Bank defending the claim

JooJoo_3 · 10 January 2007 at 10:43AM

Hi

I am claiming back £3000 from Natwest and have gone as far as starting the court process. The banks have decided to defend my claim and their solicitors have written to me but I dont really understand what they are saying, can anyone helps?

Points made in their letter

1 - Without prejudice to the non-admission set out in the foregoing paragraph, if and to the extent that the claimant proves the allegation that the defencand debited charges to his bank account,insofar as such charges were debited on a date or dates more than six years prior to the issue of this claim, any remedy in respect of the same, whether damages, restitution or otherwise, is barred by the operation of the limitation act 1980 and/or the doctrine of latches and the defendant will apply to strike out this aspect of th claim and/or for summary judgement.

2 - The defendant is embarrassed by the lack of particularity pleaded in the particulars of claim to the extent that the particulars of claim fail to disclose reasonable grounds for bringing a claim against the defendant. In particular: The particulars of claim set out no facts indicating what the claim is about, are incoherent and do not disclose the legally recognisable claim against the defendant.

3 -The defendant invites the claimant to remedy the above. In the event that the claimant fails to do so within 14 days of the service of the defence then the defendant will apply to the court for an order striking out the particulars of claim.

4 - The defendant reserves the right to plead further to the paeticulars of claim once and if the claimant properly particularises the same. IOn the meantime it is denied that the claimant is entitled to the relief claimed or any relief whether as pleaded or at all.

Anyone know what I should do now?

Thanks

Gavin

Rex_Mundi · 10 January 2007 at 11:54AM

First of all..........DONT PANIC!!!

This isn't as bad as it looks, and is easily sorted out. It just looks a bit worse because they are using lawyer speak which I'm sure is designed to confuse the average man in the street.

Part 1 is saying that you are claiming for over six years, and they want the charges over this period struck out of your claim.

Tell us what date you sent your very first letter to the bank regarding these charges, and what date the first charge you are claiming for.

Parts 2, 3, and 4 are all about the same thing. They are saying you've not provided a decent particulars of claim.

Tell us what you put for the particulars of claim.

This really is easy to remedy. One registered delivery letter to the solicitors (with a copy to the court) can deal with this.

JooJoo_3 · 10 January 2007 at 12:06PM

Hi

My first letter was dated the 31/10/2006. The first 6 charges are dated between 14/02/2001 -10/09/2002 and total £117 but the majority of the charges are between 02/02/2003 - 29/12/2006 and total £2866.

I dont think I wrote enough on the actual claim, here is what I put:

My claim is for unlawful charges against my account by national westminster bank. The value of the charges applied in the last 6 years totals £2866 ( at this point i hadnt included charges incurred since my claim began)

The claimant claims interest under section 69 of the county court act 1984 at the rate of 8% a year fro 31/10/2006 - 05/12/2006 of £2866 and also interest at the same rate up to the date of judgement or earlier payment of daily rate of 8%

I'm pretty sure I messed this up as my interest charges are the same value as my claim.

Regards

JooJoo_3 · 10 January 2007 at 12:24PM

Hi Again

Some good news. The lawyer for the company i work for has had a look at the letter and given me some advice on the kind of detail I need to provide to substantiate my claim, this has calmed my nerves a little. What would be helpful now is any Legal speak i could add to bolster my claim.

Many Thanks

Gavin

Rex_Mundi · 10 January 2007 at 12:25PM

The first point from the solicitors is pointless and without grounds. You are not claiming for anything over six years, so this section doesn't apply.

The second part...........I'm not really surprised on their answer to this. You haven't provided any details of why you have a right to claim back your charges.

Try a letter like this.......................

Dear Sir/Madam

Regarding your letter dated (put date). I don't understand why you've mentioned the limitations act regarding this claim. My first contact with the bank regarding these charges was on 31/10/2006. The earliest charge I'm claiming for is on 14/02/2001. This falls within the six year period allowed under the Limitations Act 1980. You have no grounds for striking out any part of my claim on this point.

Due to this being the first time I have issued a claim through the county court. I realise my particulars of claim may have been lacking detail. Please find attached a full particulars of claim pertinant to this case.

Print out the following on a seperate sheet (and edit the parts in bold to fit your case)..........

COURT CLAIM NUMBER XXXXXXXX

PARTICULARS OF CLAIM

1. The Claimant has an account (ACCOUNT NUMBER) with the Defendant which was opened on or around (DATE)

2. During the period in which the Account has been operating the Defendant debited numerous charges to the Account in respect of purported breaches of contract on the part of the Claimant and also charged interest on the charges once applied. The Claimant understands that the Defendant contends that the charges were debited in accordance with the terms of the contract between itself and the Claimant.

