Cabot Financial / Mortimer Clarke Solicitors County Court Claim - Advice Please

[BLUEOTTER]

Re: Cabot Financial / Mortimer Clarke Solicitors County Court Claim - Advice Please

25 th SEPTEMBER - UPDATE

1. I emailed cabots on 15th September advising them that i still hadn't received a copy of an agreement or a deed of transfer . These were requested via their site some months ago.I also advised them that i am in receipt of a signed letter dated 2010 from the bank stating that as they didn't have a properly executed agreement they WOULD NOT be seeking enforcement action through the courts.

2. No reply to my first email so i sent a hastener on the 19th September advising that if no reply received i will be sending a letter to my MP advising him of their disgraceful behaviour ,intimidatory tactics and wilful disregard for any due process.Still no Reply forthcoming

3. Sent letter to my MP today.

4.The court claim from Mortimers was dated 9th september , i acknowledged service on line on the 13th September ...............could forumites please advise what i should now do .I understand i need to prepare a defence but in the meantime should i now send formal requests for the cca and deed etc and also how do i go about requesting an extension from the court please . should i write to mortimers ,I fully intend to defend ,have nothing to lose ,i'd also like to counter claim for wasting my time at the very least,its possible they may yet withdraw but i suppose that would be an 11th hour thing ?

any advice gratefully received ,thank you

[Kafka]

Re: Cabot Financial / Mortimer Clarke Solicitors County Court Claim - Advice Please

Did you send the CCA and CPR requests off as you said you would on 12 Sept?

[BLUEOTTER]

Re: Cabot Financial / Mortimer Clarke Solicitors County Court Claim - Advice Please

No ,had previously requested through their website so I'll do it again now using the template

[BLUEOTTER]

Re: Cabot Financial / Mortimer Clarke Solicitors County Court Claim - Advice Please

These are the poc by the claimant
By an agreement between the Bank of Scotland ("BOS")& the defendant on or around 05/05/1998
("the Agreement") BOS agreed to issue the Defendant with a credit card upon the terms and conditions set out therein.In breach of the Agreement the Defendant failed to make the minimum payments due and the Agreement was terminated.The agreement was assigned to the claimant on 01/08/2012
THE CLAIMANT THEREFORE CLAIMS 5100.00



Here's my defence ,could more knowledgable people than I take a look and see if its fit for purpose please.For information purposes its entirely possible Cabots may have an application form as that was all the bank could locate ,the bank could not find a true copy of an agreement and said therefore they would not seek to enforce the agreement.I have their signed letter confirming this from 2010.

The particulars of the Claim are denied.
I have no recollection of an agreement with the Bank of Scotland.
In response to a previous CPR 31.14 request the Bank of Scotland stated in a signed letter to me dated 15th July 2010
that they did not hold an original or indeed a copy of any agreement between myself and the Bank and that furthermore they
would therefore be unable to enforce any said agreement. I am in possession of the signed letter from the Bank of Scotland.

I have previously sent the claimant a CPR 31.14 request and have had no response from them.
I have also requested a deed of assignment ,again i have received no response.
The Claimant was emailed by myself on the 15th September 2014 and again on the 19th September 2014 and reminded that i am still to receive sight of an executed agreement and the deed of assignment. A copy of my email dated 15th September was sent by first class recorded delivery on the 22nd September 2014.As of today 25th September 2014 i have still not received any response from the claimant.

The Claimant is put to strict proof to:

(a) show how the Defendant has entered into an agreement with the Claimant; and
(b) show how the Defendant has reached the amount claimed for;
(c) show how the Claimant has the legal right, either under statute or equity to issue a claim;


As per Civil Procedure Rule 16.5(4), it is expected that the Claimant prove the allegation that the money is owed.

On the alternative, if the Claimant is an assignee of a debt, it is denied that the Claimant has the right to lay a claim due to contraventions of Section 136 of the Law of Property Act and Section 82A of the consumer credit Act 1974.

Until such time the Claimant can comply with my request for a copy of the agreement it relies upon, they are prevented from enforcing or requesting any relief as pursuant to the CCA 1974.

By reason of the facts and matters set out above, it is denied that the Claimant is entitled to the relief claimed or any relief.


Suggestions Welcome please.

[Kafka]

Re: Cabot Financial / Mortimer Clarke Solicitors County Court Claim - Advice Please

No ,had previously requested through their website so I'll do it again now using the template

A simple request has no legal standing, which is why you were advised to follow the proper procedures. Their response to these needs time to unfold because that forms part of your defence usually.

[BLUEOTTER]

Re: Cabot Financial / Mortimer Clarke Solicitors County Court Claim - Advice Please

A simple request has no legal standing, which is why you were advised to follow the proper procedures. Their response to these needs time to unfold because that forms part of your defence usually.

Ok thank you ,i shall send it again but as you can see i have previously tried to get sight of it in 2010 but it wasn't produced by the bank as they didn't have it. Do you think my defence is compromised as a result ,appreciate your thoughts.Could ask for an extension ,if so ,how would this be done please ?

