MIL Collections - “Unreasonable conduct in litigation”.

georgd84

A judge has quashed a parking charge and seriously rebuked debt collection company MIL Collections Ltd. The Truro based company were also ordered to pay £750 in costs to the defendant because of their “unreasonable conduct in litigation”.
The exceptional order came after Cornwall based Llawnroc Parking Services and MIL Collections had pursued motorist David George for payment despite Mr George having bought a parking ticket and proved this to the private parking company. Mr George was helped by members on these pages, along with BMPA and Private Parking Appeals director John Wilkie (acting privately as a Lay Representative) in his defence of a claim from MIL Collections for £215 after the alleged debt was incorrectly assigned to it by Llawnroc.

MIL Collections Christopher Barrett, who calls himself “Head of Legal” for the firm, under cross examination from John Wilkie, admitted the company often provided fictitious names or pseudonyms on documents used in evidence. He agreed Paul King, G Watson and Matt Murdoch and Matt Murdock, names which often appear on MIL litigation, were all made up. In finding for the defendant and awarding exceptional costs Deputy District Judge Stephen Rutherford said:

“If a professional debt agency brings a claim it must get the basic facts right…………
Many of the letters were written by fictitious people or the names they used are pseudonyms, the problem is these letters were produced (in evidence) and that information would never have come out without the astute questioning of Mr Wilkie. They included wrong dates and wrong amounts, I can forgive one mistake when it gets to two or more I become worried.”

The judge's criticisms of MIL continued:
“Debt has to be properly assigned and a notice properly given. I’m not satisfied notice of assignment was properly given. I’m not satisfied this was a proper assignment in the first place. It was undated ……. and signed by a Mr Haddock which is a resemblance to a fictional character”.

When awarding costs to Mr George, Deputy District Judge Rutherford said in a small claim court case
“Costs are only awarded if there has been unreasonable conduct. Late service of the (evidence) bundle, failure to comply with the pre-action protocols, breaking the Financial Conduct Authority rules, failure to comply with court orders, adding additional administration charges twice, effectively a way of trying to get back costs over and above small claims costs by the back door, all of that puts MIL Collections as having a cost order against them. It amounts to unreasonable conduct in litigation”.

After the case, the defendant, David George, said “ MIL Collections appears to use claims to the small claims track to scare people into paying debts which may be disputed, they use tactics which are, at best misleading to individuals like myself, and the judge has found them out and rebuked them in court”. Mr George also said he was extremely grateful for the help provided by John Wilkie, and to the BMPA and the many Private Parking blogs and websites for their help and encouragement.

Ends

Fruitcake

Oh dear, how sad, never mind. My heart bleeds for the scammers.

Thanks for letting us know about this good result.

beamerguy

Is this another advert ???????

Lamilad

MIL Collections Christopher Barrett, who calls himself !!!8220;Head of Legal!!!8221;

Hope he was legally qualified. It would be disgracefully misleading for him to operate under this title, if not.

Some might even argue that any unqualified person who wilfully pretends to be, or takes or uses any name, title, addition or description implying that he is qualified, is committing an offence.

System

A transcript would be nice if you want to donate one to the "websites for their help and encouragement."

And this was MIL's home court.

georgd84

Hi
I understand a transcript is being organised and will be posted soonest.

The_Deep

A very good explanation of unreasonable conduct. Most of the low rent solicitors PPCs use are guilty of many of these practices. Perhaps we should be urging more OPs to ask for these costs, citing this judgment.

twhitehousescat

perhaps the judge helped out part time at his local CAB?

Castle

It made the local news; (loved the headline about MIL being "fined"):-
https://www.cornwalllive.com/news/cornwall-news/truro-based-debt-recovery-company-1442360

Castle

And reported on the Prankster's site as well;-
http://parking-prankster.blogspot.co.uk/2018/04/mil-collections-750-awarded-against.html

Castle

Sorry for three posts in a row , but somebody called "Ray" has commented on the Prankster's site, (link as above), that he just got a cheque for £535 from Parking Awareness (or unawareness!), for selling their data to MIL.

(Undefended Court claim, but it all counts!)