Someone trying to sue me for extortionate amounts

vax2002

Its friday, they are home....

mynameistallulah

Dekota wrote: »

Last year, the claimant made a claim for money lost in buying flight tickets, tickets which I had cancelled without his permission and I admitted in court that I owed this amount which was well within £1000 but court case was adjourned because claimant didn't have sufficient evidence of how much I owe. Now some days later, I paid him his money by bank transfer and he is continuing to pursue the case. Now he's claiming for £4000 throwing in stress/phone call bills/new ticket costs and all sorts of things in the claim. The date of the hearing is on 25th and I want to file an N244 explaining that I've paid him what was due and he's now asking for extortianate amounts.

Basically, on the N244 form, what do I put in the 'what order are you asking the court to make and why'?

cheers for any feedback

This gives more information.

Has the claimant given a full breakdown of the £4000?

vax2002

You put on that you loaned the defendant the amount and he repaid this amount with a cheque which bounced, that the cheque was dishonoured and you request an order for the value of the cheque.
The defendant will have to answer to the court why they are writing cheques that bounce and why if they claim they dont owe it they wrote a cheque in the first place.
They wont be able to.
You will need some proof of the cheque and a letter from the bank.
Several issues here in one box, each egg needs to be taken out and hatched separately.

Dekota

mynameistallulah wrote: »

This gives more information.

Has the claimant given a full breakdown of the £4000?

Indeed he has:

- Loss in non-refundable tickets = £596
- Difference between cost of new tickets and old tickets = £350
- He's miscalculated and doubled counted the £596 figure
- Court costs = £80 + £325
- Photocopying costs for claim = £45
- Phone calls to travel agency (premium rate number) to book new tickets = £260
- Stress = £2,400

Surely all these figures are excessive?

Dekota

vax2002 wrote: »

You put on that you loaned the defendant the amount and he repaid this amount with a cheque which bounced, that the cheque was dishonoured and you request an order for the value of the cheque.
The defendant will have to answer to the court why they are writing cheques that bounce and why if they claim they dont owe it they wrote a cheque in the first place.
They wont be able to.
You will need some proof of the cheque and a letter from the bank.
Several issues here in one box, each egg needs to be taken out and hatched separately.

Thanks vax, I will take your advise and sumit paperwork accordingly, yes I've got a copy of the bounced cheque and bank notice of bounce

mynameistallulah

Dekota wrote: »

Indeed he has:

- Loss in non-refundable tickets = £596
- Difference between cost of new tickets and old tickets = £350
- He's miscalculated and doubled counted the £596 figure
- Court costs = £80 + £325
- Photocopying costs for claim = £45
- Phone calls to travel agency (premium rate number) to book new tickets = £260
- Stress = £2,400

Surely all these figures are excessive?

If he has proof (receipts) of the highlighted figures, then there is no reason why he would not be able to reclaim them. However, it will be expected that he has mitigated his own losses, so if he knew that the flight was cancelled one month before travel, he would be able to claim for the fare at that time, not a last minute fare that could be far more.

It is possible to get an award for distress in the small claims, but they are not the norm and some sort of inconvenience or loss should be proven. Has the claimant explained how he has reached the figure?

rising_from_the_ashes

How did you manage to cancel his tickets?

Sorry but I'm confused - if someone I knew booked tickets / holiday, I'd a) have no idea where they'd booked them in order to cancel them and b) did you pretend to be him? (in which case I *think* you may have problems if it goes to court as you have falsely impersonated someone)

Dekota

mynameistallulah wrote: »

If he has proof (receipts) of the highlighted figures, then there is no reason why he would not be able to reclaim them. However, it will be expected that he has mitigated his own losses, so if he knew that the flight was cancelled one month before travel, he would be able to claim for the fare at that time, not a last minute fare that could be far more.

It is possible to get an award for distress in the small claims, but they are not the norm and some sort of inconvenience or loss should be proven. Has the claimant explained how he has reached the figure?

No explanation of how he's reached the figure. I'm uncertain if he had known about the cancellation before but looks like he booked it last minute. I don't think he has mitigated his losses at all, those figures for phone calls were probably from his mobile which he could have avoided by visiting the travel agency, the court costs could definitely have been avoided if he would have approached me before going to court - he never sent me any letter before court action or prior warning. The photocopying costs could have been avoided had he have gone to some other place that doesn't charge court photocopying costs. Court costs for photocopying are 5p so he would have had to photocopy 900 pages in order to reach that figure.

mynameistallulah

Dekota wrote: »

No explanation of how he's reached the figure. I'm uncertain if he had known about the cancellation before but looks like he booked it last minute. I don't think he has mitigated his losses at all, those figures for phone calls were probably from his mobile which he could have avoided by visiting the travel agency, the court costs could definitely have been avoided if he would have approached me before going to court - he never sent me any letter before court action or prior warning. The photocopying costs could have been avoided had he have gone to some other place that doesn't charge court photocopying costs. Court costs for photocopying are 5p so he would have had to photocopy 900 pages in order to reach that figure.

OK, as much as he has to mitigate his losses, he does not have to go out of his way to minimise them. Contacting the agency by phone would not be unreasonable, unless of course he worked next door to them or very close by. Equally there is an expectation on you to cooperate, and the district judge will look at what both parties did (or did not) do in attempting to settle the issue before it got to the hearing stage.

It seems there is a lot to this situation that we do not know. I would strongly suggest getting face to face advice on this. Whilst such a high award is unlikely in the circumstances you describe, it is too large an amount to risk with advice from people that only know half the story.

fozmcfc

Well I hope the court sees your point of view.

Experienced the same with friends owing me money and pleading poverty and then booking holidays or buying expensive electronic goods.

There is a large thread about family and friends not paying back monies owed, including several where the person owing money has done the same or similar to your hopefully ex friend.

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/76953