help with cabot/mortimer clarke...unenforceable?

[shellxxshell]

hello all,

First post here so please be patient with me...

I received court claim form from Northampton Bulk Centre for a debt held by Cabot Financial and being processed through Mortimer Clarke Solicitors.
The claim was for £1600 for a simplybe account from 2004.

I acknowledged the claim and stated i intended to defend. I sent a CCA request with a postal order to Mortimer Clarke because i believe this debt to be statute barred. I did NOT receive a response so i entered a defence that the debt was statute barred and that because i had not received my CCA Mortimer clarke had prevented me from defending myself. (All copied from here so thank you!).

So today i get the following letter...

Dear Madam,

we now acknowledge that its has been over 12 working days since we received your request. This means that your credit agreement is now unenforceable; however it does not mean that your debt can be written off. Although the credit agreement can no longer be enforced, our clients rights continue to exist under the agreement.

The rules concerning this are outlined in the Financial conduct authority's consumer credit source book, under rule 13.1.6. Under this rule our client is not able to obtain a county court judgement against you or recover any good or land from you. However in the case of MCGUFFICK v the royal bank of scotland plc [2009] EWHC 2386, it was held that demanding payment, issuing a default notice, threatening legal action, commencing legal action and passing details of a debt to credit reference agencies are actions that do not constitute 'enforcement'

we confirm that the account will remain on hold whilst your request remains outstanding. Further we are taking instructions from our client in relation to the remainder of your defence and will come back to you as soon as we can.

yours faithfully
Mortimer clarke.

Could anyone please explain what this means and what process i should follow next?
THANK YOU!

[shellxxshell]

Re: help with cabot/mortimer clarke...unenforceable?

Anyone able to help? Thank you

[ostell]

Re: help with cabot/mortimer clarke...unenforceable?

So your defence is
1) Statute barred
2) Failed to respond to CCA request.

Others will be along soon to expand. It looks as though you have got them worried.

[Kati]

Re: help with cabot/mortimer clarke...unenforceable?

I'm sure you'll get lots of help with this soon (it's the weekend, so many Beagles aren't on as much) [MENTION=55034]nemesis45[/MENTION] night be around tho'

[shellxxshell]

Re: help with cabot/mortimer clarke...unenforceable?

Hi
thank you both for your reply. I can confirm that my defence is that the debt is statute barred and that they failed to respond to a CCA request.
I look forward to some expansion and I'm easily confused

[nemesis45]

Re: help with cabot/mortimer clarke...unenforceable?

Hi,
Standard response from All the solicitors for rent that Cabot uses.
The 12 + 2 working days have gone so the alleged debt is unenforceable
until the agreement is found, my guess is that it is no longer available due
to its age.

Re Statute barred status in England and Wales:

Section 5 Limitations Act 1980 states the no action should be started once six years have elapsed and no payment
or relevant contact has ben made. ( unequivocal written acknowledgment of the debt or court claim issued by the" creditor")

The CCA should have been sent to Cabot ( may still be worth another £1.00 to do so now.
A request made under Civil Procedure Rule 31.14 should be made to MC ( no fee) for all the documents mentioned in the Particulars of Claim. ( template in forum library.)
Are you 100% sure the alleged debt is statute barred? As this is a matter of " simple contract" the 6 year clock started ticking on the date a contractual payment was due and not made after which no further payment or unequivocal written admission of liability was ever made,

If you can confirm the above we may be able to stop this in its tracks.

nem

[shellxxshell]

Re: help with cabot/mortimer clarke...unenforceable?

Thank you Nem for your quick response.
I can confirm that the debt is statute barred as no payment or acknowlegement has been made for over 7 years.
I recieved a letter from the court today that also stated that my defence has been sent and they have 28 days to respond to the court.
Thank you again for your help

[nemesis45]

Re: help with cabot/mortimer clarke...unenforceable?

OK, happy to help.

You could try an approach that I have found very successful over the years.
Such as
FAO Ms Nina Shaw
Collections and Operations Manager
Cabot Financial.

Date:..........................

Ref. County Court Claim No.xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Dear Ms Shaw,

I refer you to the above mention County Court Claim issued on behalf of Cabot by Mortimer Clarke solicitors.

I have stated that I do not acknowledge any liability to Cabot and that the alleged debt is Statute Barred therefore I will not make any payment in regard to the alleged debt.
I am aware that Cabot does not hold a copy of any agreement for the alleged debt and should not have issued the claim without having the document on which it intends to rely in court.

I respectfully suggest that given the above Cabot should advise its solicitor to withdraw the claim in the interest of saving cost and court time.

Your etc.


Use signed for post check delivery.

nem

[shellxxshell]

Re: help with cabot/mortimer clarke...unenforceable?

i will get this sent off this afternoon. thank you.
i will come back to you all and let you know when i receive any more correspondence.
shell

[nemesis45]

Re: help with cabot/mortimer clarke...unenforceable?

Ok shell, it's definitely worth a try no admission of liability so no effect on time bar.

nem

[shellxxshell]

Re: help with cabot/mortimer clarke...unenforceable?

Hi

Just an update on my case and hoping you can offer me some more advice.
I sent of the letter as above and still have not had a response.
Yesterday was also the day that they had to respond to the court by.
I telephoned the court today who stated that in a couple of days the case will be stayed until they wish to continue.
Is this case going to be hanging over me forever until mortimer clarke decide to carry on?
Is there anyway of getting this stopped for good as the debt is statue barred and mortimer clarke can not provide any evidence to say otherwise.
Many Thanks for all advice given, very gratefull shell