Need Help with Statute Barred Defence

armand76

Hi All,

Can you please help on what to do next, I been to the court and the judge agree to set aside the judgment for Statue Barred debt upon the condition that I file and serve a fully pleaded defence within 21 days.

Is there is example I could use for my fully pleaded defence as this is Statue Barred debt so not sure what else to write on my defence.

Thanks for you help

sourcrates

armand76 wrote: »

Hi All,

Can you please help on what to do next, I been to the court and the judge agree to set aside the judgment for Statue Barred debt upon the condition that I file and serve a fully pleaded defence within 21 days.

Is there is example I could use for my fully pleaded defence as this is Statue Barred debt so not sure what else to write on my defence.

Thanks for you help

Hi,


Short version :

The claimants claim is denied.
it is statute barred by virtue of statute of limitations act 1980.


That's it, its an absolute defence.

fermi

Is there any dispute over whether it is statute barred?

Simple case could be as below assuming no other issues or points to address.

The Defendant contends that as this is a claim in contract and an excess of 6 years have passed since any cause of action may have accrued, any alleged debt is therefore statute barred pursuant to section 5 of the Limitation Act 1980.

The Claimant's claim to be entitled to payment of £xxx or any other sum, or relief of any kind is denied.

armand76

Hi

thanks for your reply. Yes there is a dispute over the debt been statue barred, so I think this is the basis the court agree to set a side the debt. shall I just resend the statute barred letter template again.

Thanks for your help.

DandelionPatrol

armand76 wrote: »

Hi

thanks for your reply. Yes there is a dispute over the debt been statue barred, so I think this is the basis the court agree to set a side the debt. shall I just resend the statute barred letter template again.

Thanks for your help.

Yes the court agreed to set the judgement aside because the judge accepted that you might win an argument about it being statute barred, rather than the court being satisfied that it actually is Statute Barred. You are way past the point of sending the Statute Barred template.

So the judge is putting it up for you to argue, which you do with a fully pleaded defence. As fermi says

fermi wrote: »

... Simple case could be as below assuming no other issues or points to address.

The Defendant contends that as this is a claim in contract and an excess of 6 years have passed since any cause of action may have accrued, any alleged debt is therefore statute barred pursuant to section 5 of the Limitation Act 1980.

The Claimant's claim to be entitled to payment of £xxx or any other sum, or relief of any kind is denied.

You also need to include text stating that in the period of 6 years before <date of proceedings being commenced> there has been no payment towards the debt and there has been no acknowledgement of the debt. And that the complainant should be put to strict proof of any assertion to the contrary.

Be sure about this - that you have not paid anything towards the debt, nor acknowledged it in writing, otherwise your case will collapse.

skyshadow

armand76 wrote: »

Hi

thanks for your reply. Yes there is a dispute over the debt been statue barred, so I think this is the basis the court agree to set a side the debt. shall I just resend the statute barred letter template again.

Thanks for your help.

If you're inferring you will send the letter to the creditor then this will do no good as its gone beyond this.

You just need to draft a short and simple defence resisting the claim quoting what other members have documented.

Could you provide a few more details about the nature of the dispute as I and maybe others could offer a few lines to add in?

An example of this would be where I had a DCA claim in 2011 that a debt was incurred in 2006 at a specific address but I knew this was a debt from 2004 and thus statute barred. In my court documents I was able to provide proof of when I moved out of the address in question and that in 2006 I actually lived abroad and therefore couldnt have opened the account then. The debt could not be viewed as accurate as the DCA lied about the date it was incurred

fermi

armand76 wrote: »

Hi

thanks for your reply. Yes there is a dispute over the debt been statue barred, so I think this is the basis the court agree to set a side the debt. shall I just resend the statute barred letter template again.

Thanks for your help.

Too late for letters now, unless you are suggesting to the claimant that they should discontinue the claim.

Then you should maybe add to the defence your facts and arguments for the debt being statute barred, as it's required to be a "fully pleaded" one by the court.

fermi

DandelionPatrol wrote: »

You also need to include text stating that in the period of 6 years before <date of proceedings being commenced> there has been no payment towards the debt and there has been no acknowledgement of the debt. And that the complainant should be put to strict proof of any assertion to the contrary.

That fact is covered on what I originally posted, as payment or acknowledgement is actually fresh accrual of the cause of action, (s29 Fresh accrual of action on acknowledgment or part payment) so that statement covers the original accrual and subsequent accrual on payment or acknowledgement. But yes, does not harm to spell it out more clearly like that.

armand76

Thanks, its basically me Vs Cabot Financial for Citi Credit Card debt, which i believe the last payment made was around March 2008, also I have no acknowledged of debt.

What do yo mean by 'the claim quoting what other members have documented'

Thanks I will draft something and repost here before I send.

fermi

It would also be worth asking for help here: http://www.legalbeagles.info/forums/forum.php

Experience on dealing with Cabot there and what they may try to claim to counter any defence. For example they may claim that time did not start to run until the account is defaulted or terminated, which may have been many months after the last payment.

armand76

Thanks Fermi, I will check that website.