Cabot financial statute barred debt and notice of discontinuance

baddad32

I have received letter from Cabot regarding a debt of £12000,00. Allegedly this is from 2005 and I defaulted in 2011. They handed it to Mortimer Clarke in 2013 who started court proceedings but after I requested proof of debt and a credit agreement (they could only supply a reconstituted statement) a letter was sent by them to the court enclosing notice of discontinuance. 

Now 7 years later Cabot are trying to enforce this and are saying that this debt is not statute barred and even after I sent a statute barred letter to them, they have come back stating that because court action was started in 2013 this can never be statute barred. Is this correct? this alleged debt has never been accepted and no CCJ was issued, I have also checked with all 4 credit reference agencies and this appears nowhere on my credit file.  

Any help/advice would be appreciated.

sourcrates

Yes, all they have to do is start court action, and the limitation act no longer applies.

However, if they could not evidence the debt then, what makes them think they can now ?

Also they cannot enforce something that does not exist, if no judgement was made, and the claim was discontinued, rather than dismissed, they would have to obtain the permission of the court under CPR Part 38.7 to go ahead with this.

I would also question why it has taken them 7 years to ask for a continuance of this matter, to my mind they are on very shaky ground.

fatbelly

You've received a notice of discontinuance?

Then it's over. They can't enforce this as there is nothing to enforce.

If they wanted to start a fresh claim they would have to explain to the court what they are playing at and I think they're going to find that difficult after such a long gap.

What exactly are they saying they will be doing?

baddad32

Thank you for your replies, they are saying they will give me 21 days to respond but have not said what they are going to do or how they intend to reopen the case or provide me with any evidence of a credit agreement. I would have to be careful when replying as I do not want to acknowledge the debt in writing. Just need advice on how to respond and possible legal points I can throw back at them. I think they are trying to pull a fast one but I would like to reply and put it to bed once and for all if possible. 

I never received a notice of discontinuance from the courts but they claim Mortimer Clarke submitted one, they also have sent a court reference number but there was definitely no judgement made. It does seem very strange they are trying to chase this after 7 (almost 8) years of no contact/documentation at all.

fatbelly

Yes the claim number would become the ccj reference IF the claim had not been discontinued. It's a shame that you don't have a copy of the notice.

You could contact the court that was involved, probably Nottingham, and ask what information they have about the claim. If there was a notice and their records still exist, they could send a copy. They will also be able to tell you whether this is dead and buried or not.

baddad32

Thank you all for you comments, the issue with Cabot has now been resolved.
  
They have reviewed the case and apparently 'they made a mistake' and have sent written confirmation stating that even though legal action was started, because they discontinued the case it is now actually statute barred. 

I discussed this case with national debt adviceline and a few other online services who all advised me that a notice of discontinuance means nothing and because legal action was started it could never be statute barred. 

Hopefully this outcome can help other people who are in a similar situation. 

fatbelly

I think the logic of both Cabot and 'national debt adviceline' is flawed. Anyway, the main point is that this is over for you. Well done.