Help with stat demands

This is interesting:

Who Will Be Affected By The Legislation?


It is the poorest in society that are going to struggle to get legal aid as people won’t be able to afford legal representation. The ban on referral fees and increasing the claims limit from £1000 to £5000 will hit most law firms hard as the majority of personal injury cases are valued at less than £5000. This means that if you have an accident or are entitled to damages and it is valued at less than £5000 you won’t be able to have a law firm represent you – you would have to put a value on your injury and represent yourself.
Cutting legal aid would stop access to justice and “undermine the rule of law”
The Government have also said that legal aid will only be available where legal proceedings are absolutely necessary. Writing in the foreword for the new business plan for the newly created Legal Aid Agency which has replaced the Legal Services Commission, the Lord Chancellor wrote that through LASPO;
[COLOR=#0000cd][I]“We will ensure that legal aid is focused on the most important cases for individuals in society, for example when serious criminal charges are brought or children are potentially being taken into care. But legal aid will no longer be available where legal help is not absolutely necessary.”

[Celestine]

Re: Statutory Demands - READ HERE

http://www.legalbeagles.info/forums/...itigation-Team

Hi All :beagle:

On Monday 12th August 2013 Paul Tilley (PT2537) and myself started work full time for Howlett Clarke Solicitors in Brighton.
www.howlettclarke.co.uk




Paul & me were recruited to set up a dedicated consumer credit team within the Litigation Department at Howlett Clarke.

As many of you are aware, Paul and I have represented dozens of consumers against banks and debt purchasers. Paul has been behind some of the most significant consumer credit cases in recent years, such as Harrison v Link, Santander v Mayhew, Kotecha, Wegmuller etc etc. I have now won 16 cases, mainly statutory demands due to the superb training and support I received from Paul whilst we were colleagues at Watsons.

We chose Howlett Clarke out of the four firms who wanted to recruit us because they impressed us with their determination to create a dedicated consumer resource, they were unafraid of standing firm against multi billion pound banks, they could clearly see that Paul and me are absolutely dedicated to improving the landscape for consumers in the UK. They were also very supportive of our largely CFA based charging structure; which enables us to recover costs from the opponents at settlement or victory.

Naturally, Legal Beagles will continue to be totally unaffected by mine and Paul's work aside from the unique capacity to step in and directly help our users when required. The feedback I have received in recent months for my statutory demand work has been 100% positive and has only enhanced this forums reputation for action and results. I'm also very happy to announce that Paul will be joining the site team here on Legal Beagles in the next few days.

So from now onwards if you receive a claim or statutory demand, please feel free to contact Paul or me at Howlett Clarke. Obviously we get a lot of enquiries, so a brief, honest summary of your circumstances is preferable to sending us 300 pages of evidence before we've had a chance to check the basics! I would always recommend that you start a thread first; which you can then link to.

We hope you will all wish us luck in setting up the first ever dedicated department in this area of law, we hope to create lots of fantastic, useful case law for the future, alongside providing a fair fightback against abusive and inappropriate litigation.

Many Thanks

Kate Briscoe

BACKGROUND


Many of you will know that I have spent the last 18 months setting aside statutory demands professionally as part of my work training in Consumer Credit Act litigation.

Having watched the likes of Lowell, Cabot and others cause absolute misery, often for the sake of barely more than the bankruptcy threshold of £750, it is hugely satisfying to be able to resolve these stat demands and learn a huge amount about how the 'system' works.

There are two main reasons that these statutory demands are relatively straightforward to win.

Firstly, the bankruptcy court is NOT a suitable venue for deciding complex CCA enforceability arguments. The average hearing is 45 minutes long and is only suitable for the most basic of legal argument. It is also an abuse of OFT debt collection guidelines to use stat demands as a method of collecting disputed debt.

Secondly, acting professionally, the opposition is very wary of the legal costs they can incur once I am instructed. So far, every client I have worked for has been funded by a 'no win no fee' agreement, this means that every case has had ALL its costs paid by the opposition plus a success fee in many instances. My clients do not pay a penny.

