Cabot/Morgan

[kelsyrose]

I have been taken to court by Cabot who claimed to have bought a debt from Halifax. Judgment was issued due to default on my part to respond to the county court claim because of ill health both myself and husband.

Cabot filed an application to put a charge on our house, we then filed an application to set aside original judgment on the following grounds:

1. Mis-sold PPI because of my ongoing medical problem;
2. On further investigation, we found out that the original creditor Halifax
has closed/written off this debt;
3. Cabot failed to respond to our written request to provide us with signed
copy off written agreement, etc etc.
4. Halifax then provides us with written confirmation that this debt has now been closed (before the date Cabot alleged to have bought it), and a copy of the original Loan Agreement without my signature.

The court issued an order for us to submit evidence on x x x date, which we have complied attaching various communications between myself & original debtor from the time I disputed the account. The claimant Cabot failed to submit any evidence in rebuttal of my claim and asked for further time to submit. The
court granted their request until 31st Dec 2009, hearing set on the 6th Jan 2010.

A couple of days ago, we received a letter from Cabot stating that they would be willing to consent to our application to set judgment aside and proceedings against us be dismissed, on the basis that each party be responsible for the payment of their own costs.

My husband and I have been extremely ill over the last years and the stress
of Cabot's action made everything worst. And now to find out that Cabot, we
believe, has unlawfully prosecuted us because there was no signed agreement.

What do we do? Do we have to wait until 6th Jan for the county court to make the decision and order (bearing in mind we claimed for our expenses and cost
in the application)? Or do we proceed further to prosecute the Claimant Cabot?

Any advice would be appreciated.

Thank you.

kelsyrose

[TUTTSI]

Re: Cabot/Morgan

Hi Kelsey,

I have just posted on your welcome thread without realising that you had already posted here.

I am not experienced in this field - but here is a thread which may help in the mean time on DCA's and CCA http://www.legalbeagles.info/forums/...ad.php?t=13980

One of the more experienced amongst us will be along to help you soon.

Tuttsi

[Kafka]

Re: Cabot/Morgan

Can you please clarify what Cabot have offered regarding the Order? You need to look very carefully at anything that this oganisation does and not trust them.

It will also help if you can provide the following:

• A timeline of events in date order.
• Details of the default process as this was a requirement before legal action could be commenced.
• Details of Assignment. If Cabot claimed to own this account you should have received a formal Notice of Assignment from Halifax (not Cabot). If you only received a copy of this from Cabot (even if on Halifax paper) it was probably forged as there have been a number of cases like this recently.
• What charges had been added to the account either by Halifax or Cabot?
• What do the credit reference files say about the account? If it was wrongly defaulted, you may have a claim for damages also.

If they have agreed to the setaside this is good news, but with the additional information above, you should consolidate your case agaisnt them and perhaps have additional means of redress.

[kelsyrose]

Re: Cabot/Morgan

I took out the Personal Loan fr Halifax sometime in August 2004 and immediately after that I disputed the PPI because I was made to believe that I needed to take PPI in order for me to obtain the loan. I also questioned the rate of interest and they said they will look into that. I did not sign any documents/Credit Agreement because they said there is no need as it will be credited to my ISA account which at that time I was holding with Halifax. I have not heard from Halifax for years and years.

Out of the blue, I have letters from Cabot telling me I am in default and that they are offering me a 30% discount should I settle with them in x x x period of time. The amount they were asking is the principal amount of the loan, without the interest nor the PPI element. I ignored all their letters as I know I was in dispute with Halifax. I suspect that Cabot do not have the details of this Halifax loan because the amount they are claiming has no correlation at all to the Halifax loan.

In June 01 2009, I received a County Court Claim form filed by Cabot which I was not able to reply due to my husband's major medical problem, and I was dealing with my own health as well. A judgment against me was obtained by Claimant in 29th June 2009 from Northampton Court. Proceedings was subsequently transferred to Mansfield when Claimant obtained an interim charging order against our house.

