re-Hoist Court claim-saying it is still pending

[stevethewogiebear]

Hi All, I was last on over a year ago saying that the claim against me by Hoist Portfolio Holding 2 Ltd had been thrown out and I believed closed (they had not responded to my defence in the time allowed).

5 days ago I received a letter from their solicitors Howard Cohen saying they were sending me an update on this pending claim.

The letter says that the interest claimed was not appropriate and has been reduced.

Does this mean that they can re-start the claim? I'm a bit confused. Is this another scare tactic.

please give me some idea of where to go now?

Thanks Steve

[thedirtyhound]

Re: re-Hoist Court claim-saying it is still pending

When you respond to the claim form (ie submit your defence), a copy is sent to the claimant. The claimant then has 30 days to inform the court if they wish to proceed. If they do nothing, the claim is automatically stayed and the claimant has to make an application to the court to reactivate it. The cost for doing that is £100, which the claimant would ultimately have to stand, as it only arose because of inactivity on their part.

I do not know if there is a cut off point down the line at which time the court will give the claimant an ultimatum of XX days to proceed, or the claim will automatically be thrown out. I think such a rule should be brought in.

But there is every liklihood that if the claimant has issued and not continued, there is an issue troubling them. Otherwise why not simply carry on?

Obviously, you need to know what that issue is, but they are unlikely to tell you. However, I had a Tesco credit card myself and the copy agreement I was sent looks suspicious. My signature appears on page two and yet there are three further pages without my signature. So I suspect that the last three pages were not actually part of the original document I signed, in which case they will have problems with enforceability. They never even sent me a letter before action and the matter is now definitely statute barred in any case.

Obviously, the fact that they have encountered problems won't stop them from trying it on, but stand your ground and make sure they send you the information you requested.

The onus is upon a claimant to prove its claim, so as you have defended it they should send you a copy of the agreement (or a "true" copy), copies of all statements and correspondence, including default notices and notices of assignment. You are entitled to see these.

The harder you make the b*stards work, they more likely they are to give up!