Sadly this option is not available to Litigants in Person and I have heard of several unsympathetic judges who are only interested in whether the money was borrowed or not, some point blank refuse to consider CCA, so we always send a very experienced barrister to ensure these vital points are not railroaded or ignored. I'm also seeing many instances where courts are adjourning the hearing to allow the creditor MORE time to locate documentary evidence! Shouldn't they have that before they start bankruptcy proceedings!? These adjournments allow the opposition helpful extra time to go away and reconstitute an agreement or reissue a compliant default notices. So a very strong, clear application is essential.

If you do want to tackle your stat demand yourself, please start a thread and let us help you get the application spot on. For example, this case law MUST be quoted in every case.

The applicant refers the court to the judgment of Mr. Justice Warren in the High Court in the case of Hammonds (a firm) v Pro-fit USA Ltd [2007] EWHC 1998 (Ch) at Para 27.
27. So far as disputed debts are concerned, the practice of the court is not to allow the insolvency regime to be used as a method of debt collection where there is a bona fide and substantial dispute as to the debt. Save in exceptional cases, the court will dismiss a petition based on such a debt (usually with an indemnity costs order against the petitioner).

[FlamingParrot]

Re: Statutory Demands - READ HERE

As many of you are aware, Paul and I have represented dozens of consumers against banks and debt purchasers. Paul has been behind some of the most significant consumer credit cases in recent years, such as Harrison v Link, Santander v Mayhew, Kotecha, Wegmuller etc etc. I have now won 16 cases, mainly statutory demands due to the superb training and support I received from Paul whilst we were colleagues at Watsons.

It would be good to have a section of the forum dedicated to successes by yourself, Paul and LB, with links to the relevant cases and/or threads where applicable.
Having those examples all in one place, would give members hope as well as encouraging more people to join, when they see that Legal Beagles means Legal Power.

[labman]

Re: Statutory Demands - READ HERE

Glad the two of you have managed to stay together during what must have been a stressful time for the whole firm, and good luck to the others at Watsons in furthering their careers.

It's great that you and Paul will bring to LB a unique combination of skills to tackle so many of the problems with which many members find themselves. It will make a strong website all the stronger.

Should this aspect of the website not be made much more high profile somewhere?

[charitynjw]

Re: Statutory Demands - READ HERE

I reckon it is vital that independent legal advice/representation is available.

The regulators, at best, are very good at fence-sitting, & the judiciary have, in my opinion, shown their disdain for LiP's & any valid arguments which they try to progress.
A more suspicious person than myself might read something dark into this.
Of course, I cannot possibly comment!

[FlamingParrot]

Re: Statutory Demands - READ HERE

I reckon it is vital that independent legal advice/representation is available.

The regulators, at best, are very good at fence-sitting, & the judiciary have, in my opinion, shown their disdain for LiP's & any valid arguments which they try to progress.
A more suspicious person than myself might read something dark into this.
Of course, I cannot possibly comment!

This is a very valid point! Other consumer forums tend to dismiss the need for input from the legal profession, arguing that there's no point in having a forum, if people are just going to be told to see a lawyer instead of being given help on the forum. For the majority of cases, this is true, all people need is information which is freely available online, however there are cases where there's a need to seek legal advice from a qualified professional. It's the same as with health issues: you can get help with self-care from free resources and from the pharmacist with over-the-counter medicines for most ailments, however, there are times when you need to see a doctor. The same applies to consumer issues: there are times when you need a lawyer.

Glad the two of you have managed to stay together during what must have been a stressful time for the whole firm, and good luck to the others at Watsons in furthering their careers.

It's great that you and Paul will bring to LB a unique combination of skills to tackle so many of the problems with which many members find themselves. It will make a strong website all the stronger.

Should this aspect of the website not be made much more high profile somewhere?

I concur with this idea, as well as having a section dedicated to consumer victories that have been made possible by Paul & Cel.

[enaid]

Re: Statutory Demands - READ HERE

Yep, sometimes we do need to see a professional to gain the help we need. We also have to remember just how many of those so called professionals take advantage of the little educated consumer, so forewarned is forearmed IMO and if these sites can only help give a small indication of what to expect when doing so then the forums have a very valid place.

