Court Claim - 02 / Lowell/ Lowell Solicitors - 06 Jan 2016

[Kinth]

** I tried using the form but it kept saying message too short despite all areas being filled in **

Particulars of claim from the form.

"
1) The Defendant entered into an agreement with 02(UK) Ltd under account reference 10101xxxxxx('the Agreement')


2) The Defendant failed to maintain the required payments and a default notice was served and not compiled with.


3) The agreement was later assigned to the Claimant on 23/12/2011 and notice give to the Defendant.


4)Despite repeated requests for payment the sum of £772.71 remains due and outstanding.


And the Claimant claims
a) The said sum of £772.71
b) Interest pursuant to s69 County Courts Act 1984 at the rate of 8% per annum from the date of assignment to the date of issue, accruing at a daily rate of £0.169, but limited to one year, being £61.82
c) Costs
"
Original creditor: 02

Claimant: Lowell Portfolio LTD

Solicitors: Lowell Solicitors LTD

Debt type: Mobile contract

It's possible it may be statute barred.

Not done any actions at all in regard to this yet, only received it yesterday.

Details:
I had a mobile contract with 02 in 2009 for about 1-2 months and then lost my job. I was unable to make the payments and the account defaulted in 2010. It's been passed around a few different companies but since none of them ever went further than threats I assumed (irresponsible I know) it would never go further than that. As far as I can remember I have only acknowledged the debt once in 2009.


Since I only got 1-2 months of what I actually paid for I would rather not pay the debt, but don't have the time to waste defending this claim if there is no real chance of defence. I am also currently a university student so money is tight.

Any help is appreciated.
Thanks for your time.

[nemesis45]

Re: Court Claim - 02 / Lowell/ Lowell Solicitors - 06 Jan 2016

Hello Kinth Welcome to LB,

Just going to read your post and will get back.

nen

[nemesis45]

Re: Court Claim - 02 / Lowell/ Lowell Solicitors - 06 Jan 2016

OK,

Have you acknowledged service of the claim? If not you should do so at Money Claim Online (MCOL) and state intention to defend in full.

Next you send a request to Lowell Solicitors for the documents mentioned in the statement of the claim. ie. The agreement. The Default Notice, and Notice of Assignment.
This is a CPR 31.14 Request ( NO FEE) there's a template in the forum library. Use signed for post.

For this to be statute barred there must have been 6 clear years with no payments or written acknowledgment of the debt, to use this as a defence the debt must be statute barred on or before the claim was issued.
nem

[Kinth]

Re: Court Claim - 02 / Lowell/ Lowell Solicitors - 06 Jan 2016

Thanks for the quick reply.

Stated my intention to defend on MCOL.

Last payment would have been paid in 2009 on the actual contract itself (before it went into debt), and I have never sent written acknowledgement, it was a phone call.

Luckily I've always had the same Bank account I just went through my transaction history and the last payment was 20th august 2009.

[nemesis45]

Re: Court Claim - 02 / Lowell/ Lowell Solicitors - 06 Jan 2016

OK stated my intention to defend on MCOL.

Last payment would have been paid in 2009 on the actual contract itself (before it went into debt), and I have never sent written acknowledgement, it was a phone call.

Luckily I've always had the same Bank account I just went through my transaction history and the last payment was 20th august 2009.

Seems little doubt that this is statute barred, just for safety do you know when the account was defaulted? A credit file check would help if you don't know.
Noddle is Free Online.
I suspect we can get rid of this quite quickly!
nem

[Kinth]

Re: Court Claim - 02 / Lowell/ Lowell Solicitors - 06 Jan 2016

It defaulted on

19/05/2010 according to Noddle.

My credit score started going up again last year, for the first time since the contract. Would this indicate the debt being statute barred?

[nemesis45]

Re: Court Claim - 02 / Lowell/ Lowell Solicitors - 06 Jan 2016

It defaulted on

19/05/2010 according to Noddle.

Ok date of last payment in 2009 ?

November/December?

Lowell is likely to claim that the date the account was defaulted started the
Limitation Act 1980 relevant 6 year period.

