Received a court claim, I have no clue of what I am doing.

[charitynjw]

Re: Received a court claim, I have no clue of what I am doing.

Imho it needs a bit of tweaking.

For starters it is good practice to number the paragraphs.
Double spacing is good though.

Did you send a CPR 31.14 request for documents to the Claimant's solicitor?

As it is a running-credit type account, s78 is applicable; remove references to s77.

As for the 12-day limit (+2 for posting) for the CCA request, what you have stated in your defence is factually correct; you have made the request & as yet (ie the date of your defence) you have not received a reply.

[IceAgeIce]

Re: Received a court claim, I have no clue of what I am doing.

Hi Charity,

Thank you I will certainly number the paragraphs before sending it, thank you :-)

I actually haven't requested any documents from the solicitors yet, but I can send off requesting those tomorrow, again using signed for post. Assuming that it isn't too late to do that at this stage?

I will re-do that draft in a bit and re-post it again.

[IceAgeIce]

Re: Received a court claim, I have no clue of what I am doing.

I have done a quick alter. I am just wondering if I would be able to put in an 8th point and let them know that I am now going to be requesting documents from the solicitors. Would that be ok to do it that way?


1. I have received a claim (I put the claim number here) from the County Court Business centre (including the rest of the address)
This claim appears to be for a JD Williams account (account reference)

2. The claimants statement of case fails to give me adequate information to enable me to properly assess my situation with regards to the claim


3. The Claimants statement of case states that the account was assigned from JD Williams to Lowell Portfolio LTD on March 31st 2014. The Defendant does not recall receiving notice of this assignment.



4. It is denied that JD Williams served any Default notice on the Defendant pursuant to s87 Consumer Credit Act 1974. The Claimant is required to prove that a compliant Default Notice was served upon the Defendant.


5. On November 11th 2016 I sent a formal request for a copy of the original agreement to Lowell Portfolio LTD pursuant to section 78 of the Consumer Credit Act 1974 along with the statutory £1 fee. I have not yet received any such documents.


6. I request the court orders the Claimants to provide the necessary documentation in order for me to fully plead my case else the Claim should stand struck out.

7. In the event that the relevant documents are received from the Claimants I will then be in a position to amend my defence, and would ask that the Claimants bear the costs of the amendment.

[charitynjw]

Re: Received a court claim, I have no clue of what I am doing.

Hi Charity,

Thank you I will certainly number the paragraphs before sending it, thank you :-)

I actually haven't requested any documents from the solicitors yet, but I can send off requesting those tomorrow, again using signed for post. Assuming that it isn't too late to do that at this stage?

I will re-do that draft in a bit and re-post it again.

Yes, send a CPR 31.14 request.

Add to your defence; if it were me I'd squeeze it in between your no.s 5 & 6, & renumber accordingly.

On the [Date] I sent a request for inspection of documents mentioned in the claimants statement of case under Civil Procedure Rule 31.14 to [Claimant's Solicitor]. I requested the Claimant provide copies of the [Agreement, Default Notice and Notice of Assignment*]

*You can ask for any documents which are mentioned in the court claim 'Particulars of Claim'.

[IceAgeIce]

Re: Received a court claim, I have no clue of what I am doing.

Thank you.

I will have to send my defence back today as it's the time up today. So I will have to state that I am going to be requesting those documents via post on Monday November 21st.

In the particulars of the claim it says that the debt was legally assigned to the claimant on March 31st 2014. So if I worded it like this maybe:

8. On Monday November 21st I will be requesting for inspection the documents mentioned in the claimants statement of case under Civil Procedure Rule 31.14 to Cohen Cramer Solicitors. I will be requesting that the Claimant provide me copies of the legal assignment of this debt.

9. I will be requesting these documents via post, using first class signed for post.

Would that be ok?

I honestly would have been completely lost without this forum, I hadn't a clue about any of this at all, quite honestly this has kept me from worrying myself stupid and feeling overwhelmed.

I appreciate this so much.

[Diana M]

Re: Received a court claim, I have no clue of what I am doing.

I will have to send my defence back today as it's the time up today. So I will have to state that I am going to be requesting those documents via post on Monday November 21st.

