courts have offered me the choice of small claims court or court

breeze49

Hi, Im sorry if this is the wrong forum but I need advise
Re a debt company who are chasing my friend for 1800 and we have written our defence to the courts who have now come back and said we can go to small claims and or/arbitration. The supposed debt is from 2002 and when we asked the debt comp for original proof they replied 19 working days later with a credit agreement of nine pages without my friends signature or the creditors and with no figurehead on the letter from . They also put a ccj against her name without her knowing and not given the opportunity to defend herself. It was later removed and the case was set aside until now.
I think my friend has a solid case against pra, but im not savvy in these things. I do think that the courts nay have a relatioship with these debt companies and think my friend may be being fobbed off to small claims where perhaps she would not recieve a fair judgement. Im thinking of ringing pra in arbitration and ask them for compensation for the duress they have given my friend or offer to pay say a 5th of the amount stated that she owes.
Any advise on this would be highly appreciated to give the best outcome.
Thanks
Tony

WhenIam64

who have now come back and said we can go to small claims and or/arbitration.

Standard approach by the court. It is done by a private company whose aim is to get you to settle. If you owe the money then try to settle. If not, refuse the mediation as there is no penalty in refusing.

Debt buyers, like PRA, use the threat of court (including running it up to the final day) as a way of getting people to pay. A judge will look at the facts presented and make a decision in law.

Since the absence of evidence of the arrangement is your main plank of the defence, then you will see PRA's pack (with or without the agreement) some 14 days prior to a hearing. A decision to fold or fight can be made then.

I do think that the courts do have a relationship with these debt companies

No they don't. What mostly happens is that defendants do not understand the process, or fail to collect evidence to support their side of the argument.

They also put a ccj against her name

If you go to a hearing, you ask for the set-aside fee back. The judge will consider it.

ask them for compensation for the duress they have given my friend

You can forget that. Duress is difficult to prove. It is not just an opinion.

The solution is to wait until she sees the Witness Statement. She has to produce her own 14 days before which should include the defence of no valid agreement.

See if a local charity or pro-bono law centre will help guide you through the process, as it is the process that trips people up.

breeze49

Whenim64... Thanks for that; it has been a big help.
Tony

breeze49

WhenIm64,
Hi again,
Ive just have re read the ' re constituted credit agreement with historic terms and conditions' and as I said before with my letter head, signatures from creditor and no date of the agreement start date and it was received 19 working days after receipt if my info request. Is this sufficient default for a judge to throw out the case?

James1968

Not really.

When did your friend last pay into the debt?. If it was more than 6 years ago, then you can use the statute barred argument in the defence.

The most important thing to do is to actually turn up to Court should it get that far.

WhenIam64

Not really

Possibly but it would depend on the actual paperwork itself.

It would appear that they want some sort of admission/agreement in court that the debt exists to overcome any flaws in the paperwork. Your friend could stick with "not enforceable" and take the chance in court as did this person

See HFO v Miller at paragraph #32

https://paulatwatsonssolicitors.wordpress.com/2012/07/22/hfo-capital-limited-vs/

PRA and similar use the courts to overcome their paperwork limitations or to frighten people into paying. There is always a risk in litigation that a judge will see the limitations. It is up to PRA to prove the case and not for any defendant to disprove or even help PRA.

So as was said before, wait until you see their evidence bundle before making a final decision, but by all means see if they will drop the case if you want to offer 5%. They will likely make a profit at 5% as some of these debts go for next to nothing.

lisapug

Whenim64
Thanks for your advise and sorry for late reply. I lost my login details so am now lisapug.
My friend is getting very distraught over the court case which I can understand after years of living with debt and fragility. She has got another 3 debts which she has taken away from step change recently and is paying directly to the creditors which she is happy and can live with and if this last one can be put to bed she should be a lot happier.
So we are thinking about talking with the debt company about a discount and monthly payments and if they aren't willing then continue to court.

I know there will be a thread on here about a procedure to do this and timing could be critical. Your thoughts would be much appreciated but I'm thinking about electing to go to court and then approach the creditor just before the court case. The creditor has sent his defence to us but still think we have a case on the initial documents and also there is no financial history for the first 4 years so how can they pluck a figure of debt without the first 4 years history.
Can one send additional defence statements to our defence file after the initial statement? I.e That no financial statement for first 4 years.

Thanks again
Lisapug

WhenIam64

My friend is getting very distraught over the court case which I can understand after years of living with debt and fragility.

Understandable which is why they do it.

I'm thinking about electing to go to court

Is this you or your friend? You cannot go to court or elect to go to court but your friend can.

If your friend finds court stressful, they can opt (after seeing their Witness Statement) to go for a "papers only" hearing where no-one attends and the judge reads the papers / makes a decision.

Can one send additional defence statements to our defence file after the initial statement?

Yes but you'd have to pay a fee. Best to sort it out at the Witness Statement stage which is after mediation but before a hearing.

Do you have a hearing date yet?

lisapug

Hi and thanks,
No hearing date yet

and we havent yet returned our questionaire intention yet.
I am so niave in these matters and will

Now look up the difference between witness and defense statement.
Lisa

Suseka97

WhenIam64 wrote: »

...........
See if a local charity or pro-bono law centre will help guide you through the process, as it is the process that trips people up.

You should, perhaps, follow the advice given by WIA64 to seek help from a citizens advice bureau, local charity or pro-bono law centre. Have you considered this?

The PRA group have the benefit of a litigation department, so you should look to balance the odds.

Good luck.

WhenIam64

we havent yet returned our questionaire intention yet.

You have to return that by the date on the form. It is a simple timetabling set of questions so they know where to put you in the queue. If you don't return in, they will assume you don't want to defend - so get it in.

The recommended answers to the questions are as follows:

A1 = NO to mediation unless it is to your advantage.

B = fill in all the details, name, address, etc

C1 = YES to small claims track – this is the limited costs track for claims up to £10,000 in value

D1 = name of your local County Court

D2 = NO to expert evidence (this relates to medical negligence cases and suchlike)

D3 = 1 witness, that’s you, or more if you are going to get another person to come to court to provide a statement.

D4 = Put down the dates of any pre-booked holidays, NO to interpreter (unless you need one).