[Celestine]

Re: Statutory Demands - READ HERE

A little update:

There are currently high numbers of statutory demands being issued by Lowell Portfolio/BWLegal on consumer credit debts. I am currently instructed on nearly 20 demands, all served since 29th September.

If a process server approaches you, it is ALWAYS best to ACCEPT the demand. Do not discuss your dispute with the process server at all, he/she will be 100% unaware of any facts in your case. They are just the messenger. NEVER try to hide from a statutory demand, they can use substituted service and they regularly go to extreme lengths to demonstrate they HAVE served. Including court applications and detailed witness statements supporting substituted service.

If you don't receive the demand, you are in a much weaker position. You need to maximise the 18 day window. 3 of my instructions are for statutory demands NOT yet even served, but the clients have had the process servers note and know the demand is due imminently. By doing this, they bought extra time to prepare.

I still have a 100% success record on stopping statutory demands, but I'm sure that can't last much longer! However, it IS worth noting that I am very confident none of my future clients will result in bankruptcy, because BW Legal are very receptive to reasonable settlement plans. They even annulled a bankruptcy recently because the client offered to enter a repayment plan. (She didn't receive the statutory demand originally)

I don't however recommend that you try to contact BW Legal to offer money the moment you receive a statutory demand either! It's always best to research, read up, understand your situation and plan your approach. If you offer them money without thinking it through, you might just have reset the Limitation Act 'clock' on a debt which was about to go time barred! Please remember, much Lowell debt is getting close to or long past its Limitation sell by date.

Kate

[Tamarindo]

Re: Statutory Demands - READ HERE

Hi First of all congratulations on your new appointment, I do have great respect for you and PT..

My question is how do you defend against a Statutory demand case, in my case It may happen to me.. What do I need to prepare and Do I have to send CCA request to the creditor before hand otherwise I would lose the case? I mean does the debt needs to be disputed before the demand issued ?? grateful if you could give some points!!!. thanks

[Celestine]

Re: Statutory Demands - READ HERE

UPDATE

Over the last month I have acted on over 30 statutory demand cases, many are already settled, but most still need fighting every step.

I may have missed PM's or Posts drawing my attention to cases that need my help.

So I produced this step-by-step guide, which can be copied and pasted by any helpful LB'er when they see a stat demand.

__________________________________________________ _________________________________________________
KATES GUIDE

1. Have you actually received the statutory demand yet? If you have received the process servers note, accept the upcoming service politely. Send me a brief email to introduce yourself and supply some background info to start understanding your case.

2. Once you receive the demand, make a high quality scanned copy. No photos, only PDF scans please.

3. Email the scanned copy to me at katebriscoe@howlettclarke.co.uk. Mark the email Urgent - Statutory Demand Received on XX date.

4. Is the Central London County Court listed as your court? If so, you will also need to post the ORIGINAL statutory demand to me and extra time will need to be allowed for procedures as the CLCC or RCJ is very strict on originals only. Postal Address is c/o Kate Briscoe Quality Solicitors Howlett Clarke 8-9 Ship Street, Brighton, BN11AZ (Send recorded delivery and keep a scanned copy of the SD for your own records.)

5. When you email me your stat demand, please also supply FULL contact details, name, address, telephone numbers.
These details are being supplied to QualitySolicitors Howlett Clarke and will be treated in total confidence and with full legal privilege. http://www.qualitysolicitors.com/howlettclarke

6. NEVER send unredacted credit agreements, financial documents or private contact details to websites.

7. I will then telephone you to take a full history. Try to remember when/where/how you took out the original agreement? How you got into difficulties?

8. If you have not previously sent a s.78 CCA request, DO SO NOW If you have previously sent s.78 requests, please have to hand dates and details about these requests. Such as original letters/responses/credit agreements etc. I will need to see everything that contributed to the dispute.

9. When did you last make payment towards the account? If it was more than 6 years ago, please tell me straightaway as it is likely to be time barred under The Limitation Act 1980.

10. If you have an active thread on the subject, either do not update it while I am working on your case or consider VIP membership where you can share your fightback journey in privacy.

11. Good Luck! :beagle2222: