Delay in issuing a claim after a Letter Before Action

[beagle42]

Hi all,

I'm a new member seeking assistance with a payment dispute issue. Thank you in advance for your time and support.

As a freelancer, I'm dealing with a payment dispute involving a client, a limited company, who refused the full payment for my supplied services. The client attempted to evade payment by fabricating new implied terms in the contract (skipping all details to keep it short). Despite email discussions to resolve the matter, no resolution was reached. I issued a letter before action to the client, which went unanswered (more than 30 days now).

Due to personal circumstances, it's currently challenging for me to initiate the legal claim and handle proceedings immediately. I am considering a 12-month delay, still well within statutory limits.

Problem: I reviewed the practice direction for pre-action conduct rules and found no specific guidelines on maintaining compliance in such cases, except to act "within a time limit set out in a relevant protocol or within a reasonable period."

Questions:
1. Is there a risk that significantly delaying the claim may be perceived as an abuse of the legal process by a judge?
2. Before submitting the claim after 12 months, is it necessary to send another letter before action to the client?

Thank you for your guidance!

[atticus]

I suggest that you wait until your circumstances improve, and look at the situation then. Bear in mind 2 things. The first is that the company's circumstances may change. The second is the 6 year time limit for starting a contract claim at court.

[R0b]

Is there a risk that significantly delaying the claim may be perceived as an abuse of the legal process by a judge?

the answer is possibly, yes. The term for this kind of abuse is called 'warehousing' and suggest you do a little research on warehousing claims and abuse of process. Warehousing a claim does not automatically become an abuse of process as long as there is good justification for doing so, and it would b up to the defendant to raise that as an issue. If you put a 12 month time limit on this, the question is whether that 12 month limit is reasonable in the circumstances i.e. if your personal circumstances are resolved after 1 month and capable of now pursuing the claim, is it reasonable to sit on it for a further 11 months before you decide to do anything?

2. Before submitting the claim after 12 months, is it necessary to send another letter before action to the client?

I think that would be a sensible thing to do given the length of time passing between the initial LBC and your intention to start proceedings.

I would also echo what Atticus has said.

[tksnota]

can anyone tell me what's the difference with letter before claim, letter of claim and pre action letter?

[atticus]

None. They are the same thing.

[tksnota]

The reason I asked because the forms from Citizens Advise are different from the debt camel link

I want to know which of these forms I need to use when for a potential CCJ

Links outlined below

https://debtcamel.co.uk/letter-before-claim-ccj/

https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/de...%20you%20money

[R0b]

Just so you fully understand, the Civil Procedure Rules govern all civil proceedings and what steps each party must take at various stages of proceedings. Before you can issue a claim, you must comply with the pre-action protocols. These protocols are a precursor to issuing legal proceedings and there are different protocols depending on the type of claim you are bringing. All of the protocols require you to sent a letter of claim which is also known as a pre-action letter or letter before action but each protocol may have specific requirements in terms of what needs to be included in the letter.

If no protocol matches the type of claim you are bringing, then you comply with the catch-all protocol which is the Practice Direction on Pre-Action Conduct and Protocols.

The Debt Camel link relates to the Pre-action Protocols for Debt Claims and only applies in a B2C situation. So unless your customer was a consumer, you do not follow the Debt Protocol, instead you follow the Practice Direction on Pre-Action Conduct and Protocols.

N1 Claim form is what you need to start proceedings if you are going the paper route or you can do it online using the Money Claims Online service. Many people use MCOL as it is a simplified process but be aware, there is a limited character count for drafting your particulars of claim. You can issue separate particulars of claim but you will need to check the box when you get to that stage of the process.

Why don't you focus on the pre-action letter first, and then if you need guidance on the next steps we can help you along the way.