Wright Hassall/Cabot - WON! (claimant discontinued claim)

[LegalPrey?]

Hi there all,

I'm new here so you may find that I've duplicated this post in another section when I joined yesterday. So 1st off, apologies for that.

I'd be grateful for some advice please... I received a county court summons issued on the 16/01/14; Cabot claiming a debt to CitiGroup allegedly owed by me. I sent them a request to send me a copy of the CCA along with a cheque for a £1 to cover the admin fee, and clearly stating that it was not payment towards the debt on 22/01/14.


I also completed the defence statement to the court enclosing a copy of the letter to Cabot. I received prompt acknowledgement from both; Cabot interestingly enough said that they do not have the information on file but have contacted the original creditor and hoped to be in receipt of it within 40 days.


Today 05/02/14 I receive a letter from Wright Hassal (Cabot's solicitor, what a play on words!) repeating the blurb from Cabot's acknowledgment, but they then go on to offer me a 10% discount on the debt that I told them that I don't acknowledge, and told them not to chase me for if they could not produce the original CCA! Their 14 days are almost up, am I to keep expecting these letters from them effectively telling me that they need more time but I can still hand over my lunch money? & what happens with the court summons? I'm assuming this must lapse at some point?


I should add at this point that I foolishly took out this loan on behalf of and signed jointly with my high maintenance ex parter for cosmetic surgery in 2004/2005. She refused to pay the loan and then ran off with the electrician who was working on our house. He gets all the benefits, and I get the debt. There has been no contact on my part with Citigroup, or Scabot or any of the other vultures who have tried to cash in on a debt that they paid far less than the £1,100.00 odd they are pursuing me for, and the default has been removed from my credit file quite some years ago now. I believe that the debt is now statute barred now but I need to close this out.


Thanking you in advance for your help,


LegalPrey?

[Amethyst]

Re: Hi All - Newbie Onboard - Advice Needed Please

http://www.wrighthassall.co.uk/ - Marvellous name for a firm.


Have you sent a CPR request to the claimants for copies of documentation mentioned in their Particulars of Claim or just the CCA request ?

What defence statement have you entered ? ((( I also completed the defence statement to the court enclosing a copy of the letter to Cabot. I received prompt acknowledgement from both))))

[LegalPrey?]

Re: Hi All - Newbie Onboard - Advice Needed Please

http://www.wrighthassall.co.uk/ - Marvellous name for a firm.


Have you sent a CPR request to the claimants for copies of documentation mentioned in their Particulars of Claim or just the CCA request ?

What defence statement have you entered ? ((( I also completed the defence statement to the court enclosing a copy of the letter to Cabot. I received prompt acknowledgement from both))))

Thanks for coming back to me, I have just sent Cabot the CCA request. I'm not aware of what a CPR means? My defence statement is just a non-acknowledgement of the debt and I enclosed a copy of the letter that I had sent to Cabot, but I have acknowledged the summons.

[Amethyst]

Re: Hi All - Newbie Onboard - Advice Needed Please

Okay, would you be able to post a copy of the defence entered and the letter to cabot sent to cabot and submitted to the court. If you could also post the particulars of claim from the claim form that would be of use.

CPR is the civil procedure rules, particularly;

Documents referred to in statements of case etc.

31.14

(1) A party may inspect a document mentioned in –

(a) a statement of case;

(b) a witness statement;

(c) a witness summary; or

(d) an affidavit(GL).

(e) Revoked.

(2) Subject to rule 35.10(4), a party may apply for an order for inspection of any document mentioned in an expert's report which has not already been disclosed in the proceedings.

(Rule 35.10(4) makes provision in relation to instructions referred to in an expert’s report)

[LegalPrey?]

Re: Hi All - Newbie Onboard - Advice Needed Please

Ok. Do I need to upload images or, just post the details?

[Amethyst]

Re: Hi All - Newbie Onboard - Advice Needed Please

Ok. Do I need to upload images or, just post the details?

Copy/Paste is fine (take out personal details though)

Also date received court claim, date acknowledged court claim and date submitted defence would be good xx Thankyou.

Best to get all this information together at the start so we know exactly where you are at to help with the next steps.

[LegalPrey?]

Re: Hi All - Newbie Onboard - Advice Needed Please

Ok, so this is the template I used for the CCA request. Both Cabot, and the court have a copy and I sent it to Cabot on 22/01/14.

I will post the rest shortly.

Need to type it up as I only have hard copies.

Dear Sir


Account No/Reference No: XXXXXXXX


I hereby formally request a copy of my Consumer Credit Agreement, pursuant to s.77-79 of the
Consumer Credit Act 1974 (CCA1974).


I require you to provide me with a true copy of the credit agreement relating to any account you deem to be mine, together with any other documentation the Act requires you to provide. I expect you to comply fully and properly with this request, within the statutory time limit (12 + 2 days).


If it is your view that you are not the creditor, s.175 of the CCA1974 applies in the case of a simple assignment, and places a duty upon you to pass this request to the creditor. In the case of an absolute assignment, you are a creditor as defined by s.189. If you contend that you purchased the rights but not the duties of any agreement, you are reminded that s.189 of the Act is clear that an assignment is of both rights and duties. Your attention is drawn to ss.5(2), 3(b), 6 and 7 of the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008 (CPUTR).


