DEAL Court Claim

sdando

Hello,

i am after some advice regarding a Court Claim i have received from DEAL.

I have read through the newbies post no 5 and have spent all morning reading through the posts from bluetoffee1878 and the advice from coupon-mad but i have remain anxious about going through court proceedings and having to actually attend court.

It is only by sheer chance that i was made aware of DEALS intention to take me to the small claims court as they have sent all correspondence to my previous address. The date of the parking incident was on 23/12/12 but i have not received any letters relating to this at the new address to which my car has been registered and insured for 18 months. Only as a result on my wife visiting our old property was i made aware of the court claim.

At the moment i am anxious and undecided about going through the process. Firstly, it seems like a terrific amount of research is required to gather a working knowledge of the legal process and proceedings. Secondly, this incident happened 2 years ago and i cannot remember any of the specifics about the day or why i received a parking penalty. Thirdly, if i do end up in a court room faced with a judge and solicitor representing DEAL - how can i defend my case when i have no knowledge of the legal system (i have enough difficultly reading and understanding much of what is written on this forum in relation to parking legislation).

Any advice, reassurrance or encouragement would be gratefully appreciated as i don't know what to do next and the temptation to pay up is strong if only to make the whole thing go away!

Thanks.

The_Slithy_Tove

It doesn't matter if you don't recall the event, because what happened on the day is irrelevant. Your defence will challenge the entire legal basis of their claim. It's a fairly well-trod path, so there should be plenty of help out there to make your defence.


As you've only just become aware of this, have you already missed the deadline to acknowledge the claim and say you'll be defending it? If so, it gets trickier. Others will have more advice soon.

sdando

Thanks for the rapid response Slithy.

It is the fact that my defence will be based upon "the entire legal process of thier claim" which concerns me as i have little to no knowledge of that legal process and could be sat in a court room with people who do.

My wife opended the letter which was addressed to a property to which my car has not been registered for over 18 months - the letter was sent at the end of November and i from what i've read i have a set period of time to respond to the claim.

The whole process seems very dautining and time consuming. I'm not suprised people pay up as the thought of going to court to defend yourself against these claims leaves me cold.

Thanks again.

Coupon-mad

You don't need to worry nor know much - just copy what others have done already - dozens of DEAL threads on here! No-one ends up defending in court as CEL don't turn up at hearings, so start a book of your costs (p&p for letters and stationery, etc., plus if you do have to turn up, your lost earnings for taking a half day off).

Start reading all the dozens of other CEL/DEAL small claims, also read post #5 ONLY, of the Newbies thread (all links in post #5).

sdando

Thanks for the advice coupon-mad.

My wife returned home from Wales last night with the actual claim form sent to my previous address. The date of service stamped on the covering letter is the 27th November. Being as all correspondence relating to this parking charge have been sent to an address at which I no longer live and my car is no longer registered can I not claim that I was unaware of the penalty and the intention for court proceedings?

This penalty charge relates to an incident on 23rd Dec 2012 – surely it is not unusual for people to change address in this time and therefore shouldn’t DEAL have checked my current residence before issuing the claim form.

hoohoo

You need to get a move on and acknowledge the claim - other wise you will get a default judgment against you.

After that you have a few days grace to file a defence. Plenty of info and and samples here or pepipoo.

But get the acknowledgment off today, with proof of posting. Given the christmas post and the closeness to the deadline, might be worth forking out for guaranteed next day delivery.

sdando

Thanks for the swift response - i am completing the response pack now and will send next day delivery at luch today.

I have emailed the SRA and recieved the response below:

"Thank you for your email of 9 December 2014.

We have been made aware that some individuals have received County Court Claim forms signed by a Mr M Shwarts purporting to be a Solicitor.

A number of examples have been forwarded to our Fraud Intelligence Unit who have confirmed that although this County Court form is signed off by a suspected bogus solicitor, the document itself appears to be a genuine one."

I am a little confuse though...

If Mr M Shwarts is a suspected bogus solicitor and is signing the statement of truth on the claim forms on behalf of Debt Enforcement & Action Ltd surely that invalidates the claim itself?

I am having difficulty understanding how the document itself can be genuine when Mr M Shwarts is not?

trisontana

What appears to have happened is that there is a typo on the form. When the real solicitor (Michael Schwartz) signed the many blank forms he didn't notice the spelling mistake.

Edit.
It seems that there is more to this than just a simple spelling mistake. The SRA are involved and seem to be taking it very seriously:-

This from the Legal Beagles forum:-

Have just spoken to the fraud section of the SRA on 01213296827 who say that the investigation has been escalated to the next level. They say to ring back in a week for a further update. I suppose if enough people were to ring that number it could speed up the process a little.

http://www.legalbeagles.info/forums/showthread.php?58556-Debt-Enforcement-amp-Action-Ltd-MR-M-SHWARTS-Help-please&p=497680#post497680

The_Slithy_Tove

Great DEAL defence statement now available on Pepipoo: http://forums.pepipoo.com/index.php?showtopic=95325
Don't forget to ensure it's tailored to your circumstances - don't just copy'n'paste. Read and understand every word, edit if not relevant.

jojo01

The_Slithy_Tove wrote: »

Great DEAL defence statement now available on Pepipoo: http://forums.pepipoo.com/index.php?showtopic=95325
Don't forget to ensure it's tailored to your circumstances - don't just copy'n'paste. Read and understand every word, edit if not relevant.

Re BIB - just to add, if there's anything you're unsure of and whether you should include it or not, then just ask (this is for everyone, not just the OP).

A good defence will see CEL & DEAL off easily.

Marktheshark

If people are prepared to go to court with papers signed by a fake solicitor and think it is not worthy of trying to get the case withdrawn due to fraudulent representation then I would suggest they stay away from the court.
Why would one brush aside fraudulently signed and served court papers.
Obtain some evidence of this fraudulent solicitor, exchanges from SRA will do and hit the defence off with this as point number 1.
I doubt even asleep at the wheel Judge Bugsy would let this go.