I received a notice from court for scheduled hearing on the final charging order for Sept 21 2009, which I attended this time, and explained to the lady judge that I am actually in dispute with the original creditor of this debt (Halifax) and explained that my husband and I are in ill health and requested for adjournment until I could present some documents, which the judge agreed and reset the hearing for 11th Nov 2009.

A week before 11th Nov 2009, I went to the court and filed an application to set the judgment aside on the grounds that I have already mentioned in my first posting here. The court then accepted my application and ordered that it be adjourned for 6th Jan 2010, and that the Defendant (myself) submits evidence
by 26th Nov, and Claimant (Cabot) submits its rebuttal of the evidence by 3rd Dec 2009. We complied within the deadline and submitted various written evidence ie: unsigned Credit Agreement, letter fr Halifax confirming that the
account has been closed/written off on 23rd May 2008, etc. etc.

On receiving copies of these evidence, Claimant Cabot requested for an extension of their rebuttal to te 29th Dec 2009. The Court granted them to the 31st Dec 2009.

On the 23rd Dec 2009, we received the letter from Cabot partly :

". . . The Claimant has reviewed the evidence that you provided in support of your application and, on a purely commercial basis, the Claimant would be willing to consent to your application. The claimant proposes that the judjment be set aside and proceedings against you be dismissed. This proposal is made on the basis that each party be responsible for the payment of their own costs."

Where do we go from here? We would like to prosecute Cabot to the full extent of the law for what they have done which caused us tremendous stress.

Thank you.

kelsyrose.

[Kafka]

Re: Cabot/Morgan

Its difficult to comment without seeing the letter that Cabot sent. Your comments only refer to the CCJ but there is still the matter of the account that they are trying to collect. You should not be liable for any costs because they were at fault so the costs they have added need to be formally removed. In view of all of this, the Order should include a final settlement of the outstanding amount so that they cannot come back later, together with removal of all false credit data..

There are other questions still unanswered and without the documents, or at least the main details, its not possible to comment more.

[kelsyrose]

Re: Cabot/Morgan

KafKa, thank you for your attention and quick reply to my postings.

I don't know what other information you need or require. I've quoted you the content of the letter from Cabot, almost word for word.

What do you mean final settlement of account? From whom? I do not owe
anything anymore from the original creditor, and I have a letter of confirmation
from the original creditor.

I am requesting for advice on what step to do next - whether or not to
wait for the hearing on the 6th Jan and wait for the judge's order/decision,
or to seek legal advise in view of filing a claim against Cabot for the stress
and damages, caused by their action.

Many thanks.

kelsyrose:christmas3:

[Kafka]

Re: Cabot/Morgan

By final settlement I mean that you need confirmation that cabot will not still try to collect from you even if the CCJ is setaside. Simply agreeing to the setaside doesn't confirm this.

The reason I asked about default is because wrongful default is one of the strong grounds to claim damages. Did Cabot attempt to default the account before taking legal action and have they registered bad information about you with the credit reference agencies?

[Kafka]

Re: Cabot/Morgan

kelsyrose

Thinking more about this, it sounds as if Cabot have chanced their arm (as they do) and sought to collect on a debt that did not exist and for which they have no legal title anyway, even if it did.

Realising that they cannot sustain their position, they are trying to pull out with minimum damage and that's why they are introducing the costs clause, in the hope that you won't add substantial costs to their bill.

From what you have said, you now have Cabot on the ropes and my advice would be to go for the throat now to cause maximum damage to them and to get whatever you can off them. Please clarify the following questions.

• Are you actually out of pocket financially as a result of Cabot's actions? Please specify.
• Have Cabot registered negative data about you on credit files? (this is very important)
• Can you evidence any specific results of their action in terms of health etc? (This is usually very difficult to translate to financial terms usually, without specialist advice).

I am envisioning here a three-fold action.

1. To maximise exposure of Cabot's unlawful and deceitful actions for the court.
2. Pressing for all costs + substantial damages.
3. Reporting them after the case is concluded, to inflict heavy damage on them for the sake of future victims.

I've never seen a case quite like this where a DCA has so readily acknowledged that they cannot defend a setaside and so this is a rare opportunity to get back at this despicable organisation.

