Cabot Financial/Mortimer Clarke - Court Claim

[sumo29]

Hi everyone,

I'm hoping someone can offer some advice on my current situation.

Background:

• Fell into arrears with a Lloyds credit card during the Covid pandemic.
• Received a court claim last year and successfully submitted a defence, challenging the missing documents.
• Recently received a 'Notice of Hearing of Application' for a January court date to lift a stay on proceedings.
• Also received a bundle of documents, including a credit agreement with an electronic signature. - I assume it was an online application

Questions:

1. Next Steps: Should I rely on my original defence or submit a new one based on the newly provided documents?
2. Court Communication: Is it advisable to continue contacting Cabot to resolve the issue outside of court?
3. Document Requests: What specific documents should I request to strengthen my case and prep defence again?
4. Default Notification: How can I find out if Lloyds formally defaulted the debt or if cabot did?

I'm feeling a bit overwhelmed and unsure how to proceed. Any guidance would be greatly appreciated. I'll provide more details and a timeline shortly.

[echat11]

a) Next Steps: Should I rely on my original defence or submit a new one based on the newly provided documents?

You don't need to do another defence, but you do need to prepare for the Hearing, a Witness Statement, make sure that is sent to the Court and the Creditors solicitors in 'good time', e.g. 14 days etc.

What anomalies are in the documents they have sent you?, you need to go through them to check if they are compliant.

https://lawzone.legal/when-is-a-cred...unenforceable/

https://legalbeagles.info/forums/for...ess-statement/

b) Court Communication: Is it advisable to continue contacting Cabot to resolve the issue outside of court?

Yes, write 'Without Prejudice Save as to Costs', the Court won't take into account those letters, until the Hearing in over. You can show that you tried to settle the matter without the need for a Hearing. You can make Full and Final Settlement Offers.

c) Document Requests: What specific documents should I request to strengthen my case and prep defence again?

You should have requested CCA (varied), Default Notice, Notice of Assignment and Statement of Account. As stated in (1).

d) Default Notification: How can I find out if Lloyds formally defaulted the debt or if cabot did?

Send Lloyds a Subject Access Request, make sure you get Proof of Postage.
They have 30 days to provide all the data on the account.

https://legalbeagles.info/library/gu...ccess-request/

[echat11]

Fill in the following, copy and paste back onto this thread without personal details.

Received a claim? Yes/No:
Issue Date:
Have you Acknowledged the Claim?:
Total Amount Claimed : ( approximately please do NOT use EXACT figure given on the claim form, round up to next £100 or £1000)
Claimant’s Name:
Solicitors Firm:
Original Creditor:
Original Debt (eg. Credit card/Loan/Overdraft) :
Particulars of Claim: ( Please type out in full excluding names/account numbers/exact amounts ):
Is the debt Statute Barred (have you had any contact with the creditor or claimant over the last 6 years?):
List any letters you have sent (eg: CCA/ CPR ):
Any Other Information or Background Details:

[sumo29]

Hi,
Thank You for your support on this and for answering my immediate questions. Below I have covered

Received a claim? Yes/No: Yes
Issue Date: Original Claim was in 2023. I filed a defence. It was stayed. And an application to lift the stay has now been made, and I have a hearing 16th January 2025.
Have you Acknowledged the Claim?: Yes, the original claim
Total Amount Claimed : ( approximately please do NOT use EXACT figure given on the claim form, round up to next £100 or £1000) 5000
Claimant’s Name: Cabot Financial Limited
Solicitors Firm: Mortimer Clarke Solicitors
Original Creditor: Lloyds
Original Debt (eg. Credit card/Loan/Overdraft) : Credit Card
Particulars of Claim: ( Please type out in full excluding names/account numbers/exact amounts ):
Stay applied to be lifted pursuant to CPR 24 and/or strike out the defence under 3.4 on the grounds that:
1. The defendant has no real prospect of defending the claim
2. There is no compelling reason why the case should be disposed of at trial
Should the defendant rely on written evidence at the hearing, they should file such evidence with the court and serve a copy on the claimant not less than 7 days before the hearing pursuant to CPR part 24.5.

Is the debt Statute Barred (have you had any contact with the creditor or claimant over the last 6 years?): no
List any letters you have sent (eg: CCA/ CPR ): none
Any Other Information or Background Details: The solicitors have sent me a pack of docs that seems to include some of the requested documents which I will be going through this week.

So, in this case should I now rely on this original defence filed, or update to reflect that some of the missing documents have been served.

Is it still worth contacting them to resolve this matter with having to go into court and also cost of getting a solicitor?

Thank You All in advance!

[echat11]

a) So, in this case should I now rely on this original defence filed, or update to reflect that some of the missing documents have been served.

You can rely on the Defence filed. You can update in your Witness Statement.
You do need to prepare for the Hearing, a Witness Statement, make sure that is sent to the Court and the Creditors solicitors in 'good time', e.g. 14 days etc.

What anomalies are in the documents they have sent you?, you need to go through them to check if they are compliant.

https://lawzone.legal/when-is-a-cred...unenforceable/

https://legalbeagles.info/forums/for...ess-statement/

b) Is it still worth contacting them to resolve this matter with having to go into court and also cost of getting a solicitor?

