Received CCJ from Lowell HELP !

[Amethyst]

Re: Received CCJ from Lowell HELP !

Okay. I suspect their answer might be something along the lines of you haven't pleaded that in your defence, as you haven't mentioned amendment of defence.

Did you write and send your witness statement already ?

Can you answer the questions Di asked you last night too pls

As far as I can see you didn't plead SB in your Defence. I'm not seeing any debate on that issue (SB) on your thread so did you conclude it probably wasn't SB?

Did you raise the possibility of SB in your WS?

The Claimant's WS says the contract began on 9th April 2007 for 24 months which would have meant it was due to expire on 9th April 2009. Do you agree with that?

Paragraph 9 (ii) says you had the option to renew the contract after the expiry date. Did you renew it or give notice to cancel at any stage?

It says your last payment was on 23rd November 2008 (before the original contract expired) so do you agree with that?

[Marra2]

Re: Received CCJ from Lowell HELP !

Yes last week but this information has only come to light from their witness statement, they've sent me nothing previously despite asking for it. If this doesn't work I'll go to court and show the judge.

[Amethyst]

Re: Received CCJ from Lowell HELP !

Okay, In your original defence you include this line;

15. In the event that the relevant documents are received from the Claimants I will then be in a position to amend my defence, and would ask that the Claimants bear the costs of the amendment.

and in your Witness Statement it will have said something similar about documents not being received.

So you have the opening to you to amend - and claim costs from the other side, due to their failure to provide ANYTHING until witness statement exchange.

You will need to amend the defence as it didn't include any defence other than the lack of documents, unfortunately as you didn't bring up statute barred in your defence, then it isn't pleaded and can't be used in court. Although in small claims you can sometimes get away with it but it would be winging it, so i'd be happier if you amended before court, and I'm sure [MENTION=87380]Diana M[/MENTION]; would agree ( well, possibly...).

Hang fire for the mo and let Di have another look at the thread and then we can help with a more formal letter to the solicitors and a draft of the proposed amended defence.

[Diana M]

Re: Received CCJ from Lowell HELP !

Sometimes a bit of a discussion is needed to suss out the best way forward in a claim, particularly at this stage.

I completely agree with that.

Firing off a kneejerk email to the other side's lawyer at 6 o'clock in the morning may make you feel better but it may not be a wise way to proceed.

The OP's email basically says "Gotcha" when it may have been better to pause for thought since the hearing isn't for another two weeks. There may be other things that need to be communicated which can be dealt with in a more formal way.

A LIP has every right to feel nervous about expressing themselves in court so getting it all down in writing in advance means you only have to refer the DJ to the paragraph in your document if you come over all tongue-tied on the day.

As you say the door is open to amend the Defence which could be one option. This would require either consent from the Claimant or permission from the court.

Another option might be to file and serve a second Witness Statement which wouldn't need permission from the court. It would be, in effect, a reply to the Claimant's WS which introduced new evidence for the first time. This could not be addressed in the OP's WS since it wasn't available at the time they filed it (a week early for some reason).

If it's decided that a second WS is the correct way forward then that could be an opportunity to attach all sorts of exhibits which can crystalize your arguments such as the CCA request (submitted because the POC said the agreement was regulated by the CCA) and reference to their non-response until the WS (hence the legitimate need to file a second WS in reply to theirs).

The approach of 'left hook, right hook' seems to work well for lawyers. You hit your opponent with a draft document (such as an Amended Defence which demolishes their legal argument) and tell them you're going to file it on xx date unless they agree to discontinue by 4 pm on xx date.

I'm sure between everyone involved a way will emerge to deal with this which will put pressure on Lowells to discontinue but it needs to be done in a professional looking way in order to be taken seriously.

I'm not in a position to give legal advice on the forum, but I can give a nudge in the right direction in a Mother Hen sort of way

Di

[Diana M]

Re: Received CCJ from Lowell HELP !

this information has only come to light from their witness statement, they've sent me nothing previously despite asking for it. If this doesn't work I'll go to court and show the judge.

It's nice to see you've got your mojo back

Did you establish whether Lowells had paid the hearing fee?

(my apologies if you've already posted that information)

Di

[Diana M]

Re: Received CCJ from Lowell HELP !

I sent this to their solicitors,,
Good morning
Thank you for your copy of your witness statement.
May I draw your attention to the fact that no payments or acknowledgments made since 10/07/2009 make this Statue Barred !
I therefore invite you to advise your client to withdraw from this matter so as not to encounter further costs.
Please find attached a screen shot of the part of your witness statement that concerns this.
Regards

Is that the exact wording of your email (including spelling ) ?

When you said "so as not to encounter further costs" what costs were you referring to since this claim is in the Small Claims Court where costs are not normally awarded to either party win or lose?