[kelsyrose]

Re: Cabot/Morgan

Hi Kafka,

Thank you again for your input. And herein below are the answers to your questions:

• I am not significantly out of pocket financially as a result of Cabot's actions except for the costs and expenses in filing the application to set aside, and the time involved in researching, writing letters and getting all the information needed to submit as evidence to support the set aside application.
• I have just checked my credit records on line with Experian and I could not see any report from Cabot, although surprisingly I have seen Halifax' which says 'Closed' and I presume this refers to my Personal Loan Agreement claimed by Cabot.
• My husband is retired and disabled ex-miner and just had undergone major knee replacement surgery. He is also a Lyme Disease sufferer and the actions of Cabot/Morgan Solicitors made him, on several occasions very stressed and at times depressed. I myself has an underlying medical condition related to my vocal cords/voice box and go for regular medical procedure at the Royal National Nose Ear & Throat hospital in London. I work full time for a local government authority and the stress that Cabot caused to my life is tremendous ie; I am the breadwinner and at the same time stressed out by Cabot.

I would be very grateful what steps we can do next. My husband and I did all the paperwork responding to Court's orders and have not had any legal help.
We are new to this and find it very difficult to continue. We requested the County Court, on top of our itemised expenses, for maximum damages be awarded due to stress. Do we have to wait for the result of the 6th January hearing?

The last paragraphs of Cabot/Morgan's letter (after the one I posted earlier), as follows:

"We note that this is set down for hearing on the 6th of January. We shall be sending a copy of this letter to the court for their perusal.

We look forward to hearing from you with confirmation of your agreement with our proposal shortly.

Yours faithfully

(Sgd) Morgan Solicitors "

Thank you for whatever advice you may give.

Kelsyrose

[Kafka]

Re: Cabot/Morgan

Hi Kafka,

• I am not significantly out of pocket financially as a result of Cabot's actions except for the costs and expenses in filing the application to set aside, and the time involved in researching, writing letters and getting all the information needed to submit as evidence to support the set aside application.
  
  Any costs must be reclaimed as part of the setaside, so you need to itemise them very carefully.
  All out-of-pockets such as the setaside fee are clearly reclaimable against them - you should not have to bear these as Cabot are hoping.
  Can you also work out (from correspondence) a diarised account of hours spent on correspondence, court attendance and so on? Day by day as a realistic estimate of the hours spent, with correspondence to support. You can then ask the court to grant this at their rate (£9+ per hour, can't remember exactly) for your actual time wasted in having to deal with all of this.
  
• I have just checked my credit records on line with Experian and I could not see any report from Cabot, although surprisingly I have seen Halifax' which says 'Closed' and I presume this refers to my Personal Loan Agreement claimed by Cabot.
  
  Well this is a pity as it would have given a strong claim for damages for wrongful default. Never mind.
  
• My husband is retired and disabled ex-miner and just had undergone major knee replacement surgery. He is also a Lyme Disease sufferer and the actions of Cabot/Morgan Solicitors made him, on several occasions very stressed and at times depressed. I myself has an underlying medical condition related to my vocal cords/voice box and go for regular medical procedure at the Royal National Nose Ear & Throat hospital in London. I work full time for a local government authority and the stress that Cabot caused to my life is tremendous ie; I am the breadwinner and at the same time stressed out by Cabot.
  
  You need to prepare for the court a clear list of the DIRECT effects of Cabot's actions. In your strong position - with Cabot not defending - I hope that a court will look favourably, but its very difficult to quantify this in financial terms.
  

I would be very grateful what steps we can do next. My husband and I did all the paperwork responding to Court's orders and have not had any legal help.
We are new to this and find it very difficult to continue. We requested the County Court, on top of our itemised expenses, for maximum damages be awarded due to stress. Do we have to wait for the result of the 6th January hearing?

Please confirm exactly what you said to the court. It really is important to provide all of the detail to get the best advice.

The last paragraphs of Cabot/Morgan's letter (after the one I posted earlier), as follows:

"We note that this is set down for hearing on the 6th of January. We shall be sending a copy of this letter to the court for their perusal.

We look forward to hearing from you with confirmation of your agreement with our proposal shortly.

