Questions about Schedule 4 of POFA

ihatetrump

Final Questions

Having been advised verbally during my hearing that I had lost and having been advised of the amount I will need to pay - what should I do next?

BWL (as I'd expected) have quickly sent their letter to me under the heading 'Notice of County Court Judgement' and asking me to contact them to make arrangements to pay the CCJ. They also talk about a certificate of cancellation if I want one, albeit for payment of a fee - amount not specified. 

I haven't received anything from the Court yet and while the CCJ won't change, should I wait for the formal judgement first before settling?

I have no intention of being in default or of not settling, but given BWL's derogatory and insulting comments about me and MSE in their WS, I similarly have no intention of making the settlement to them to be easy to process - a wheelbarrow full of pennies would be my preference, but as that's unlikely, any ideas of how I can remain to be awkward?

D_P_Dance

 given BWL's derogatory and insulting comments about me and MSE in their WS, I 

Have you complained to the SRA?

https://www.sra.org.uk/consumers/problems/report-solicitor/

ihatetrump

D_P_Dance said:

 given BWL's derogatory and insulting comments about me and MSE in their WS, I 

Have you complained to the SRA?

https://www.sra.org.uk/consumers/problems/report-solicitor/

I would certainly love to and with some input from the Forum, I'm quite prepared to do so. The SRA advises that I take my complaint to BWL first - again something I am prepared to do (hopefully with some Forum help on wording my complaint) - they have 8 SRA regulated solicitors, as the main principal (and 100% owner) is not a lawyer - so presumably I'd send my complaint to their Compliance Officer?

Taking up some more of their time, under which they receive no compensation and hopefully get some more grief would be quite rewarding - they took up enough of my time.

ihatetrump

Apologies for bumping this thread up - it's now 7 days since my hearing and I was verbally given 14 days to pay - however I have yet to receive anything officially from the Court. Any advice based on my post of 1:54pm yesterday?

D_P_Dance

The SRA advises that I take my complaint to BWL

What would be the point of that?   .   You will be alleging bullying. unprofessional conduct, and conduct likelly to bring the professiin into disrepute.  You are asking thet the firm be sanctionned.  

patient_dream

Sounds like you had a bad judge, the county court system is not stable

You have two issues ... firstly pay the amount to protect your credit rating and then complain to BWL about the content of their WS.

BWL are known for their derogatory remarks and a couple of years ago, on their web site, they launched an attact on two members here which was clearly written by a trainee no doubt.
This was highly unprofessional and the SRA insist on professionalism

Get their reply and then go to the SRA.    Your options thereafter is to bring the issue to the attention of the Secretary of State for Justice and Neil O’Brien, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities who is in charge of the new code of practice

Mr O'Brien must be made aware how this industry works and performs

ihatetrump

D_P_Dance said:

The SRA advises that I take my complaint to BWL

What would be the point of that?   .   You will be alleging bullying. unprofessional conduct, and conduct likelly to bring the professiin into disrepute.  You are asking thet the firm be sanctionned.  

I took it directly form the SRA website which is as follows:

How to complain to your solicitor

You must always try complaining to your solicitor or firm first. In most cases you will not be able to take your complaint further—whether to the Legal Ombudsman or to us—if you have not already done so.

You may find that approaching the problem informally at first will resolve things. However, if this does not work, your solicitor should always give you information on their official complaints procedure and your right to take the complaint to the Legal Ombudsman.

When you make your complaint, you should

• make a complaint as soon as possible, once you are clear what the issue is and while it is fresh in your mind;
• be clear on what your complaint is about and how you would like it to be resolved—keep a note of the relevant points that you would like to address;
• make a note of who you spoke to, and what was said—this will come in handy if you need to chase your complaint up or take it further;
• keep calm, and be polite—even though you may be very frustrated, it is much easier to get the result you want by being reasonable; and
• give them some time to resolve your complaint—the Legal Ombudsman suggests up to eight weeks.

I know they weren't my solicitor, but based on the above, surely I have to go to them first?

patient_dream

BWLegal won't be able to resolve this as they have already done it.

And you are making a complaint ABOUT a solicitor.   I would let BWL come back with a reply  which can only show they are unprofessional

D_P_Dance

If you do write to the solicitor, which I wiuld advise against, ask them for an undertaking that they will remove all offensive language from all further correspondendce in all letters they send out.  They are unlikely to agree which gives your complant to the SRA more weight.

IMO these replies are reply is totally  unacceptable and it is time they were sanctionned.  

ihatetrump

thank you @D_P_Dance and @patient_dream - your input is much appreciated.

After I have settled the payment with BWL (but presumably only after I have received the official court judgement?) I will then go away and draft a carefully worded complaint that I will share on this Forum before sending. For me the key issue is that a Witness Statement is for FACTS and not for BWL or (anyone else for that matter) to make derogatory or insulting comments or to express opinions as to the defendants knowledge or experience in a particular matter or where the defendant obtained his or her knowledge and assistance from.