Given that it is worth trying Lowell's resolve by writing to them claiming
the debt is SB,

I can draft a letter that does Not admit liability so does no harm, let me know
if you want to do this. tag [MENTION=55034]nemesis45[/MENTION] and I'll pick up the thread tomorrow.

nem

[Kinth]

Re: Court Claim - 02 / Lowell/ Lowell Solicitors - 06 Jan 2016

Went through my transaction history again, seems I made a payment on November 19th 2009, it shows up differently than the previous and is not a DD, so my best guess is I paid some of it off to try and get it back on track. Memory is pretty hazy as it was over 6 years ago.

Nothing else since then.
@nemesis45 The draft letter would be great. Thank you for taking the time.

[nemesis45]

Re: Court Claim - 02 / Lowell/ Lowell Solicitors - 06 Jan 2016

Went through my transaction history again, seems I made a payment on November 19th 2009, it shows up differently than the previous and is not a DD, so my best guess is I paid some of it off to try and get it back on track. Memory is pretty hazy as it was over 6 years ago.

Nothing else since then.
@nemesis45 The draft letter would be great. Thank you for taking the time.

Ok Kinth,
I'll be on it a little later.

nem

[nemesis45]

Re: Court Claim - 02 / Lowell/ Lowell Solicitors - 06 Jan 2016

Ok

This goes to:

The Principal Solicitor
Lowell Solicitors Ltd.
Address as on claim form.

date:............................

Ref: County Court Claim No.........................................:

Sir/madam,

I refer to the above mentioned claim issued by Lowell Solicitors on behalf of it's associated company Lowell Portfolio Ltd..

Please note I do not acknowledge any liability to your " client"

In preparation of my defence to this claim and on checking banking records I have concluded that the alleged debt
was statute barred on the date this claim was issued more than 6 years having elapsed since any payment and / or unequivocal
written admission was made in regard to this account.

As I am aware that it has been in past Lowell's stance that the date an account was defaulted is the commencement of the relevant
Limitation Act 1980 6 year period, which is clearly not the case of a simple contract.

Lowell Solicitors is also reminded that if its " client" refutes the status of the alleged debt the onus of proof that
the alleged debt was not so barred on the date the claim was issued fall entirely upon your " client".

Should Lowell Portfolio Ltd., decide to continue the claim it will be robustly defended.

I suggest that Lowell solicitors refers to its " client recommending that it withdraws the claim in the interest
of saving costs and court time.


nem

[Kinth]

Re: Court Claim - 02 / Lowell/ Lowell Solicitors - 06 Jan 2016

Thank you.

I will get that sent off today and hopefully this will be done with. I will update this thread with the result.

[nemesis45]

Re: Court Claim - 02 / Lowell/ Lowell Solicitors - 06 Jan 2016

Thank you.

I will get that sent off today and hopefully this will be done with. I will update this thread with the result.

Ok, Good luck!!

nem

[Kinth]

Re: Court Claim - 02 / Lowell/ Lowell Solicitors - 06 Jan 2016

Ok I sent the letter to Lowell and they received it on the 13th. They have yet to get back to me and I need to have a defence submitted by the 8th of Feb. I checked on the status of the claim today and it hasn't been withdrawn. How do I defend this if it goes to court?

[Kinth]

Re: Court Claim - 02 / Lowell/ Lowell Solicitors - 06 Jan 2016

[MENTION=55034]nemesis45[/MENTION] if you have any advice it would be greatly appreciated.

[Kinth]

Re: Court Claim - 02 / Lowell/ Lowell Solicitors - 06 Jan 2016

UPDATE:

This matter is now solved.

After making several requests for the documents since the first one over 3 months ago, Lowell still failed to provide me with them. Mediation fell through due to times being booked up and the claim was passed on to the court where it would be tried.
Luckily (at least I think, not sure if this is normal practice or not) for me the Judge made it mandatory for Lowell to pass on the documents to me by the 28th of May. Nearly a month goes by and I got a letter through the door today saying Lowell are discontinuing their claim.

My guess and something I had suspected when I never received the documents requested, Is that Lowell never had the documentation, or at least the evidence of payment they claimed to have, despite telling me they would send them (I had my own evidence that I had not made a payment on the date they claim as well and I had informed them of this). I think they were hoping that the threat of court would get me to make a settlement offer, and when it came to having to provide the evidence they left it as late as they could and then backed out.

Thank you @nemesis45 for all your help. I hope some of this information is useful in helping others.