Yours faithfully

(Sgd) Morgan Solicitors "

Kelsyrose

......

[WendyB]

Re: Cabot/Morgan

£9.25 per hour is the accepted rate for claiming for time, etc, I believe.

Possibly a strongly worded reply to Cabot "encouraging" them to pay your costs and expenses plus a suitable compensatory sum, and letting them know that you will be including a full breakdown/history of events and costs at the set aside hearing for Mr Judgey to make up his own mind about their despicable actions and what it's worth, if they don't start being a tad more generous before the 6th of Jan??

[Kafka]

Re: Cabot/Morgan

£9.25 per hour is the acceptabed rate for claiming for time, etc, I beleive.

Possibly a strongly worded reply to Cabot "encouraging" them to pay your costs and expenses plus a suitable compensatory sum, and letting them know that you will be including a full beakdown/history of events and costs at the set aside hearing for Mr Judgey to make up his own mind about their despicable actions and what it's worth, if they don't start being a tad more generous before the 6th of Jan??

Wendy

Thanks for this - I share your views here.

Given that Cabot are wide open here I am just trying to get the widest range of input to see what the member can go for as I think their case in the eyes of a court is solid. I've asked Ben to pop in and also asked advice from colleagues on other forums.

I am currently advising on a defence against Cabot at PC where we have solid evidence that they forged the name of the bank on a 'Notice of Assignment' they sent to the member, where they used bank headed paper but signed it with the name of the wrong bank! You couldn't make it up. I intend to sqeeze them till the pips burst with that one.

[kelsyrose]

Re: Cabot/Morgan

Kafka,

Sorry for the delay in rsponding but my husband and I have not been too well.
Our submissions to county court are as follows:

First submission

• The ongoing dispute with Halifax regarding PPI and interest;
• Mis-sold PPI on the grounds of my ongoing medical problems.

Second submission

• That Halifax had in fact closed/written off this credit agreement;

• Cabot's failure to respond and submit documents as requested as

template letter from consumer forum;

• That the original Personal Loan Credit Agreement had never been

signed.

We had all the documentary evidence attached to this submissions and sent
copies to County Court and claimant Cabot.

We will make separate postings as to claim for costs and expenses that we submitted to the court, and the effect of Cabot's actions to ourselves.

Our thoughts on a without prejudice letter to follow.

Sincerely,

kelsyrose

[kelsyrose]

Re: Cabot/Morgan

Proposed draft letter to Cabot:

Without Prejudice

Further to your letter of 22nd December 2009, we find your offer unacceptable.

For over six months now, you have blighted my life and that of my husband's.
And to further inflict injury, it was your intention to put a final charging order
on our home. 24 hours a day, our lives have been nothing but cabot, cabot, cabot.
It has made us both sick and depressed.

You pursued us for a debt to which we believe you have no legal title to.

To avoid further litigation, which would mean us engaging the services of prestigious
law firm in this area and the costs incurred. I can now offer you the opportunity to make
a one-off and final settlement of £30,000. (Thirty Thousand Pounds), deposited into
my current bank account no x x x x before the hearing on the 6th January 2009.

We look forward to hearing from you with your agreement to our proposals.

Thank you.

Mrs x x x

Kafka,

I would be grateful for your comment , thoughts and input on the above draft
letter which I am intending to send to Cabot in the next working day.

Thank you again.
keysyrose

[TUTTSI]

Re: Cabot/Morgan

Hiya Kelsey

I think the amount you are asking for is far to high IMHO, I really do understand about the agrevation and humiliation that you and your husband suffered over the year whilst they hounded you both. But again I am not an expert.

Kafka is waiting for another member who has a vast experience with Cabot and we would like his views as well. Please hold fire with this letter for a few days until after the xmas break.

I suffered an injury once where I am scarred for life and I thought I would be in for £15/£20K but only ended up with £2K and four years of legal battling.

Just a thought, if you have home insurance sometimes they include a legal costs and because of the intrusion that Cabot prevailed on you maybe it is worth seeing if you do have any recourse to legal cover should you need it.

Tuttsi