Cabot/Nolan’s requested pause in simple procedure- advice on how to respond

[Una123]

Hi I’m looking for some advice. Nolan’s solicitors acting on behalf of Cabot are pursuing action against my husband for £1100 by way of simple procedure in sheriff court. We responded requesting assignation, proof of claim etc, and disputed the case as they failed to provide the information requested. The sheriff ordered Cabot to provide the information we requested to the court, but they failed to do so in time (At least 10 days before the hearing).There is due to be a hearing with the sheriff on Wednesday but today we have received copy of an ‘application to pause’ from Nolan’s/Cabot stating that they are awaiting information ordered by the sheriff from the original creditor. They have however provided one document allegedly the Account sale agreement heavily redacted with my husbands details highlighted. (But date of termination states 2002- but last payment in 2016?!) They have in a letter to the court also suggested that in terms of Promontoria (Ram) ltd v John Moore, 2017 CsOH 88, the service of the current court action itself can be considered intimation of the assignation.

it it looks like we now have to respond to the application to pause- can anyone provide advice on how to respond or what our next steps should be? I would have thought that they would/should have had all the agreements and paperwork in place prior to raising the simple procedure in the first place.

Any my advice would be greatly appreciated.

[ScottishSolicitor]

Yes you might think they should but its not part of the business model of debt purchase firms like Cabot. The practise is to sue without having the documents as they know most cases are undefended. When a case is defended there is usually a mad scramble to source paperwork. In your case I would argue that a pause should not be granted if the court has made a prior order giving them X days to lodge and they haven't complied. Which court is the case in? Does it call again this Wed?

[Una123]

Thank you very much for the advice. The case management discussion takes place tomorrow morning (wed 24th). My husband spoke to the court clerk yesterday and they advised that the request to pause had not been received by the court and so the case management discussion would still proceed as planned (and even if did arrive it’s too late to pause). Thanks again