Eon CCJ Compensation

[dbw27]

Hi,

I am seeking some advice in regards to a CCJ Eon took out against me, wrongly, which is now removed but I believe they owe me compensation.

In August 2020 I attempted to apply for a mortgage with my partner, this application was rejected to our surprise. The reason given was my poor credit score, caused by a CCJ I was unaware of.

I discovered the CCJ was won by Eon for a debt of nearly £3000 for unpaid utility bills, for an address I lived at for just 3 months. I did not believe I owed any money as I had paid all my bills.

After a long drawn out complaints process, which included emailing the CEO directly to move things along, Eon investigated the issue and found that mistakes had been made which resulted in this debt being associated with my account.

The first was some issue, I still don’t quite understand, with transferring the supply to NPower when I left. This kind of situation is usually resolved in weeks (I was told) but in this case the error was not resolved for years.

The second error is that my name was associated to an address I never lived at. I lived at number 30, yet somehow they had also assigned me to number 10.

Eon agreed to have the CCJ removed and they did so. I can see on my credit score that this has gone. However, when attempting to discuss compensation they were less fore-coming, ignoring my emails in some cases.

I attempted to resolve this with the energy ombudsman. They determined I was owed £200 and an apology, when I quizzed for details on the low amount they said they could only compensate for the poor customer service, not for any damages the CCJ had caused.

I rejected this offer, the ombudsman said I was free to seek legal action. On seeing I rejected the offer, Eon declared this means the complaint is closed.

I believe that even though the CCJ has now been removed I am due some compensation for their mistake. Particularly as I’ve had a mortgage rejected because of it.
I’m trying to work out if I have much of a case and what law I can state they have broken.

I’ve seen some mention on this forum of potentially using Data Protection principle 4, as they failed to maintain accurate information.

I am also aware I should probably seek legal advice but am put off by the potential fees which might be higher than any compensation I am owed anyway. I would prefer a no-win no-fee option if possible for this type of case.

Ultimately, I’m looking for advice on:
- is this situation something I should take them to court for (or at least send a final email declaring my intention to go to court) is it worth it?
- what laws can I state Eon have breached?
- are there many similar cases to this? So I can see the kind of compensation requested for?
- any advice on free or cheap legal advice?

Any help or a nudge in the right direction would be greatly appreciated.

[R0b]

Hello

I'll respond to your questions in the same order as asked.

1. Yes you could take them to court and follow the pre-action protocols i.e. send a letter before action and allow them sufficient time to respond before starting legal proceedings (note it is important to that you bring a claim against the correct company, if you get it wrong it will cost you).

2. Breach of data protection is definitely one you could argue because they had wrong information linked to you. You could also tag on negligence which is an alternative claim, provided you satisfy the requirements in that there was a duty of care owed, Eon breached that duty which resulted in a loss to yourself, that loss was a foreseeable consequence of the breach. In this situation I think there's good grounds for arguing negligence.

Another claim you could bring is defamation but you can only bring such a claim in the High Court unless Eon agree for the County Court to hear that type of claim. Unless you have deep pockets, I would avoid thinking about a claim for defamation as it will likely get very expensive very quickly.

3. Halliday v Creation Finance is a commonly used case for breach of data protection. This was under the old 1998 Data Protection Act and the court awarded a modest amount of £750 acknowledging that an individual is likely to be frustrated and annoyed by the non-compliance. Also worth looking at the Gatt v Barclays Bank which was a claim for negligent misstatement and defamation. Not entirely similar to your case but relevant enough that you could use that as an example for finding Eon negligent as in that case the court did find that Barclays owed a duty of care.

4. Shop around or get help from free places such as Citizens Advice. You will likely find that the cost of a solicitor will far exceed the amount of compensation you will be seeking or in any case you may find that solicitors won't take on your case as it's not worth the time put in. Something like this you are probably best going it alone, we can assist you on here but you are going to need to put the time in as it isn't a walk in the park.

I should think that as a minimum, £750 would be what you should be seeking but because it has resulted in a rejection of a mortgage application, and wrong data held by Eon, you could look to increase this to around the £1,000 mark. Either way, expect Eon to put up a fight.

[dbw27]

Hi Rob, thanks for your reply. That has been very helpful.

I’ve been considering sending a letter before action to see how they respond. Is it true that if I send this letter and they dispute the claim I can still choose to do nothing?

Looking online at templates for this letter there seems to be a fairly common format for it. One thing I’m not clear on however is how to describe how any compensation amount I am claiming was calculated. As there’s no hard rule on compensation for data protection or negligence, so isn’t it just me picking a number? Is that suitable?

[R0b]

I’ve been considering sending a letter before action to see how they respond. Is it true that if I send this letter and they dispute the claim I can still choose to do nothing?

Yes, correct.

There's no hard and fast rule around compensation for breaches of data protection. There are few cases that actually make it to court and decided by a court so it is difficult to quantify exactly how much you can seek. It all depends on the facts of each case but what is clear is that the courts are not willing to award substantial amounts.

Also, you can't just pick a number as such because you will be asked how you arrived at that amount. If I was going to explain the basis of the amount I was claiming for a breach of data protection then I might say something like there is no specific formula for determining damages for breaches of data protection but the courts have awarded varying amounts in the region of £750 to several thousand pounds depending on the nature and seriousness of the breach. In your case, Eon failed to maintain accurate records resulting in a CCJ which affected your credit rating and ultimately caused you to be refused for a mortgage (a letter or some kind of explanation from the mortgage/broker would add weight to your claim) and especially so if you were taking a special rate which was available at the time but no longer around, then you could possibly argue that you should be entitled to compensation based on the increase in mortgage costs/rates - that should be relatively easy to calculate assuming you were taking a fixed term rate.

There is a pre-action protocol for privacy claims on the link below and if you refer to paragraph 3.3 it sets out the information that ought to be expected in a letter before action. You should use that as a template which should be reasonably detailed to enable Eon to understand the case against them. I would also suggest that you number your paragraphs and use sub-headings for ease. If you then come to issuing a claim, then you can use the LBA as the basis for your particulars.

https://www.justice.gov.uk/courts/pr...tocol/prot_def