3. A list of the charges applied is attached to these particulars of claim. (Don't forget to attach another list of your charges)

4. The Claimant contends that:

a) The charges debited to the Account are punitive in nature; are not a genuine pre-estimate of cost incurred by the Defendant; exceed any alleged actual loss to the Defendant in respect of any breaches of contract on the part of the Claimant; and are not intended to represent or related to any alleged actual loss, but instead unduly enrich the Defendant which exercises the contractual term in respect of such charges with a view to profit.

b) The contractual provision that permits the Defendant to levy such charges is unenforceable by virtue of the Unfair Contract Terms in Consumer Contracts Regulations (1999), the Unfair Contract Terms Act 1977 and the common law.

5. Accordingly the Claimant claims:

a) the return of the amounts debited in respect of charges in the sum of £2866 and any interest charged thereon;

b) Court costs;

c) Interest pursuant to section 69 County Courts Act as set out on the attached list of charges or at such rate and for such periods as the court deems just.

I believe that the contents of these particulars of claim are true

Signed: Date:

Send this letter registered delivery so you can prove they received it

JooJoo_3 · 10 January 2007 at 12:27PM

Thanks Rex

I shall do as you have advised and hopefully will be posting a success story very soon :-)

Thanks Again

Gavin

MABLE · 10 January 2007 at 12:54PM

Rex_Mundi wrote:

The first point from the solicitors is pointless and without grounds. You are not claiming for anything over six years, so this section doesn't apply.

The second part...........I'm not really surprised on their answer to this. You haven't provided any details of why you have a right to claim back your charges.

Try a letter like this.......................

Dear Sir/Madam

Regarding your letter dated (put date). I don't understand why you've mentioned the limitations act regarding this claim. My first contact with the bank regarding these charges was on 31/10/2006. The earliest charge I'm claiming for is on 14/02/2001. This falls within the six year period allowed under the Limitations Act 1980. You have no grounds for striking out any part of my claim on this point.

Due to this being the first time I have issued a claim through the county court. I realise my particulars of claim may have been lacking detail. Please find attached a full particulars of claim pertinant to this case.

Print out the following on a seperate sheet (and edit the parts in bold to fit your case)..........

COURT CLAIM NUMBER XXXXXXXX

PARTICULARS OF CLAIM

1. The Claimant has an account (ACCOUNT NUMBER) with the Defendant which was opened on or around (DATE)

2. During the period in which the Account has been operating the Defendant debited numerous charges to the Account in respect of purported breaches of contract on the part of the Claimant and also charged interest on the charges once applied. The Claimant understands that the Defendant contends that the charges were debited in accordance with the terms of the contract between itself and the Claimant.

3. A list of the charges applied is attached to these particulars of claim. (Don't forget to attach another list of your charges)

4. The Claimant contends that:

a) The charges debited to the Account are punitive in nature; are not a genuine pre-estimate of cost incurred by the Defendant; exceed any alleged actual loss to the Defendant in respect of any breaches of contract on the part of the Claimant; and are not intended to represent or related to any alleged actual loss, but instead unduly enrich the Defendant which exercises the contractual term in respect of such charges with a view to profit.

b) The contractual provision that permits the Defendant to levy such charges is unenforceable by virtue of the Unfair Contract Terms in Consumer Contracts Regulations (1999), the Unfair Contract Terms Act 1977 and the common law.

5. Accordingly the Claimant claims:

a) the return of the amounts debited in respect of charges in the sum of £2866 and any interest charged thereon;

b) Court costs;

c) Interest pursuant to section 69 County Courts Act as set out on the attached list of charges or at such rate and for such periods as the court deems just.

I believe that the contents of these particulars of claim are true

Signed: Date:

Send this letter registered delivery so you can prove they received it

Take my advice and send Special Delivery at a cost of £4.10 and it is far better than Recorded. So many Recorded items get lost.

jackieb · 10 January 2007 at 1:01PM

I think you need to nominate them for a gobbledygook award! http://www.plainenglish.co.uk/index.htm

JooJoo_3 · 10 January 2007 at 1:14PM

I dare not, I would probably receive another letter from them and one letter in legal speak is all I can bare to deal with right now :-)

nice idea though

JooJoo_3 · 10 January 2007 at 1:23PM

Sorry, one more question:

You say I should send a copy of my revised claim to the solicitors and to the court. As yet I have not been notified which court this will take place so I do not know where to send it. Will a copy to the solicitors be sufficient or should I wait till I recieve a letter from the court. I believe they will be notifying me soon ( Q&A form) where this will take place as the Bank are defending the claim.

Thanks

Gavin

Rex_Mundi · 10 January 2007 at 1:26PM

This occured to me after I answered. When you receive the AQ from the court. Send a copy of this letter along with the form. It will go into your case file at court.

Bank defending the claim

Comments

Confirm your email address to Create Threads and Reply

🚀 Getting Started

Categories

Is this how you want to be seen?

Get our FREE Weekly email full of deals & guides - and it’s spam-free