Lowells won't be scared by the thought of being made to pay your costs as a LIP which is only £19 per hour for justifiable expenses and then only if you file/serve notice of your Costs Schedule at least 24 hours before the hearing.

Di

[Diana M]

Re: Received CCJ from Lowell HELP !

this isn't on my credit file probably cos its older than 6 years or its the wrong name?

Any default registered on a CRA file will automatically drop off six years after it was first added. That means the whole CRA file disappears too.

Could this mean that you were defaulted more than six years ago which might be helpful to your case?

The debt would need to have been SB before the claim was issued in April 2016.

Di

[Marra2]

Re: Received CCJ from Lowell HELP !

Ok so this morning's email was maybe fired off in haste but still no reply.
I'd like to send a 2nd witness statement if possible if some experts on here could draft something up for me from the evidence.
Thanks

[nemesis45]

Re: Received CCJ from Lowell HELP !

Ok so this morning's email was maybe fired off in haste but still no reply.
I'd like to send a 2nd witness statement if possible if some experts on here could draft something up for me from the evidence.
Thanks

This is my feeling and what I would do:

As many of the companies in the debt " industry " in the UK are send " legal representatives" to small claims hearings bearing documents not seen by the defendant and/or the court and "getting away" with having such documents admitted I would write to Nabeela Ahmed as he /she has produced this WS and the document (s) showing ( in my opinion) that the alleged debt is statute barred ( clearly it seems these were supplied in the hope that they would not be carefully examined) there Is nothing to be lost and all to be gained in putting this in writing now.

nem

[Marra2]

Re: Received CCJ from Lowell HELP !

Nem did you see the email I sent her?
Good morning
Thank you for your copy of your witness statement.
May I draw your attention to the fact that no payments or acknowledgments made since 10/07/2009 make this Statue Barred !
I therefore invite you to advise your client to withdraw from this matter so as not to encounter further costs.
Please find attached a screen shot of the part of your witness statement that concerns this.
Regards

[nemesis45]

Re: Received CCJ from Lowell HELP !

Nem did you see the email I sent her?
Good morning
Thank you for your copy of your witness statement.
May I draw your attention to the fact that no payments or acknowledgments made since 10/07/2009 make this Statue Barred !
I therefore invite you to advise your client to withdraw from this matter so as not to encounter further costs.
Please find attached a screen shot of the part of your witness statement that concerns this.
Regards

Could have been a bit more " formal " Marra, but now I guess we'll have to wait for a response (if any).

nem

[Diana M]

Re: Received CCJ from Lowell HELP !

They should,ve paid the hearing fee back in August so I'll ring the court and find out

Did you check to see if Lowells paid the hearing fee in August?

Also post up your WS so helpers can see what you've already told the court.

Di

[Marra2]

Re: Received CCJ from Lowell HELP !

No didn't check to see if they'd paid sorry.
Will I still be able to send a 2nd witness statement even though its 2 weeks until the hearing ?
Here is my first WS

IN THE YORK COUNTY COURT

Claim No.xxxxxx

BETWEEN:
LOWELL PORTFOLIO
Claimant
- and –
Defendant
xxxxxxxxx

_________________________________

WITNESS STATEMENT OF xxxxxx
_________________________________



I xxxxxxxxx of xxxxxxxx being the Defendant in this case will state as follows;


1. I make this Witness Statement in support of my defence in this claim. The matters set out below are within my own knowledge, except where I indicate to the contrary.

2. On 18/04/2016 I made a written request to the Claimant solicitors, B W Legal of The Tannery 91 Kirkstall Road, Kirkstall Leeds LS31HS requesting that the Claimant provides copies of all documents mentioned in the statement of case.

3. On 18/04/2016 , I contacted the Claimants Lowell Portfolio

4: On 27/04/2016 I received a letter from the claimants solicitor stating they received my request for documentation and will be forwarded, I received nothing !

5: On 16/05/2016 I received a letter from the claimant stating that my request for a copy of the executed credit agreement cannot be sent as this is not a credit agreement as defined by the consumer credit act 1974 despite this being mentioned in the initial claim ! (copies of all letters and intial claim enclosed )

6: All correspondence including the initial claim has my name wrong .My surname is xxxx not xxx as is on all correspondence.

7: I have not ever received a default notice for this account.



Statement of Truth

I, xxxxxxxxx the Defendant, believe the facts stated within this Witness Statement to be true.


Signed: ________________________________

[Diana M]

Re: Received CCJ from Lowell HELP !

Did you exhibit all the letters (to/from) you referred to in your WS?

Di

[Marra2]

Re: Received CCJ from Lowell HELP !

Yes I did.