SSB Law - failed cavity wall insulation claims - anyone in the same boat?

TheDaltonBrothers

Installer99 - This is an interesting take on things. Costs awarded at £13k but your solicitors have billed you £26k? Maybe you need to find a different firm of solicitors. On a separate note, There are a lot of cowboy CWI installers out there and CWI can cause damage to properties. I believe that scrutiny should perhaps also fall on the  surveyors who sold themselves as “experts” in the first instance but then went missing in action when they discovered they might be expected to appear in the witness box. 

DullGreyGuy

TheDaltonBrothers said:

Costs awarded at £13k but your solicitors have billed you £26k? Maybe you need to find a different firm of solicitors. 

Depending on the value of the claim being made will dictate what solicitors fees will be considered. Assuming its falling within Fast Track (the middle tier) then allowable fees are fixed based on the claim value and are rarely moved even if the other party have been unreasonable through the process and hence racked up your costs. 

Do you want a cheap lawyer that costs you some cases or an expensive lawyer that saves you them but costs aren't fully recoverable? There are plenty of people in insurance companies debating which model is best and when to settle without court etc

jcrooke

Unfortunately there will be considerable numbers of people on the hook for the actions of this firm. Unfortunately the claimant is always liable for the other sides costs should they loose or discontinue the later being more common as these cases rarely go to court as the evidence isn't there to support the acquisitions made. All the reports look and read exactly the same and are not unique to the property in question. Having seen 100s of Defence reports the issues claimed are largely non existent, or when there are failings in the installation costs are generally well under the small claims threshold. These claims have been overinflated to enable the Claims firms to select the right court track so their hourly costs will follow. And as has started to come out there have been numerous abuses of process committed by them. Most now will be time barred under statue of limitations if they haven't progressed or have been discontinued. 

These would generally all have had to go to court to have the cost order made, the court would have written to every claimant who generally ignore these or pass them on to SSB to be told, its all in hand and our Finance Director is just waiting for funds and it will be settled (it only has been on a handful of cases, and normally to avoid a SRA intervention or due to probing of a local MP). ATE policies sold to claimants are likely not worth the paper there printed on as the claimants for Pure Legal found out in 2021 when they went bust, as the T&C of the insurance had not been met. Many of the ATE firms are also paper thin so wont hold up to any level of claim being made on them and they go under but it ticks a box with the litigation funders.

The only recourse is likely to be against the Professional Negligence insurance of SSB but only if its still valid best to act quickly. 

As the Dalton Brothers have stated there were indeed shoddy installers (as there are indeed shoddy lawyers such as SSB my friend ) however the claimants have signed up to the action and didn't by and large investigate other options for remedy first. , and as such are liable for costs when they loose. These insurance firms are simply now recovering costs on matters which simply never should have been brought, as the vast majority had no issues or if  they did they were low level remediation costs needed normally £500 or less. There maybe legal repercussions  for those involved in this at some stage, but in the hear and now its best to get a claim in with the Professional negligence insurance of SSB, if you do indeed have adverse costs to deal with ASAP.

SSB are pushing the narrative of "it was the surveyors fault" (so maybe you have a link to them Dalton Brothers?) now for many months since these started to blow at scale.  The problem is many of the surveyors will never had signed off on any of the reports (nor agreed to take them on in the first place) but signatures were applied by the CMC's admin,  proving who is liable is going to be impossible and none will have the funds to settle claims on this scale in fact most are likely no longer trading  via there limited liability companies who provided these reports. Desperate claims solicitors looking for the new pot of gold and rushing head long into these claims (without any critical eye or advice nor indeed any due diligence) are what has caused this issue for so many., Folks like SSB,  Pure Legal, Pilkington Solicitors, Tegamus Law, Seth Lovis (and at least a dozen others) have caused this claim frenzy by their desperation, after RTA reforms and the end of PPI. Their willingness to accept this was a untapped opportunity and then sold that belief to there funders without looking at it properly and  testing the water first is why its such a huge mess now. There was never enough merit in the claims to be successful and all should largely have been small court  claims or resolved  via installers or guarantee providers or simply had no issues to resolve. Sadly greed of the claimants thinking they could get thousands f or a bit of condensation on a window or fixing other building defects also has lead to there being so many claims. 

