Received a Notice of Intent to Apply for Adjudication

[Donny462]

Our property has suffered Subsidence from underground coal mining, it has been an ongoing battle, but recently the aspects where we represented ourselves against the Coal Authority, we won and work is due to begin shortly on our home. As part of the Coal Mining Act, anyone whose property suffers from coal mining subsidence, is allowed to instruct an `expert` to help with the claim and costs are to be met by the Coal Authority.

For one aspect of our claim which went to Arbitration, we instructed an `expert` to represent us as he was a structural engineer, and the services of one such qualified person were needed, we instructed him as he told us that he had `gone up against the CA 25 times and only lost one case, and that was because the claimant backed out`. He certainly talked the talk, but when it came down to it, he didn`t walk the walk and he made numerous mistakes, which ended up in large aspects of our claim being refused,and us losing out on a great deal of money! Added to which, the arbitrator (wrongly!), made the ruling that we had to pay our own costs of our `expert`, which are around £30,000.00...so not only did the `expert` lose us a lot of money, he then expected us to pay him nearly £30,000.00 for doing so, which is extortionate given what others have charged or the same service!

We have made a complaint to the Central Arbitration Committees Service regarding the Arbitrators ruling that we have to pay our experts costs, given that the Coal Mining Act states Claimants `experts` services are paid for by the Coal Authority and that is currently being dealt with. However, today, I have received a Notice of Intent to Apply for Adjudication from the Structural Surveyor, wherein he is trying to get an Adjudicator make me pay his bill! Not only that, he clearly states that he will be picking the Adjudicator!

My question is this, can this man apply to an Adjudicator to make me pay his bill whilst a complaint is ongoing with the CACS? If so, is it right that he can pick who the Adjudicator is? Surely, that would be unfair as how can they be classed as unbiased if they know this man? Please can anyone advise me how to deal with this?

Many thanks

[Donny462]

atticus thank you so much for your response. I'm very grateful.

[atticus]

The court dealing with the charging order application will not be interested in going behind the judgement. It will only want to consider evidence on the question whether the judgement debtor's interest in this property should be charged to secure payment.

That said, you have been given the opportunity to submit evidence.

[Donny462]

An interim charging order is made without notice to the judgement debtor. You have been given notice of the hearing at which the interim order will either be made final or discharged.

As the property is jointly owned, it is likely that the outcome will be that a Form K restriction will be entered on your title at Land registry. These are not the end of the world: see for example posts 12 and 13 here: https://legalbeagles.info/forums/for...statute-barred

Thank you so much atticus , I will have a look at the link.

Can I ask please, the Court Order says I should provide evidence 7 days before the hearing date, am I able to present new evidence which has come to light since the Court Case?

Thank you.

[atticus]

An interim charging order is made without notice to the judgement debtor. You have been given notice of the hearing at which the interim order will either be made final or discharged.

As the property is jointly owned, it is likely that the outcome will be that a Form K restriction will be entered on your title at Land registry. These are not the end of the world: see for example posts 12 and 13 here: https://legalbeagles.info/forums/for...statute-barred

[Donny462]

He shouldn't be sending anyone round to your doorstep.
If you don't pay on the order of the court he should be looking for enforcement via the courts.
This might not take the form of High Court Enforcement Officers, but e.g. via a charge on your property.
After all if you have no assets HCEOs can't collect

Thank you des8 for your response. Apologies for the delay in replying but my life is a catalogue of disasters at the moment between my health and that of my 90 year old Mum with dementia who is ...well, let`s save that for another post lol.

Well today I have received papers from the Claimants Solicitor which inform me that on 24th May 2024, a Judge sat at the Business and Property Courts In ***** and ordered that :-

1. The interest of the judgement debtor ********* in the asset described in the schedule below stand charged with payment of ****** together with any further interest becoming due and the costs of the application.

2. The application will be heard on 16th August in a floating list between the hours of ******** at ****** County Court when a judge will decide whether the charge created by this order should continue (with or without modification) or should be discharged.

3. The Court directs that the Applicant must serve the interim charging order , the application notice and documents filed in support on the following (in addition to any other person required by CPR 73.5. The persons listed in paragraph 5 and 6 of the application.

I have a couple of questions if anyone could advise me please.

Firstly, should n`t I have been informed of the Court Hearing on 24th May?

2. Am I able to get the Court Date of 16th August delayed to give me chance to get legal help in this matter?

3. Point 2 of the Order states that a judge will decide whether the charge created by this order should continue (with or without modification) or should be discharged....what facts may get the judge to discharge the order?

4. The Applicant lied and cheated his way through an adjudication which shouldn`t even have taken place as he acted for my agent in a case against the Coal Authority, which means the Adjudicator didn`t have jurisdiction in this matter, but he ignored all of my evidence and the Judge also ignored all of the evidence and ruled against me...full details are on page 11 of this post. The Claim is solely against me, however, the property which he is applying for a charging order on, is jointly owned with my ex, (we have been split up for many years), it also has a sizeable mortgage on it.

My question is, if the Applicant is granted a charging order, I assume he will then attempt to force the sale of the property to pay his so-called debt, can he force the sale of the property when it is jointly owned by my ex who has had nothing to do with this case? My thinking is that surely my ex can`t be forced to sell his half of the property to settle what is (according to the paperwork), my debt?

Additionally, because the Applicant walked away from the job with me and left my property in total disarray, (basically grossly subsiding due to coal mining subsidence!), the value of my property is now significantly less than when the Applicant first took on the job , and to be honest, will struggle to meet the value of the mortgage on the property, let alone the cost of alleged debt!

Please can anyone help me?

