VCS - Court Claim. Is it worth including a Counter Claim?

satchy_b

Thanks Brown Trout, but that's obvious. What I'm asking is, whether they can actually claim for solicitors fees?

wannadancewithsomebody

they can claim a MAXIMUM of £50 towards there legal costs , this £50 would (or should) cover all previous legal costs upto this point , that includes the likes of drp etc 

so the max they can claim (is it a trial?) would be the max stated by law for the ticket , which is £100 , £50 in solisitors fees of a max of £50 then 2 x court fees of £25 each 
in many cases recently with cases by phone , judges have dismissed solisitors fees etc , VCS have a legal dept filled with saleried staff and they are grown up enough to use a phone , so £50 on solisitors for a small clains case is unwarrented 

D_P_Dance

So, can they seek to also recover solicitor costs? Or is this just another example of 'abuse of process' and unnecessarily increasing costs and trying to scare me into paying?

Usually  they can recover £60 in legal fees, they  get  nothing for debt collection costs.  However one of  our illuminati reckons  they  lose 99 percent of their claims in court.  

wannadancewithsomebody

D_P_Dance said:

So, can they seek to also recover solicitor costs? Or is this just another example of 'abuse of process' and unnecessarily increasing costs and trying to scare me into paying?

Usually  they can recover £60 in legal fees, they  get  nothing for debt collection costs.  However one of  our illuminati reckons  they  lose 99 percent of their claims in court.  

Has the figure claimable for solisitors fees gone up recently , I was under the impression it was £50 

satchy_b

@wannadancewithsomebody and @D_P_Dance thank you. They're suggesting that if I do not pay and it goes to Trial that they're going to seek £220 for solicitors fees, so it's clear that this is just a scare tactic.

wannadancewithsomebody

yes scare , carefully worded as a without prejudist statement (save costs) 
dont forget to go to IKEA , as you will need 12 chairs for the trial jury 

seriously , the more they claim they will win, the more they are reasurring themselves , if they were so confident , and knew they were going to get an extra £220 in legal fees , why would they offer a discount ?
the truth of the matter is , that in a case thats held in court and if you lost , say max £150-175 they would be out of pocket 
small claims hearings are not geared fot those cases , just simple a-b , a owes b for a duff car etc , both stand up , judge decides , job done next please 
vcs are useing court as debt collectors , and in many cases its costing them more than the initial choc dip cooky 

Umkomaas

They're suggesting that if I do not pay and it goes to Trial that they're going to seek £220 for solicitors fees

They can 'seek' whatever they want. Getting them is their problem!  Costs are extremely limited in the small claims court, and, specifically, legal costs are capped at £50.

£220 my Jim Royle!

Coupon-mad

satchy_b said:

@wannadancewithsomebody and @D_P_Dance thank you. They're suggesting that if I do not pay and it goes to Trial that they're going to seek £220 for solicitors fees, so it's clear that this is just a scare tactic.

Yes, they forgot to tell you that such costs can only be considered in those few cases where the other party has behaved 'wholly unreasonably'.   Defending a claim following court directions, meeting the deadlines and attending the hearing is never unreasonable even if a person loses.

Be ready for VCS' other tactic - at hearings, their reps are pretending that VCS never received the Defendant's witness statement and evidence.  Keep proof when you email that bundle, and I recommend emailing it in the same email that you send to the court, so there can be no doubt that email went in time and was received by the recipients.

BrownTrout

i dont believe VCS/Excel accept service of documents via email.... (i could be wrong)

Coupon-mad

Not normally, but during the pandemic they have no choice and would look pretty stupid complaining to a Judge that they weren't sent paper.