Statute of Limitations - how to get past 6 year limit?

k3lvc

ChrisBee13 said:

No solicitor has been engaged as I feel their fees would wipe out the refund.

So in simple terms your 6yr refund is £3k+ leaving another £3k+ for the yr7-13 period ??

You're not going to find a loophole that allows you to suddenly claim that without a cost so you need to decide whether a possible £3k with £2k of fees is a worthwhile gamble

Presumably the solicitor/legal friend you consulted gave you a hint on whether it's worth pursuing ?

Manxman_in_exile

prowla said:

Manxman_in_exile said:

ChrisBee13 said:

A local solicitor has advised that this is possible, through court, but I wondered if anyone had experience.

Then why not ask him to elaborate on his "advice" rather than ask here?

Perhaps because they were asking if anyone here had experience of it?

Aylesbury_Duck said:

ChrisBee13 said:

Sandtree said:

ChrisBee13 said:

No solicitor has been engaged as I feel their fees would wipe out the refund.

Difficult to help when you change the story

ChrisBee13 said:

A local solicitor has advised that this is possible, through court, but I wondered if anyone had experience.

I don't recall changing the story.

You either got legal advice, or you didn't.  You may not have "engaged" a solicitor in the sense of paying them, but misleading people into thinking you've had legal advice and then saying you've had nothing more than a layman's opinion, isn't going to get their cooperation or support.

I'd engage that solicitor properly, given the amount at stake and the potential complexity of overturning the limitations.  If this person you mention is actually a solicitor, they'll know far more than anyone on here, anyway.

Well yes - that is what they originally asked.  But they continued asking the same question in the face of several posters pointing out (correctly in my view) that they could not pursue the energy company for 13 years of wrong meter readings - so it seems pointless asking if anybody has had experience of it as it isn't something that anybody would have done.  The furthest back the OP can go is 6 years from the point they became aware of the issue.  

If the OP had simply wanted an answer to the question "Has anybody had experience of this?", I doubt they would have had as helpful replies as they actually have had.

prowla said:

Manxman_in_exile said:

ChrisBee13 said:

A local solicitor has advised that this is possible, through court, but I wondered if anyone had experience.

Then why not ask him to elaborate on his "advice" rather than ask here?

Aylesbury_Duck said:

ChrisBee13 said:

Sandtree said:

ChrisBee13 said:

No solicitor has been engaged as I feel their fees would wipe out the refund.

Difficult to help when you change the story

ChrisBee13 said:

A local solicitor has advised that this is possible, through court, but I wondered if anyone had experience.

I don't recall changing the story.

You either got legal advice, or you didn't.  You may not have "engaged" a solicitor in the sense of paying them, but misleading people into thinking you've had legal advice and then saying you've had nothing more than a layman's opinion, isn't going to get their cooperation or support.

I'd engage that solicitor properly, given the amount at stake and the potential complexity of overturning the limitations.  If this person you mention is actually a solicitor, they'll know far more than anyone on here, anyway.

They're clearly saying they've had advice from a solicitor (not a layman), but haven't engaged them to proceed; it's not atypical to go to a solicitor and get an opinion ahead of taking any action.

It seems a strange notion to me that somebody would get advice from a solicitor (not a layman) on a legal matter, and then come onto this forum to ask (probably I would think mostly lay men) what the solicitor must have meant by his advice.  Surely you would have asked the solicitor for an explanation at the time so you could make an informed decision whether or not to proceed?

Hence my question

Sandtree

FeaturelessVoid said:

ChrisBee13 said:

No solicitor has been engaged as I feel their fees would wipe out the refund.

If you win, their fees would form part of your settlement.  Although your solicitor, if they were real, would have already told you that...

They are claiming less than £10,000 and so its a small track case and so no meaningful legal fees are allowable.

bris

I think the word "statute" should be a clear indication that it's set in stone.

I mean lets be honest if there was a way round it this forum would be full of cases asking why a company was allowed to claim after the six year statute bar

Jenni_D

There is nothing stopping anyone raising a claim for an alleged debt that is older than 6 years* ... nothing at all. It's simply that the defendant has a statutory defence that the claim is time-barred ... if the defendant doesn't raise that in their defence then the claim can still proceed.

That's a very high-risk strategy though.

* In Scotland the time limit is 5 years from discovery, and after that period the debt becomes extinguished, so court action is not possible.