Help Please Restons (Cabot) Summary Judgment CCJ

[azdk99]

Hi All, can anyone please advise? Hopefully I’ve found the correct forum.

In August 2018 Restons tried to get a CCJ for an old credit card debt (£12k). I used a template to defend and after they sent some docs including original signed agreement and a few threatening letters they allowed the claim to automatically become stayed. Then, in Feb 2020 (Just before the 6 years was up) they applied for Summary Judgment to lift the stay and order judgement against me with costs. Court is on April 14 and I'm not sure how to proceed.

[R0b]

Hi,

You haven't really given much to go off really and if you want any proper kind of response then you are going to have to upload your defence and the summary judgment application (personal info removed).

Without seeing those, we can't really help other than speculate at best.

[azdk99]

Hi,

You haven't really given much to go off really and if you want any proper kind of response then you are going to have to upload your defence and the summary judgment application (personal info removed).

Without seeing those, we can't really help other than speculate at best.

Hi
Sorry, wasn't sure what to do.
I've attached my defence plus the covering application for summary judgment
TIA

Doc1.pdf Doc2.pdf Doc3.pdf Doc4.docx

[R0b]

Still can't see a copy of your defence uploaded but it seems from the Reston's witness statement that they are suggesting you've been supplied with all the paperwork based on your defence and therefore you have no more reasonable grounds. The fact you might have got the defence from an online forum is irrelevant you are still entitled to file a defence and it is their duty to prove their case.

Having said all of that you were given time to file a witness statement and looks like you've been aware since February at least, and the deadline for your witness statement and evidence should have been filed with the court and served on Restons 1 hour ago. You are now out of time and I wouldn't be surprised if the court grants summary judgment against you.

You probably wouldn't be in this position had you not let Restons continue to have the claim stayed as that could be viewed as an abuse of process and their claim could have been struck out.

Moral of the story, don't just think you can send a template defence and get away with it and/or do nothing rather you should try and get some help. If you want to try and get out of a jam you should look to try and submit your witness statement and evidence as to why they shouldn't be granted summary judgment and then ask the court for relief on the day of the hearing, assuming it is still going ahead next week - might want to call the court and confirm if the hearing is going ahead or if it is vacated.

[azdk99]

Thanks for taking the time to advise me. I’ve been hoping it would go away but...*
As Reston’s witness statement points out, I have had all the documents referred to in my defence since Oct 2018 so presumably I have no chance.
I could email a witness statement to them and drop a copy off at the court this evening but Iv’e no idea what to say.
Should I contact Restons and try to negotiate a settlement? Really dont want a CCJ.
TIA

[azdk99]

PS. My defence is Doc4.docx, I’ve checked and I can view it ok

[R0b]

That is not a defence, that is a request for documents referred to by Restons - if you submitted that as a defence then you should be seriously worried.

There's no point in emailing something if you haven't got anything worth to say, because you will only reinforce the point Restons are making that you don't have a clue as to what you are doing. Seems to be a classic case of a litigant in person throwing something at a claim and hoping it sticks or goes away but the problem is that when you get to the legal proceedings stage you need to take it serious and actually have a valid reason to defend the claim.

Out of curiosity, where did you get the template for doc4, was it from here or somewhere else?

As for trying to settle with Restons, that's up to you and may be worth a shot but I wouldn't blame them if they refused. I'm sorry it's not what you want to hear but a claim for £12k is really a lot of money and unless you get some legal help rather sharpish, I can only see this going one way. I would expect you will have to pay Reston's legal costs too since it is over the small claims threshold of £10,000.

[azdk99]

Sorry, ive attached the correct doc now.
Doc5.docx

[azdk99]

The request doc was from consumeractiongroup.co.uk, but it was years ago.*

I used for another default and the claimant dropped the case just before the court hearing which is partly why I used the same method this time.

[Celestine]

Very fair advice from

rob

*

Please don't let this go anywhere near a court room as you'd incur extra costs from their counsel attending. Unlikely the hearing will be going ahead in current circumstances, we're hearing telephone hearings are being offered, but you really need to bring this to an immediate ending.*
As far as I'm aware, if you contact Restons, you could get this set up as a repayment plan and potentially avoid a CCJ. It's not too late. They may be prepared to be reasonable on costs just to get this wrapped up.
I'm just sad you didn't find us a lot earlier, big lesson learned. Let us know how you get on.

[azdk99]

Thanks for all the help. Clearly I should have come here sooner.

if the hearing is postponed is there anything I can do before the rescheduled hearing?

[Celestine]

Hi there - if you are satisfied that they complied with your CCA request, then you don't really have a defendable case, so I'm not able to recommend any further angles to argue on the enforceability of the account. I know it's not great but it is pretty common for CCA requests to take months if not years to produce the original contract, so temporary unenforceability ends and the creditor is able to apply to lift the stay and enforce. Your best bet now would be to pick up the phone and talk with Restons to try and avoid any further costs.

[R0b]

Just to echo Celestine, you should do your best to avoid this getting to court if it's possible. A lot of courts are only open to the public for essential applications and i'm not so sure a summary judgment would be considered as falling into that category.

That said, get on the phone to the court first thing and explain that you have a hearing on 14 April which currently requires you to be physically present in court but in light of COVID-19 ask if it is possible to have the hearing vacated to a later date when things have settled down and restrictions are lifted.

Obviously if you are having no joy with someone over the phone you could try to email them and make sure in the subject line you have the parties, claim number, date and time of hearing and "urgent request" so they know to look at it before the hearing. Set out the same reasons and say you don't consider the application to be an essential one at this time and therefore would the court be minded to vacate the hearing because you are concerned travelling to the court may put you at risk.

Whilst this route doesn't offer a great solution, it does however, give you more time to settle the claim with Restons without having a CCJ on your record. What you will be looking from them to agree is a Tomlin Order which means you pay the settled amount and if you miss a payment then they can take you straight back to court for a CCJ. Unfortunately you seem to be in a weak position so you may have to suck up what they're asking for in settlement terms.

https://courttribunalfinder.service....d-family-court

[azdk99]

Thank you both for all your help.

The hearing has now been adjourned for a couple of months.

I spoke to the solicitors to negotiate a lump sum settlement.

They offered a 30% discount (recorded as partial settlement, account closed with £0 balance).
However, they offered a 50% discount back in early 2019 and I've seen posts here that mention 75%.

They have given me a couple of weeks to come back with an offer. I could probably raise £3k but any more would be a struggle.

I don't want to offer £3k if there is no chance.

Has anyone any experience negotiating?

TIA

[Celestine]

30% discount isn't too bad considering the stage your at with the court claim. We have had people negotiate larger settlements but usually because they have identified some flaws in the documents. Could you counter offer with a 40% deduction - they may consider it if you've managed to pull that together.