There are many troubling aspects to this from the CMC firms and their creation of the claims, and their experts (who may have been involved to greater, lesser or no extent in the production of generic inaccurate survey reports). Hopefully these are investigated by relevant authorities. 

The actions of SSB are worrying they were well aware in Mid 2021 and early 2022 at the very latest  of many issues affecting the reliability and credibility of their expert reports. Indeed the SRA issued a specific warning regarding CWI claims in July 2020. Some of the experts named had no involvement in the production of the reports with there signatures being applied. 

They were able to draw down vast sums in from financial loan firms off the back of them so why stop while there was a willing lender regardless of any merit in cases (this extents to about 14 other types of meritless tosh as well not just CWI).

I hear the debt at SSB is likely to be 150m plus not the 48m in the press statements that was April 2022 after all and they have borrowed plenty more since then,  plus the cost they owe under the terms of there CFA to claimants now being pursued for costs on failed claims. 

No doubt the directors here have all done very well from this and can enjoy their money from this in their Spanish holiday homes. 

I hope the relevant authorities do investigate this and those responsible feel the full force of the law (don't bet on it mind).

But for those who made the claims this is likely to be very difficult for them for some time and while I sympathise I don't think its fair the firms they chose to sue should not be able to at least recover some of the costs they have incurred defending actions that never should have been brought. On all these no win no fee deals if it sounds too good to be true, suspect that it is. and that the product is actually you, by signing away on the dotted line you create the loan that will pay them to keep going. this was never about being successful but about obtaining funding to keep their business model going and building up  their pyramid/ponzi model anyone with half an eye on this firm knew t his is how it would end for them.. 

I would act quickly if you have a cost order to pay,  to get good legal advice and seek to start a professional negligence claim against SSBs  insurance for on Professional negligence, as its likely to only be possible for a limited time. indeed it may already be to late. 

Don20

Can anyone add me to the WhatsApp group

GOLLUM1234

@OldPunk i was wondering if you can add me to the whatsapp group too. My friends been affected by this. 22k bill! Who do i contact? CAB just said get a civil solicitor and contact MP. Im too stressed

GOLLUM1234

@dailypray can you please add me to the SSB victim whatsapp group. Im at a loss i dont know what to do please help me. I have been having panic attacks all morning

AtifAwan430

OldPunk said:

SSB Law of Sheffield filed for administration on Monday 27/11/23 with debts of £48m arising from borrowing hugely to fund a failed gamble into taking up cases for homeowner compensation for damp problems resulting from incorrectly installed cavity wall insulation, with the big sell to sign up being that this was guaranteed to be on the basis of  'no win, no fee'. In our case, after 3 years of surveyor visits, inspections, innumerable 'please sign this form and return it to us' type emails, in March of this year, we were informed that my mother's case was being dropped as it wasn't strong enough to take to court with a realistic chance of a win and that that was the end of the matter. This certainly isn't proving the case as there are now 1000s of claimants who have been issued with Notices of Enforcement (after SSB Law failed to pay what they owed to insurers by the given deadline) and are now facing demands for £1000s with threats of bailiff visits. In the case of my 77 year old mother who has never owed a penny to anyone in her life, she was landed last week with a Notice of Enforcement for £18000 to be paid by 30/11/23. Today I completed a N244 form which, if approved, buys her 'breathing space' as the case is set aside for 60 days, though of course that's no solution, merely a deferral. 
I have contacted my local MP over this and have become a member of a WhatsApp group of people in the same position as my mother. This case really needs to be brought to the attention of ANYONE who will listen as there are a lot of people not only feeling immense stress and anxiety over this, but also potentially financial ruin. If anyone has any ideas where to turn in order to get the story of this disgraceful situation caused by SSB Law given the exposure it deserves it would be much appreciated and needless to say, any advice on how to best deal with this would be highly welcome.

How can i join the group.

GOLLUM1234

@AtifAwan430 have you received a high court enforcement letter too for the ssb law case

AtifAwan430

GOLLUM1234 said:

@AtifAwan430 have you received a high court enforcement letter too for the ssb law case

GOLLUM1234 said:

@AtifAwan430 have you received a high court enforcement letter too for the ssb law case

Yes just over 6k.

GOLLUM1234

@AtifAwan430 my friends is over 22k! I cant believe they have done this. Have you had any other advice as to what the next steps are or are you just looking to pay the amount. I havent spoken to the high court enforcement yet..have you?