I also remind you of your duties, in line with recent OFT Guidance (issued Oct 2010) surrounding Unenforceability, I presume you're aware that the OFT has stipulated that 'sections 77-79 of the Consumer Credit Act 1974 outline the information creditors must provide to debtors under fixed-term, running account & Hire Agreements'. This simply means that under these sections a debtor can pay £1 to get:


•a copy of their agreement
•copies of some of the other documents mentioned in their agreement
•a statement of account


If this information is not provided within 12 working days the debt becomes unenforceable. This means a creditor cannot:
•make the debtor pay the debt before they're supposed to •get a court judgment against the debtor So, in line with the OFT Guidance, and the Consumer Credit Act, please find attached my £1 payment, which is the statutory fee - note that these funds are not to be used for any other purpose.


If you are unable to comply fully and properly with this request, you should confirm this in writing at the earliest opportunity, and certainly within the statutory time limit for compliance, and return the fee and then remove the incorrect entry from your systems. I do, expect the main actions to be dealt with, as matter of course, and look forward to hearing from you within the prescribed time-scales quoted however, in the meantime, I require that you clarify your position on this point as failure to do so, even by omission or lack of a response, will be regarded as an attempt to deliberately misrepresent or conceal the legal position regarding this matter to which an appropriate complaint will be made to the OFT.


Yours faithfully,


Mr Alleged Debtor

[LegalPrey?]

Re: Hi All - Newbie Onboard - Advice Needed Please

Right, just looking at my acknowledgement from the Court dated 29/01/14 it states the follow:

"I acknowledge receipt of your defence. A copy is being served on the claimant (or the claimant's solicitor). The claimant may contact you direct to attempt to resolve the dispute. If the dispute cannot be resolved informally, the claimant will inform the court that he wishes to proceed. The court will the. Inform you of what will happen.

Where he he wishes to proceed, the claimant must contact the court within 28 days after receiving a copy of your defences. After that period has elapsed, the claim will be stayed. The only action the claimant can then take will be to apply to a judge for an order lifting the stay"

My letter went to Cabot on 22/01/14, Wright Hassall claim they got it on the 03/02/14.

I made a schoolboy error of not taking a copy of my defence statement, but I didn't go into specifics. I purely disputed knowledge, and responsibility for the debt and that I have requested the CCA.

Do I also need to send the CPR to?

I can now see that if Cabot do not provide the court with the requested evidence within 28 days the claim will be stayed and the Cabot will have to make another application to the Judge. I was under the impression that if they didn't provide it to me within 14 days they had to leave me alone and I could refer them to the OFT if they kept pestering me with their letters requesting more time?

[Amethyst]

Re: Hi All - Newbie Onboard - Advice Needed Please

''I can now see that if Cabot do not provide the court with the requested evidence within 28 days the claim will be stayed and the Cabot will have to make another application to the Judge. ''

Yes indeed so that's a good order.

[LegalPrey?]

Re: Hi All - Newbie Onboard - Advice Needed Please

OK great! Thanks for looking at this, let's see if anything turns up.

[LegalPrey?]

Re: Hi All - Newbie Onboard - Advice Needed Please

Hi there Amethyst,

Further update... I received a letter today from Wright Hassall advising me that their client still intends to pursue the claim but they need more time to get the docs and they have instructed the court and I should receive further direction from the court directly (nothing received yet). They go on to say go on to say that when they provide the docs they will have fulfilled my request and will no longer be inclined to offer the discount.

I think they are just trying to scare me into paying but what I need to know is do they have an infinite amount of time to keep this hanging on? I don't see this as being totally compliant with my request. Do I just sit and wait? They have gone well beyond 14 days without provision of the CCA.

i forgot to say that they asked me to forward payment.

[Amethyst]

Re: Hi All - Newbie Onboard - Advice Needed Please

Sounds as though they have applied to extend the time period. Doesn't mean the court will agree. I'd just sit tight, see what the court directions are, and then think where to go from that point.

[LegalPrey?]

Re: Hi All - Newbie Onboard - Advice Needed Please

Ok thank you.

[Amethyst]

Re: Hi All - Newbie Onboard - Advice Needed Please

We could ask for a strike out btw as they haven't a) supplied ANY documents and b) are in default of the CCA request - but see what the court directs for now. xx (and no, don't pay them)

[LegalPrey?]

Re: Hi All - Newbie Onboard - Advice Needed Please

We could ask for a strike out btw as they haven't a) supplied ANY documents and b) are in default of the CCA request - but see what the court directs for now. xx (and no, don't pay them)

Well yes I was also thinking along those lines; let's see what (if anything) turns up from the court. I'll give it a week perhaps? I'm hoping the court might look upon it in the sense that these guys are harassing for money when they haven't actually satisfied themselves that the original agreement actually existed and tell them to 'take a running jump'. If they do I take it the strike out is the next step?