Hello, new to forum..Mortimer Clarke Solicitors

[Foucault74]

Hi everyone, i am new to this website but not new to the world of debt......i already have an existing CCJ and Tomlin Order in place and have Statute Barred quite a few, so have an idea of the ins and outs of some of the processes re letter tennis and County Court although this applies to a few years back now, however this one is a new one on me so here goes........

XX September 2018 received an out of the blue letter from Mortimer Clarke Solicitors (here on in MCS) acting on behalf of Marlin Capital Europe (MCE here on in);

The heading of the letter is MCE V XXXX(my name), and includes a Claim Number and Balance along with their reference number.

The particulars of the letter are as follows -

MCS allege that i took out a Credit Card agreement with Egg Banking PLC on the XX Feb 2008 (which i may or may not have done as i had a hell of a lot of credit at the time). This was then terminated on the XX/05/2011, (one assumes by Egg Banking PLC) with the debt being assigned to MCE on XX/02/2013.

On the XX/09/2014 a Claim was issued against me by MCE and sent to an address stated on the letter, however, i did not receive this Claim form, although as i did not live at the address stated on the letter at the time this is not surprising.

The letter then goes on to state that "Our client is willing to settle the account without court action and proposes a Tomlin Order........etc. etc".

Given the period of time between the date stated in relation to the original claim and the date on the letter (just short of 4 years) i was a bit surprised, particularly knowing that i have no CCJ from that date and also given the offer of the Tomlin Order pre-court hearing so therefore couldn't have a CCJ.

Initially i thought a game of fishing was going on to try and get me to engage with what would now be a Statute Barred debt (given the admission of closure of account by Egg Banking PLC in 2011) and perhaps a round of very cheap debt selling was occurring.

However, i decided to contact the County Court with the Claim Number just to double check; Northampton was very busy so i managed to get hold of a very helpful chap from one of the more local ones who advised me that the Claim did in fact exist, but that it had been 'Stayed' because the Claimant had failed to engage with the Court within the agreed timescale as per small claims (and of course i had not responded as i was unaware of the proceedings), essentially, the Court officer stated that the Claimant had ignored the Court once the Claim had been issued.

Knowing a little of 'Stayed Claims' i queried as to the ethical and legal'ness' of a Claim being Stayed for this length of time.....the Court stated that the Claimant would be required to pay for the case to be re-opened (which clearly wouldn't be an issue) and would need to provide a reason(s) as to why they had not responded to the Court earlier/ had left it such a length of time.

Armed with the above information i ignored the first letter (the usual 28 days etc) to see what they would throw at me next. I have received a second letter from MCS stating -

"we want to work with you to avoid a CCJ being made against you. If we do not receive a response to this letter we are instructed to make an application to re-serve the claim form on you".

Anyone got any thoughts on how to proceed? Anyone got any thoughts full stop?

I'm not worried about CCJ and County Court or debt collectors or credit ratings and could enter into a Tomlin with these people if need be (i have absolutely nil assets of note and could be being barrel bombed in Syria or Yemen), however, it feels like an abuse of process to open a claim and then leave it for this length of time?

Cheers

[Foucault74]

Hi,
can anyone help with the above?

many thanks

[Amethyst]

Hi, Apologies for late reply.

The original claim was issued in 2014 to an old address so you didnt receive it, thus didn't defend - and the claimant didn't request a default judgment so the case has simply remained stayed since 2014. For some reason the Claimant has decided to pick it up again and intend to apply to court to re-serve the particulars on you and proceed with the claim?

You could just let them apply to be allowed to reserve the particulars and defend that application ( abuse of process ) as the claim would now be statute barred ( terminated May 2011 ) and potentially , if they use the reason as having been unable to trace you, tell the court you were not hiding, when you moved you had no reason to inform egg or the claimant as you were unaware of any debt owing at that time, and that electoral roll / credit file etc has been updated ( plus they found you now ).

I would, while you wait, get a CCA request sent off to the claimant to see if they would be able to enforce if they did get the stay lifted.

pt2537 anything more to do proactively ?

[pt2537]

Hmmm thats interesting, they issued but didnt ask for judgment.

I cant think of anything other than the points above, well one point, have we told them the correct address for service of proceedings now? otherwise we dont want the claim going elsewhere

[Foucault74]

Hi Both, thanks very much for the replies, very much appreciated.

Yes, it appears that for some reason they have decided to revisit this case 4 years after original claim and so the court confirmed that this has remained Stayed due to the Claimant not following up on the Claim. It seems that the Claimant is planning on "re-issuing" the original Claim, however, my understanding is that there is a time limit on issuing a Claim and proceeding with the Claim and 4 years goes well past that time limit and that the Claimant would be required to pass "certain obstacles" as to why they have left it 4 years to proceed?

Alternatively i suppose they could issue a new claim but my defence then would be Statute Barred given their admission of closure of account in 2011, so i can't see them going down that route.

I also noted the old address re original claim form and by that date i was 2 addresses along with updated electoral role and credit file info for all addresses.

I'll get the CCA sent off today and await further contact from them

Many thanks again, much appreciated