If the deadline for filing a court document falls on a weekend (or Bank Holiday) then you can file it the following day before 4 pm.

That gives you time to go to the Post Office first thing tomorrow morning, so if you need to refer to anything having been sent (past tense) then you will be in a position to do that.

It's better to make a positive statement in your Defence that you have already done something rather than make a promise that you will (and then maybe didn't).

I can't comment on the content of your Defence but Charity can

Di

[IceAgeIce]

Re: Received a court claim, I have no clue of what I am doing.

Diana that is really fantastic to know, I was worried about having to say what I will be doing, as it is much better that say that I have requested, rather than will be.

Thank you for that.

[IceAgeIce]

Re: Received a court claim, I have no clue of what I am doing.

Well, it's all done now.

I suppose for now the ball is in their court?

What happens if I don't receive the CCA and the notice of assignment within the time frame they are allowed?

[Stu]

Re: Received a court claim, I have no clue of what I am doing.

Not much really ... they can produce them up until the court date but it would/does make up part of your defence the lack of doing so in the said time frame and also would make up part of your witness statement (If it were to get that far)...

[nemesis45]

Re: Received a court claim, I have no clue of what I am doing.

Well, it's all done now.

I suppose for now the ball is in their court?

What happens if I don't receive the CCA and the notice of assignment within the time frame they are allowed?

CCA '74 states the debt is unenforceable until the agreement or a compliant reconstituted one is provided, so don't chase the CCA request.

[IceAgeIce]

Re: Received a court claim, I have no clue of what I am doing.

Just posting a quick update, I received a letter this morning from the County Court Business Centre (Hm Courts & Tribunals Service), it says:

I acknowledge receipt of your defence. A copy is being served on the claimant (or the claimants solicitor). The claimant may contact you direct to attempt to resolve any dispute. If the dispute cannot be resolved informally, the claimant will inform the court that he wishes to proceed. The court will then inform you of what will happen.

Where he wishes to proceed, the claimant must contact the court within 28 days after receiving a copy of your defence. After that period has elapsed, the claim will be stayed. The only action the claimant can then take will be to apply to a judge for an order lifting the stay.

The thing is, I still haven't received the documents I requested from Lowell or Cohen Cramer Solicitors.

Just wanted to post this update :-)

[nemesis45]

Re: Received a court claim, I have no clue of what I am doing.

Just posting a quick update, I received a letter this morning from the County Court Business Centre (Hm Courts & Tribunals Service), it says:

I acknowledge receipt of your defence. A copy is being served on the claimant (or the claimants solicitor). The claimant may contact you direct to attempt to resolve any dispute. If the dispute cannot be resolved informally, the claimant will inform the court that he wishes to proceed. The court will then inform you of what will happen.

Where he wishes to proceed, the claimant must contact the court within 28 days after receiving a copy of your defence. After that period has elapsed, the claim will be stayed. The only action the claimant can then take will be to apply to a judge for an order lifting the stay.

The thing is, I still haven't received the documents I requested from Lowell or Cohen Cramer Solicitors.

Just wanted to post this update :-)

Without the agreement the debt cannot be enforced. So at the moment the ball is firmly in Lowell's court.

BTW you will not be informed if the claim is stayed so once the 28 days expire without contact from court or claimant you will have to check with the court office on the status of the claim.

nem

[IceAgeIce]

Re: Received a court claim, I have no clue of what I am doing.

Good to know :-)

I'm just curious as to what happens next, if I don't receive the request documents (CCA, Notice of Assignment) can I ask the court to dismiss the claim, or does it not quite work like that?

And if I do receive the documents, then what do I do?

[nemesis45]

Re: Received a court claim, I have no clue of what I am doing.

Good to know :-)

I'm just curious as to what happens next, if I don't receive the request documents (CCA, Notice of Assignment) can I ask the court to dismiss the claim, or does it not quite work like that?

And if I do receive the documents, then what do I do?

If the claimant cannot " backup " the claim and cannot obtain the agreement then one would expect them to discontinue the claim.

nem

[IceAgeIce]

Re: Received a court claim, I have no clue of what I am doing.

Just a quick note to say I still haven't heard anything at all yet.....I'm taking this as a good sign.