is a cpr 31.14 request helpful when you still have the original agreement?

[jeff silver]

Hi,

I received a claim from the Northampton BC issued by Lowell's for an alleged debt owed to T-mobile. The particulars state that I entered into an agreement and failed to maintain payments.

The particulars of claim do not state the date of the agreement or how they arrived at an outstanding balance of £600.

In response to their claim I acknowledged service stated I intended to defend in full.

I also sent lowlife a written request under CPR 31 for a copy of the agreement and I have now received a response saying that as it was not regulated by the consumer credit act they were not obliged to provide a copy. ( seems odd as I never said it was ! )

I do actually still have a copy of the original agreement and therefore I need help in deciding whether to continue down the route of CPR31 and submit a defence asking for it else the claim be struck out or should I now submit my defence based on the phone being unfit for purpose and other issues at the time. Although I have zero experience in county court claims I have some legal knowledge of contractual law and feel I have a defence based on legal and factual issues but which will take much longer to prepare. Therefore does anyone know from experience if the courts do strike out claims in these circumstance for lack of a written agreement and how easy will it be to subsequently file an amended defence if lowlife suddenly pop up with a copy of the agreement.

[charitynjw]

Re: is a cpr 31.14 request helpful when you still have the original agreement?

Hi & welcome to LB.

Part of the disclosure game is to force the other party to reveal what 'hand' they are holding.
They've decided to issue the claim, so the onus is on them to prove it.
Ok, you have got a copy of the agreement.
But have they?....& if not, can they get one? Maybe not!

Also, there is no harm in having several points in your defence.
The more strings to that bow the better, & it will save you having to amend the defence later if needed (& possibly have to pay to amend).

[jeff silver]

Re: is a cpr 31.14 request helpful when you still have the original agreement?

Thank you for your help. Any idea how easy it is to file an amended defence in the event lowlife produce a copy of the agreement?

[Amethyst]

Re: is a cpr 31.14 request helpful when you still have the original agreement?

It's a bit of a faff, it would cost £100 without a hearing/with consent and you'd be asking the claimant to consent to the amendments first. Otherwise it might be an application with a hearing and a £240 fee.

Have you sent a Subject access request to Vodafone/Tmobile to find out more about the account? It sounds like you don't recall much about it so it might help.

Reading your post on the other thread

(which in my case is based on the phone being unfit for purpose and the unilateral increase in the monthly charge by T-Mobie entitled me to cancel the agreement without incurring any early termination penalties)

You can work some of that in your current defence

[jeff silver]

Re: is a cpr 31.14 request helpful when you still have the original agreement?

Thanks for the advice. I suspected filing an amended defence might be a hassle so I will prepare a full defence based on unfit for purpose and schedule 2(l) of the unfair terms in consumer regulations 1999 (bulk of their claim is for an early termination penalty despite giving t-mobile notice of cancellation due to their price hike).