of her claim would have been honest, especially since she has signed the deceleration of truth.

this is a pitiful amount of money in comparison to other people in far worse circumstances than mine, I just find it unbelievable that this is even able to happen. The last email she sent to me said that she will produce emails I had sent in court, were I have agreed to pay her back.

I have the emails too, were I said that the money was a gift and I had asked many times if she wanted me to repay her as it was a lot to accept, each time she insisted that I didn't. It was only due to her increasing pressure to repay with phone calls and emails that I said, although I disagreed with it, if it got her off my back I would try and get the money together to give it back to her. I explained it would take a opulent of months as I just didn't have it to repay. Then after agreeing to this I asked her not to contact me again and I would contact her when I had the money, she agreed. A week later the phone calls and emails started again.

Any help to defend myself in terms of legally justifiable reasons would be greatly appreciated, I find legal jargon very confusing. I am a registered nurse in critical care and am used to legal jargon in medical terms but not in financial issues.

[Celestine]

Re: County court claim defend or not to?..any advice will be appreciated.

I have the emails too, were I said that the money was a gift and I had asked many times if she wanted me to repay her as it was a lot to accept, each time she insisted that I didn't. It was only due to her increasing pressure to repay with phone calls and emails that I said, although I disagreed with it, if it got her off my back I would try and get the money together to give it back to her. I explained it would take a opulent of months as I just didn't have it to repay. Then after agreeing to this I asked her not to contact me again and I would contact her when I had the money, she agreed. A week later the phone calls and emails started again.

Any help to defend myself in terms of legally justifiable reasons would be greatly appreciated, I find legal jargon very confusing. I am a registered nurse in critical care and am used to legal jargon in medical terms but not in financial issues.

Unfortunately, this does mean that you agreed to repay the money and to avoid a court appearance, you should consider repaying the money.

[CleverClogs]

Re: County court claim defend or not to?..any advice will be appreciated.

I have the emails too, were I said that the money was a gift and I had asked many times if she wanted me to repay her as it was a lot to accept, each time she insisted that I didn't. It was only due to her increasing pressure to repay with phone calls and emails that I said, although I disagreed with it, if it got her off my back I would try and get the money together to give it back to her. I explained it would take a opulent of months as I just didn't have it to repay. Then after agreeing to this I asked her not to contact me again and I would contact her when I had the money, she agreed. A week later the phone calls and emails started again.

I wonder...

Might the emails and history of phone calls be used in support of a counter-claim for damages for harassment contrary to the Protection from Harassment Act 1997? (link)

[Dolly77]

Re: County court claim defend or not to?..any advice will be appreciated.

Thanks for posts! The emails from me clearly state that the only reason I agree to repay is to get her off my back. Thinking it was not worth the hassle I was just going to pay. When things got more heated with her continuing to contact me, I then retaliated by saying in an email that I would happily wait and see her in court even if it was me who took her there for harrassment. This was what initiated her sending me a letter at work to say she had contacted the police to let them know I accused her of harrassment and from November I had 28 days to pay in full or legal action would commence.
I had a visit from the police in relation to HER claiming I was harassing her by sending vicious emails, none of which was true, sarcastic maybe, but not in any way threatening or abusive. I cleared this up by showing them all of the emails between us, she had reported it online and chose to omit certain emails, only showing a 'select' few, that on their own could be seen as a bit nasty, I didn't see the ones she had sent but as I showed them to the officers straight from my computer, they could see I did nothing of the sort. The unnecessary problems and upset that all of this has caused me, when I am not in a position to easily pay, like a lot of people who both work and have a young family, we just get by each month. We don't go out or go away on holiday as we have no room for savings.

i know that defending this seems more about principle and the amount is quite insignificant but I didn't ask her for the money, she gave it to me. If I asked her for it then of course it would have been to lend it and I would have repaid her. Surely you can't give someone some money and make them believe it is a gift, then just over 5 years later take them to court to get it back?

[CleverClogs]

Re: County court claim defend or not to?..any advice will be appreciated.

Surely you can't give someone some money and make them believe it is a gift, then just over 5 years later take them to court to get it back?

No.

Can't you get her slapped for unprofessional conduct or behaviour likely to bring the profession into disrepute?

Slip her some rhohypnol and film her in uniform, shagging with a sheep? :rofl:

[Dolly77]

Re: County court claim defend or not to?..any advice will be appreciated.

You have no idea the thoughts I have had on how to deal with this!! She has already been disgraced and not allowed anymore to practice as a midwife but as she is dual trained she has moved to a high up managers position in a different nhs trust than mine, just shows you can't rely on an academic cv to be sure what sort of person you get! Very clever on paper and wage slip but has few friends and nobody has a nice word to say about her.

i can't disgrace her any more professionally, she has done a good enough job of that herself.

[enquirer]

Re: County court claim defend or not to?..any advice will be appreciated.

You need to understand that you are dealing with - a psychopathic personality - and act accordingly.

Defending the claim should be easy - the witness statements indicating that it was a gift should do the trick.

If she contacts you again (the nature of the beast is such that it is likely that she will), you might point out that you are considering making formal complaints against her. Her email campaign - harassment. Making a false statement to police - perverting the course of justice. Also defamation. Filing a vexatious claim - abuse of process.

[Dolly77]

Re: County court claim defend or not to?..any advice will be appreciated.

Thank you for your post. I appreciate that you can see my view in this, if I had plenty of money I really don't think she would bother with any of this. As she knows my circumstances are such that it would be difficult to repay her, that is why she is doing it.