You can send offers to to them but mark the letters 'Without Prejudice Save as to Costs', these letters will only be looked at by the Judge after the Hearing / Judgement.

[Paul07]

Hi Sumo29, “Cabot Finance Limited” no longer registered or regulated by FCA if the registration No 939004, Debt collection is a regulated activity. You signed original credit agreement under CCA 1974 to safeguard your consumer rights, this could be a part of your defence

[sumo29]

Hi Sumo29, “Cabot Finance Limited” no longer registered or regulated by FCA if the registration No 939004, Debt collection is a regulated activity. You signed the original credit agreement under CCA 1974 to safeguard your consumer rights, this could be a part of your defence

Hi,
Thanks for this. I just checked this and saw the following on their website:

"Cabot Financial (Europe) Limited is an Appointed Representative of Cabot Credit Management Group Limited which is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority with firm reference number 677910."

But obviously, the claim is from Cabot Financial (not Cabot Credit Management). Are they covered under the other reference number?

[sumo29]

I also have another question with regards to the hearing itself. It says it is a hearing to lift the stay - so does this mean that is all that we will focus on or at the same hearing could a judge perhaps also look at the whole case itself and make a judgement on that?

They have left a long time since my original defence and not responded to my emails to ask for the information and also try to reach an agreement, but they have attached the required documents in the application to lift the stay.

So my second question is if in fact I would be allowed to further defend the claim after the stay has been lifted or if this is the only hearing we will have?

Thanks

[echat11]

a) It says it is a hearing to lift the stay - so does this mean that is all that we will focus on or at the same hearing could a judge perhaps also look at the whole case itself and make a judgement on that?

From what you've said, this Hearing will only focus on the 'lifting of the stay'.

b) if in fact I would be allowed to further defend the claim after the stay has been lifted or if this is the only hearing we will have?

Yes, you will have to prepare a 'Witness Statement' for the Hearing of the case.

You really should prepare a skeleton argument for the Hearing, that you would hand to the Usher and the Creditor's solicitors as soon as you arrive at Court. You can highlight reasons why the 'stay' shouldn't be lifted i.e. they failed to provide the requested documents etc. Also a brief background to the case.

https://hallellis.co.uk/write-skeleton-argument/

[sumo29]

Thank you for that. Apologies if I am not clear in my writing and if you need more information to help. So:

a) The exact wording used is " An order that the stay applied to the proceedings be lifted and Cabot be granted summary judgment pursuant to CPR parts 24 and/or strike out the defence under section 3.4 on the grounds that:
1- the defendant has no real prospect of defending claim
2 - there is no compelling reason why the case should be disposed of at trial

So based on this, maybe your answer might change - Ie they are asking for a judgement rather than a lift to stay.

The letter the court sent says ~ The hearing of the claimants application for lift to stay will take place at xyz.

b)
So am correct in what you are saying is that this hearing will decide if the case should proceed - and then we go through the process of defending it as per the original claim before the claim was stayed as they needed more time to get documentation ready.

Thanks in advance,

[echat11]

This is pretty much it in a 'nutshell', 'they are asking for the stay to be lifted, but they want a Summary Judgement to, if they get a summary Judgement then there will be no further Hearing. The Judge will need a good reason, not to give Summary Judgement i.e. they haven't provided the requested documentation, or it's not compliant etc. So it's point (a).

My advice is in post 9, do a Skeleton Argument, you don't need all the headings, a brief summary, the reasons why Summary Judgement shouldn't be made in favour of the Creditor etc. It doesn't have to be long, just put's your case across to the Judge.

[sumo29]

ok thank you - will look at this now

[sumo29]

Hi Everyone,

Just wanted to provide an update on this as I may need additional support with this but also might be useful for others to see a thread all the way through.

I have now attended court for the hearing with regard to the lifting of the stay and summary judgment. The outcome was as follows:

The stay was lifted, but summary judgment was NOT granted. However, this was because of an admin issue and the judge agreed that I should be able to file a defence also.

So I have now been given 14 days to file a defence.

I will post some details on this in the next post and maybe the guys and gals here can help me prepare the best defence or assist with negotiation on this with the Cabot.

Thanks for the help so far!

[echat11]

Hi Everyone,

Just wanted to provide an update on this as I may need additional support with this but also might be useful for others to see a thread all the way through.

I have now attended court for the hearing with regard to the lifting of the stay and summary judgment. The outcome was as follows:

The stay was lifted, but summary judgment was NOT granted. However, this was because of an admin issue and the judge agreed that I should be able to file a defence also.

So I have now been given 14 days to file a defence.

I will post some details on this in the next post and maybe the guys and gals here can help me prepare the best defence or assist with negotiation on this with the Cabot.

Thanks for the help so far!

That's good, do you mean Defence or Witness Statement with in 14 days?

[Archella]

Hi,

I have the same hearing scheduled for next week, i wondered if you think there is anything you could have presented differently or some information on what the judge said that might help me also be successful in at least not obtaining the summary judgement, but ideally I'd like to not have the stay lifted.

Did you do the skeleton argument?

Thanks