[Kafka]

Re: Cabot Financial / Mortimer Clarke Solicitors County Court Claim - Advice Please

I'm confused about this as your draft POC refers to a CPR request in 2010, even though that has no bearing on the present litigation. You then refer to a CPR request to the current owner, although you have just said that you didn't send one.
You should also be referring to the Notice of Assignment, not the Deed.

[BLUEOTTER]

Re: Cabot Financial / Mortimer Clarke Solicitors County Court Claim - Advice Please

Ok ,that's why i need advice please .
I did formally do a CPR request in 2010 from the bank.........they couldnt find one and admitted so in a letter saying they couldnt enforce it.
I asked for sight of an agreement through cabots website a few months ago and havent received anything . i understand i must now do it again but make it a formal request.i will amend my defence to reflect this.
So can i not make mention in my defence that i have a signed letter from the bank saying they couldn't enforce agreement ?

[Kafka]

Re: Cabot Financial / Mortimer Clarke Solicitors County Court Claim - Advice Please

The request for the agreement is the CCA letter. A CPR letter is the one to the solicitors to request disclosure of documents relevant to this claim. You need to use the right terms and procedures in legal documents.
These should have been sent on 12th so that by now we would be able to show if there was non compliance. They have to be given the prescribed time before you can say that they haven't complied. It'll be difficult to do that now as so much time has been lost. If they don't deliver within the time you can ask them for a 28-day extension, but you will be pushed to do that now I suspect.

[BLUEOTTER]

Re: Cabot Financial / Mortimer Clarke Solicitors County Court Claim - Advice Please

Thank you ,now i understand,so is there any point in proceeding ? does the fact that they consistently ignore my emails and letters not count for anything ? at the very least i've shown them to be totally unreasonable on that count.

[Kafka]

Re: Cabot Financial / Mortimer Clarke Solicitors County Court Claim - Advice Please

Thank you ,now i understand,so is there any point in proceeding ? does the fact that they consistently ignore my emails and letters not count for anything ? at the very least i've shown them to be totally unreasonable on that count.

But you can only demonstrate that if they fail to disclose legal requests. Failing to respond to emails doesn't have that legal standing. The defence needs to detail when the requests were made and what responses you have had.
The court deals only with the law and the relevant facts, it doesn't make character judgements in that way. You still need to send the formal demands, but time is short now to allow them sufficient time to demonstrate their non compliance before the defence is due in.

[BLUEOTTER]

Re: Cabot Financial / Mortimer Clarke Solicitors County Court Claim - Advice Please

Ok thank you i will send the requests tomorrow formally . I don't actually think they have anything that is compliant anyway ,at least thats what the bank originally said .
I don't imagine i'll be the first person to attend court not having sight of any documentation from the claimant but i would certainly appreciate it if you could help me re-write my defence on the grounds you now know please.

[BLUEOTTER]

Re: Cabot Financial / Mortimer Clarke Solicitors County Court Claim - Advice Please

Cca request to cabots and CPR request to mortimers are both in the post . Is it a case of awaiting replies before considering my defence now please ?

[FlamingParrot]

Re: Cabot Financial / Mortimer Clarke Solicitors County Court Claim - Advice Please

Cca request to cabots and CPR request to mortimers are both in the post . Is it a case of awaiting replies before considering my defence now please ?

Yes and no:

• Yes to the CCA request, you don't need to chase that one as non-compliance can be used in your defence. :thumb:
• No to the CPR request, you do need to chase that one, the letter gives them 7 days, once they've elapsed, you need to email and/or ring them and ask them for the documents. If they can't provide them, ask them to agree to an extension of up to 28 days as allowed by CPR 15.5.

Keep an eye on the timescales, if you don't submit a defence by the deadline (33 days from date on claim), the claimant would be entitled to apply for default judgment. :scared:

Do post up when you hear from them (or not, as the case may be). :typing:

[BLUEOTTER]

Re: Cabot Financial / Mortimer Clarke Solicitors County Court Claim - Advice Please

Thank you ,I will do ,not filed my defence yet but it's primarily based around the fact the bank couldn't find an agreement and confirmed this by letter stating that they couldn't consider enforcement action because of it .
I sought some legal advice through my union ,they were pretty much amazed that mortimers were bothering to bring it on behalf of their client and even more staggered when they realised I had no assets or savings . More or less implied that the debt business is booming and due diligence has fallen by the wayside or business is poor and they're trying anything on ,feel it's the former .
Perhaps there have been other instances of dca's bringing cases to court even though the bank they bought it from has confirmed in writing that they don't consider their own agreement to be enforceable,if so I'm not aware of them .It's not a huge game changer for me in that I don't have credit and won't have credit again ,I don't have anything to lose ,if It goes against me then so be it doesn't alter the fact I am worth nothing to the dca but for people with houses ,assets ,savings it could be a real issue .
I did originally toy with the idea of accepting the ccj ,after all what difference will it make ,may get another come after me in a month or so and then get another ,ultimately they'll need to pursue bankruptcy and that won't net anything either so I really am worth absolutely nothing to them .However what it has done is to prick my sense of injustice ,something I can't abide ,so I decided to defend ,written to my MP as well to get his view on their practices .