Threatening letter after acknowledgement of service

RN61

I am subject of a claim by PPS, which being prosecuted on their behalf by BW Legal. I have been following excellent guidance on this forum and my case has reached Claim Form stage. After acknowledging service, I received the same dubious letter highlighted in @Angellicaa thread. @Coupon-mad and @KeithP have kindly advised (thank you both) and suggested I create my own thread, so here it is.

RN61

The letter from BW Legal

RN61

Proposed reply to BW Legal, cc PPS. It is likely to be sent as a letter attachment to an email (further letters to be drafted to SRA, FCA and IPC - of which PPS is a member). Feedback welcome.

Dear Sir

I am subject of a parking claim by PPS, whom you stand for. 

Your Claim Form xxxxxxx seeks £50 for Legal Representatives Costs, which is the maximum allowed by the consumer-protecting cap on legal fees for small claims. However, you have hidden an added and unjustified 'debt recovery fee' of £60 in the £164.28 Amount Claimed as well, making £110 in legal fees.

You will be aware that in February 2022 the Government banned double-charging such as this and has called such sharp practice ‘extorting money' (Neil O'Brien MP on 7.2.2022, in the DLUHC's Ministerial Foreword to the new statutory Parking Code of Practice).

In these circumstances, it seems reasonable to view your added £60 as a contrived and reprehensible way to try to avoid the Government cap on legal fees for small claims.

In addition, your letter dated 19th April 2022 states that in event I lose at Court the Judge will “award a County Court Judgement (CCJ) against (me)”. This led me to wrongly believe that continuing to defend my case risked my credit rating. However, it happens that this is untrue. The correct position is that if your client were to win, I would have 30 days to pay - and there would be no CCJ if I paid within that time.

The same paragraph goes on to state, “Such hearings will result in additional costs and fees (plural) being incurred which we would seek to recover from you…”. This suggestion of potentially unlimited costs on top of what was already claimed was concerning. However, I now understand that all that can be added to a small claim is the £35 Court Fee that is already on your Claim Form, thus what you say is mendacious.

I am a respondent who wants to fight the claim that your client has brought against me. Your letter was sent five days after my acknowledgement of service. It misled me and caused me distress and anxiety. 

I understand letters with identical wording have been sent to other people your firm is pursuing on behalf of PPS. Thus, this is clearly not a one-off mistake by a junior member of staff.

It is hard to avoid the conclusion that your letter was deliberately crafted and sent soon after I showed I would be fighting the claim, with intent to cause me distress and anxiety and discourage me from continuing my defence.

Your letter may amount to an offence under section 1 Malicious Communication Act 1980. It also appears to be an act of Criminal Harassment under the Protection from Harassment Act 1997.

PLEASE NOTE THAT ACTION WILL BE TAKEN AGAINST YOU AND PPS IN EVENT YOU COMMIT ANOTHER ACT OF HARASSMENT AGAINST ME.

Harassment of a debtor by a solicitor on behalf of a creditor also breaches StaRs (SRA standards and regulations) and is professional misconduct. Breaching the rules can also affect your FCA authorisation.

I intend to continue to defend my claim and bring all this to the attention of the Judge.

In the meantime, kindly record a complaint about a) improper claim for £60 'debt recovery fee' in addition to £50 ‘Legal Representatives Costs’ and b) the content of your letter dated 19th. 

You are reminded that you and PPS as my creditor now have three business days to respond informally and are expected to report my complaint to the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), even if you respond to me within 3 business days.

I look forward to your prompt reply, email preferred.

KeithP

For the moment I am going to assume that you filed an Acknowledgment of Service sometime after 12th April. Please confirm. Anything else may shorten the time available for filing a Defence.

With a Claim Issue Date of 8th April, and having filed an Acknowledgment of Service in a timely manner, you have until 4pm on Wednesday 11th May 2022 to file your Defence.

That's over two weeks away. Plenty of time to produce a Defence, but please don't leave it to the last minute.

To create a Defence, and then file a Defence by email, look at the second post in the NEWBIES thread.

Don't miss the deadline for filing a Defence.

Do not try and file a Defence via the MoneyClaimOnline website. Once an Acknowledgment of Service has been filed, the MCOL website should be treated as 'read only'.

RN61

Anyone know if there is a counter-claim I can make based on the facts? Harassment might be a goer, but two instances required and there are risks. Malicious communication is a crime that I do not think is actionable as a civil small claim, and I imagine the police will do zilch even if they deign to take a report. Bind over to keep the peace at Magistrates Court? 🤣

And should I bring this to the attention of the Judge in my Defence (due by 11/5/22) and statement? Or sooner, in which case how?

Coupon-mad

I doubt that it would meet the high bar of malicious communications and I don't think a consumer can bring a civil claim or counterclaim for that. A Judge will just see that letter as a normal demand, sailing close to the wind but nothing that a Judge will care about.

The FCA also don't come into the equation.  You can't complain about this to the FCA because parking cases are not FCA regulated debts.  BW Legal might well be FCA registered but that's only relevant for FCA-covered debts they chase, such as utilities/Council tax or whatever.

The complaint needs to make it clear you will be complaining about this letter to the SRA.  NOT THE FCA.

It's a great complaint response otherwise though, nice and robust, except this is not quite right:

However, I now understand that all that can be added to a small claim is the £35 Court Fee that is already on your Claim Form, thus what you say is mendacious.

They can add a hearing fee if a hearing happens.  The point is that the letter suggests so much more.  It talks about additional 'costs and fees' (plural) and interestingly, it says THEY (BW Legal) will pursue these.  Strange wording...not the Claimant client, then? 

1505grandad

Just checking  -  as you are quoting legal matters from the solicitor back to them is the following correct as to the way "Judgment" was stated in their letter  -  i.e. is the erroneous middle "e" included:-

"In addition, your letter dated 19th April 2022 states that in event I lose at Court the Judge will “award a County Court Judgement (CCJ) against (me)”."

jon_1827

I've been receiving the same letters from BW Legal. I've been wondering if sending a similar letter requesting they keep all communication to that required by the court process and that it stick to the facts, avoiding requests for payment, talk of ccj's, references to additional costs and so on. Could a letter be worded in such a way that if they carry on sending such letters it would be classified as harassment and enable action to be taken?

Half_way

Have you complained to the landowner?
They should also be on the receiving end of that letter you propose sending, as principal they are jointly and severally liable for the actions of their agents, the parking company

Umkomaas

jon_1827 said:

I've been receiving the same letters from BW Legal. I've been wondering if sending a similar letter requesting they keep all communication to that required by the court process and that it stick to the facts, avoiding requests for payment, talk of ccj's, references to additional costs and so on. Could a letter be worded in such a way that if they carry on sending such letters it would be classified as harassment and enable action to be taken?

You can do, but don't expect any change from them. Their processes are primarily computer driven, like a juggernaut.  They are dealing with thousands of cases. Only threaten legal action if you will carry it through. 

'Harassment' is a high bar to get over (think pole vault rather than 100 metre hurdles) and if you commence proceedings, and lose, there could be some serious cost to you. There are risks to litigation, it's not a for-free shot at them!

Coupon-mad

Complaints to the SRA are required.  That is the proper fightback to this misleading and intimidating letter.   Easy to report BW Legal online.