BW Legal Letter, confused about what stage I'm at!

Le_Kirk

D_P_Dance said:

Indeed, £255 of which was refunded set aside fees.  The rest was peanurts in my book.  

Wow, where are you buying your peanuts?

RidgebackPlanter

Hello all, 

Just when you think there's a happy ending, BW Legal do something to ruin your weekend. I attach the court order as described after the hearing from DJ Spencer last month confirming the outcome in my favour. But then this week i received the below letter from BWL saying they're going to fight it?! My gut says they have no legal grounds to defy a court order.... but I also hate that they won't leave me alone! Any advice would be most welcome, their process seems so unfair. Does this count as harassment and is there anything I can do?

Johnersh

The proceedings were never served. Strictly speaking i dont see that there is anything to set aside, given that on the facts they will be forced to admit the o/p never lived there. Further, to spend £275 on an application would be entirely disproportionate. Simply put, i cant see that they would ever do that.

As to issuing fresh proceedings, which cost, what, £30? Thats what they should have done ages ago. Within limitation, there is nothing to prevent that. They'd still need to prove their case, mind. It could be good money after bad for them. Theres a chance they might do that.

If you lost, you might consider that youd simply be paying some of their cash back. You would be Time poorer as a minimum - win or lose.

So they are now making a commercial offer to mitigate their exposure on the basis that if your biggest outlay is covered you can call it quits.

Your call. If you respond with a counter offer, they dont need to offer this again.

RidgebackPlanter

@Johnersh thanks for your reply. In your opinion what do you think would happen if I chose not to engage with them at all? Assuming the £270 court fee cost is indeed disproportionate to them, is there a legal timeframe within which they must comply with the court order? The fairest thing in my opinion would be for them to pay my costs in full, and me to pay the original PCN is they choose to re-issue the claim to the correct address. I'm inclined to call them and offer that as a counter....

Johnersh

CPR 44.7 gives them 14 days to pay from the date of the order. Note the date of the order is 01/10/2021.

If you're being generous (and we might have to be given that they didn't attend) the order was drawn on 15/10/2021, from which 14 days takes them to 29/10/2021.

They will need to elect between paying or applying. None of that prevents them issuing a fresh claim. 

Coupon-mad

RidgebackPlanter said:

The fairest thing in my opinion would be for them to pay my costs in full, and me to pay the original PCN is they choose to re-issue the claim to the correct address. I'm inclined to call them and offer that as a counter....

No phoning them!

Also why on earth would you do that?  Those sums don't add up. If they re-issue the claim to the right address they'd claim £270 odd.

Fruitcake

Don't call anyone! They will record the call and you might say something detrimental to yourself and advantageous to them that could then cost you a lot of money.

I would never ever recommend paying the original PCN if it was re-issued, no matter what.

Personally I would wait for the 14 days to pass then write and ask them for your money. There are various lawful methods you can use to force them to pay. Look them up and remind them of this.
Correct them on the date of the order, and include Johnersh's comments, pointing out that it will cost them a lot more money than the original £425 they have been ordered to pay if they don't pay up.
Make a without prejudice offer to give them seven days to pay you the money owed.
I would also quote the list line of their offer back to them.

You are out of pocket for your time an effort for a claim that was never served. They and their client made the mistake. They and their client are responsible for your costs.

Castle

Johnersh said:

CPR 44.7 gives them 14 days to pay from the date of the order. Note the date of the order is 01/10/2021.

If you're being generous (and we might have to be given that they didn't attend) the order was drawn on 15/10/2021, from which 14 days takes them to 29/10/2021.

They will need to elect between paying or applying. None of that prevents them issuing a fresh claim. 

I think the order is dated 12th October, which takes them to the 26th, as per CPR 44.7.

Coupon-mad

I don't think their offer is half bad, if they did provide the court with contact details. The reason it's not bad is you get your £255 back and they can't file a fresh claim at all due to the way they've worded the offer.

However, you got your other costs due to a course of unreasonable conduct, not just them not turning up.  So there was more to it.  But would you get those costs again at a new hearing?  That's the gamble.  And they can certainly re-file a fresh claim.

Fruitcake

Castle said:

Johnersh said:

CPR 44.7 gives them 14 days to pay from the date of the order. Note the date of the order is 01/10/2021.

If you're being generous (and we might have to be given that they didn't attend) the order was drawn on 15/10/2021, from which 14 days takes them to 29/10/2021.

They will need to elect between paying or applying. None of that prevents them issuing a fresh claim. 

I think the order is dated 12th October, which takes them to the 26th, as per CPR 44.7.

The order was made during the hearing on October the first, and that date is written at the bottom of the order. The twelfth is probably the issue date of the order, but the judgment was made on the first.

If in doubt, it might be better to wait until the 26th before responding and requesting the monies owed.