Letter of Claim from BW Legal

beamerguy

£19 per hour is acceptable so try £190 BUT IN REALITY, it will end up around £100 
It depends on the judge and how !!!!!!*d off he is with BWLegal taking a scam to court

Billyrayvalentine999

Summary Assessment of Costs

 

Reading Letter before Claim and N1 claim documents for claim xxxxxx - 2 hours.

 

Researching how to respond to county court claims - 2 hours.

 

Writing defences and submitting these and Directions questionnaires - 3 hours.

 

7 hours at an hourly rate of £30.

 

Printing - £2.

 

TOTAL COST CLAIMED: £212.

 

The total above is justified and necessary and has been fairly assessed by the Defendant at this point in time.  It is in accordance with the rules of about LiP costs that I have researched and does not exceed the typical two thirds costs of a solicitor who would have charged for handling all documents and writing defences.

Will an invoice suffice as evidence to show I charge £30 per hour?

Thanks,

Kieran.

Billyrayvalentine999

I've altered the email template too as there won't be an accompanying witness statement:

Dear District Judge xxxxx, 

Re: Claim number xxxxxxx
Important Preliminary matter and Witness statement and evidence from the Defendant
(served by email due to COVID_19 measures)

I am the Defendant.  This covering email, has also been sent to the Claimant's litigation team.  In the event of directions for a future hearing in person at this court, hard copies of the witness statement and evidence bundle will be provided when I have access to a printer.

Preliminary matter
I am aware that there is more than sufficient information available in this case to activate the court's duty, as set out in s71 of the Consumer Rights Act 2015 ('the CRA').  

The CRA imposes a duty upon courts in all consumer contract cases, to apply the test of fairness in s71 of the CRA and I draw specific attention to more than one breach of CRA Schedule 2.  Due to this, and to remove an unnecessary burden on the court, I invite the Judge who may at this stage be considering an Order for a Telephone Hearing or adjournment, to instead exercise the court's case management powers pursuant to CPR 3.4, to strike this claim out without a hearing in any format.   

This has already occurred in multiple parking claims in recent months, with duplicate reasons used by Judges sitting at courts as widely spread as Southampton, Warwick, IOW, Caernarfon, Luton and Skipton.  Failed applications with hearings attended by two barristers acting on behalf of parking firms have taken place at Skipton (February 2020, before District Judge Faye Wright) as well as at Southampton, before District Judge Grand.  I refer to my exhibit transcript of the Approved Judgement in Britannia Parking Ltd v Crosby and Anor (11/11/2019) which pays regard to the Supreme Court binding case law and the duty on the courts to invoke s71 of the CRA.

This parking charge claim has been deliberately exaggerated to reach a global sum of £160 despite the Claimant and their legal advisers being well aware by now, that such a sum is unrecoverable in parking charge cases because it is an attempt to go behind case law and statute law, and taints the entire claim.  As such, the Defendant draws attention to the Claimant's continued 'forum shopping' and their clear intention of finding victims who will pay in full without defending, or a less than competent court to allow them to claim a sum far higher than they can lawfully recover. 

Further, there has been no serious attempt to comply with the CPRs and the Claimant's incoherent, stylised particulars do not constitute compliance.  These cases unnecessarily delay and clutter court listings and represent a contemptuous and significant abuse of process.

To assist with the efficient disposal of the case, I attach an editable (Word Document) Draft Order.

For the avoidance of doubt, should the court decide against striking the claim out, I am not in agreement with the case being heard 'on the papers' because:

(a)  this claim is following the usual oppressive parking robo-claim path, with a very sparse statement of case, later followed by a case made by way of ambush, with a tendency to produce prolix witness statements, right at the death.  This places Defendants at a huge disadvantage, given the first time they see any 'evidence' is at completion of the bundle, and their only chance to point out that large parts of the evidence are completely irrelevant, is at trial.  

(b) the case of JD Wetherspoon Plc v Harris and others [2013] EWHC 1088 (Ch.) is an example of the Court using its power to limit the evidence by striking out large parts of a witness statement for abuse, because it was written by a person with no personal knowledge who recited facts based on the documents he had read.  Similarly, parking charge witness statements contain template legal argument, misleading reliance upon ParkingEye v Beavis and even more irrelevant case law, and are more designed to stand in terrorem of defendants than to assist the Court in determining the substantive issues.  

(c) Such 'witness statements' lack probative value and are very often created by freelance legal writers and 'signed' (or facsimile 'signed') by a third party who is not a witness in the true sense, and who relies upon misleading and irrelevant extracts of case law and undated, old or 'stock' images of signs, some of which are often not even present at the location in question.  

(d) In my case, I strongly believe that I must be afforded a fair opportunity to rebut the inaccuracies in the 'evidence' re the car park location/event and highlight the failure to demonstrate a prominent/legible contract, or liability, or legitimate interest.  I am the only local witness, in the true sense, and I believe that, if the claim is to be heard, a decision cannot be fairly made without a hearing in my presence.  If the claim is not struck out, I would prefer a hearing in person once the pandemic lockdown is lifted.  However, I understand that to formally ask for an adjournment would be at a disproportionate cost which is not an option for me, so I await the court's Order and Directions.

 

(e)   The amount claimed is deemed by the courts as an abuse of process and as the claimant has failed to offer an explanation to their legal authority to add £60, despite requesting the same from the claimant, may I suggest that their claim cannot be seen as reliable.  A face to face hearing would provide a platform for this to be explained.    

 

(f) Finally, I have concerns that I will be impeded by patchy phone signal.  I am a lay person defending myself and while the Claimant may be able to draw on their experience and know-how should their phone signal drop to keep up with the flow of the dialogue, I fear I will not be able to do so.  I anticipate that I may need to ask on numerous occasions for things to be repeated which leaves me feeling rather anxious indeed.

 

If the claim is not struck out, I would prefer a hearing in person once the pandemic lockdown is lifted.  However, I understand that to formally ask for an adjournment would be at a disproportionate cost which is not an option for me, so I await the court's Order and Directions.    

yours sincerely, 

 

 

Coupon-mad

Will an invoice suffice as evidence to show I charge £30 per hour? 

You'll need to evidence that this is your normal hourly rate, to satisfy the court.  Add this to the costs assessment:

The Defendant attaches evidence of his normal hourly rate, and seeks:
(a) standard witness costs for attendance at Court, pursuant to CPR 27.14, and
(b) a finding of wholly unreasonable conduct by this Claimant.  Pursuant to CPR 46.5, whilst indemnity costs cannot exceed two thirds of the applicable rate if using legal representation, the Defendant notes that LiP costs are not necessarily capped at £19 ph. The Defendant will ask for a fairly assessed rate for the hours spent on this case, referencing Spencer & anor v Paul Jones Financial Services Ltd.  

Billyrayvalentine999

Thanks @beamerguy and @Coupon-mad
I'll go with £19 per hour because a) I'd rather just get it struck out than get anything back from the case and b) I need to send this off before 4pm!

Billyrayvalentine999

VICTORY!!!

Billyrayvalentine999

I got a letter about a week ago with the court date and it being "on the phones" but I haven't had chance to share it on here with you guys.  Glad I didn't worry about it now!

Le_Kirk

That counts as a win - well done!

beamerguy

Well done and you may wonder why      .........   Truro court is going to be a graveyard for BWLegal

UPDATE:   See this thread. BWLegal discontinued their case at Truro County Court.
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6101409/armtrac-kbt-bw-legal-lbc-update-claim-discontinued/p1
The court said that most get discontinued in the court now, or thrown out by judges

Coupon-mad

Yay, well done!  ANOTHER ONE BITES THE DUST!