[des8]

He shouldn't be sending anyone round to your doorstep.
If you don't pay on the order of the court he should be looking for enforcement via the courts.
This might not take the form of High Court Enforcement Officers, but e.g. via a charge on your property.
After all if you have no assets HCEOs can't collect

[Donny462]

Hi again, des8

Could you also tell me please if the Claimant will now be able to send bailiffs straight here, or if he will have to go to Court to gain an Enforcement Notice ?

Many thanks.

[Donny462]

Hi Des-8

Thank you for the links, I will give them a try.

Yes, absolutely devastating, I paid £4000.00 to the barrister to look through the case and submit the application to appeal and might as well have set fire to the money ! The judge is actually very damining of what he submitted and says that his reasons for appeal stood no chance of success! I can't believe that the Claimant who I can prove has lied and cheated throughout the whole charade is being supporter and I have nowhere to go to challenge it! It's crazy! He even admitted in the adjudication that he'd acted as an expert in the case against the CA so this should have ruled him out for adjudication, but the adjudicator still chose to rule in his favour! Unbelievable!

[des8]

Hi
Devastating news
One would think a barrister might have been of some use and not then just pushed off.

All I can suggest now is trying to find someone prepared to act pro bono.
Perhaps https://www.lawsociety.org.uk/topics...on-to-pro-bono or https://www.nationalprobonocentre.or...bout-pro-bono/
can provide a link to someone in your area

[Donny462]

Please can anyone help me?

[Donny462]

Hi Everyone

Well some time has passed since I last posted about this matter, in the meantime, the Claimant filed for a Summary Judgement and despite all of the evidence to the contrary, the Judge found in the Claimants favour in agreeing with everything that the Adjudicator had said, despite me having evidential proof to the opposite! At Court, the Judge refused me permission to Appeal, so I had to take that to Court to get permission to appeal.

I employed the services of a Solicitor and Barrister to submit my application for permission to appeal. The Barrister charged me £4000.00 and told me that he believed us to have an excellent chance of success, so of course I was very hopeful.

It has taken a year for the application to come before the Court, and the Judge has basically said that the reasons that my Barrister gave for my appeal stood absolutely no chance of success, and he should have known that, and so they have refused me permission to appeal as they are going by the Adjudicators decision! I am absolutely devastated!

The Barrister who prepared my paperwork for Court has now left the country and is practising in the Cayman Islands, (honestly, you couldn`t make it up!), and my Solicitor realising that an almighty cockup has been made, has basically said that I should now throw in the towel and pay up, as the only option now is to make an Oral something or other, which isn`t guaranteed, and which is costly and he will need 5 to 7k upfront to start it! I cannot believe that in this day and age, someone can lie and cheat the way the Claimant has done, and even when I have provided good, solid proof of his lies and cheating, it was totally discounted and ignored by the Adjudicator!.

For those who don`t know, to give a very brief background, my home and land has suffered badly from Coal Mining Subsidence, the Claimant was engaged to act as my Expert in the case against the CA. He informed me right from the beginning that the CA would have to pay his professional costs under the Coal Mining Act, I had his assurance this was the case in writing, as I knew I couldn`t afford to pay him, but he came with a wonderful record of having taken on the CA 25 times and only lost once, (according to him!), as it turned out, he lost the arbitration for me due to making monumental errors, he then walked off the job leaving me with my home still falling down and my land flooding catastrophically! The CA refused to pay him, so he came after me, stating that I`d had a contract with him , and it was always to be me who paid him, this is not true and I provided evidence of that, he in turn couldn`t provide a copy of a contract signed by me (because there was never any contract!), yet still the Adjudicator found in his favour!

The Claimant then applied for a Summary Judgement to claim the monies he claimed I owed him, the Judge totally disregarded all of my evidence and went with the Adjudicators decision as she said I`d agreed to abide by Adjudication under the terms of the contract, (the contract I never had and never saw!), therefore I had to abide by the Adjudicators findings, she then refused me the right to appeal, so we had to apply to the Court for permission to Appeal.

The Court has now refused me permission to appeal as the Judge stated the reasons my Barrister gave for appeal stood no chance of success!

My Solicitor has now said the only opening to me now is to submit an Oral something or other, but it is costly and not guaranteed to succeed and he wants 5 to 7 k to get it started, and quite simply, I just don`t have it, but nor have I got the money to pay what the Claimant is claiming. Please ,can anyone tell me if there is anything else I can do? Surely, I cannot be expected to pay the amount on a Summary Judgement when the Claimant had lied through his teeth from beginning to end and I have proof of that fact? I just don`t get how this Adjudicators decision is Gospel, when it is based on lies and very little true evidence? There must be something I can do? Am I able to apply to set the Summary Judgement aside, or is there anything else I can do please? I can post the Court Order with details blocked out should anyone wish to see it.

Please, can anyone help me? I`m desperate.

[Donny462]

Post up or use PM

If the solicitor has forwarded an inadequate bundle you are entitled to file and serve additional papers

Re settlement they obviously want to see what you are prepared to offer before they put their
starting counter offer on the table.
Didn't they make an offer earlier?

Thank you des8

No, they haven`t made an offer to settle as yet, they just keep promising they will do so shortly?

With regards to my completing and sending in the N244 Form, thank you, I will PM you .

[des8]

Post up or use PM

If the solicitor has forwarded an inadequate bundle you are entitled to file and serve additional papers

Re settlement they obviously want to see what you are prepared to offer before they put their
starting counter offer on the table.
Didn't they make an offer earlier?

[Donny462]

Thank you des8

If I fill the form in but block out the names, will you please cast your eye over it for me please to see if I have done OK?

On another note, today the Claimants Solicitor has written to the Court detailing who will be present for the Hearing, without even asking me if I have any witnesses to put forward? I'm flabbergasted! Still no mention of what her client would be prepared to settle at either ! I've never known anything like it !