DCB Legal pursuing through County Court

Coupon-mad

At Mediation you can say:

1 - there is no allegation for me to respond to as they have failed to plead or specify a breach. Per CEL v Chan and CPMS v Akande this claim fails Part 16 and breaches Civil Procedure Rules.

2. - In addition to that fatal error, the claim form is signed by an unauthorised person. Sarah Ensall is not allowed to carry out litigation, per Mazurs v Speechlys:

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6629609/unqualified-staff-at-a-law-firm-are-not-allowed-to-conduct-litigation/p1

3. Ask the Mediator to get the name, job title and legal qualification of the DCB Legal person on the phone for the Claimant. INSIST - because of the above Mazurs case law - and note the name & job title/qualification down.

4. Tell the Mediator the case is hopeless due to not pleading any alleged breach so you are off. No offer will be made and your message to DCB Legal's unauthorised staff is "get lost and discontinue" or you will claim all your costs.

SarahBDE

Coupon-mad said:

At Mediation you can say:

1 - there is no allegation for me to respond to as they have failed to plead or specify a breach. Per CEL v Chan and CPMS v Akande this claim fails Part 16 and breaches Civil Procedure Rules.

2. - In addition to that fatal error, the claim form is signed by an unauthorised person. Sarah Ensall is not allowed to carry out litigation, per Mazurs v Speechlys:

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6629609/unqualified-staff-at-a-law-firm-are-not-allowed-to-conduct-litigation/p1

3. Ask the Mediator to get the name, job title and legal qualification of the DCB Legal person on the phone for the Claimant. INSIST - because of the above Mazurs case law - and note the name & job title/qualification down.

4. Tell the Mediator the case is hopeless due to not pleading any alleged breach so you are off. No offer will be made and your message to DCB Legal's unauthorised staff is "get lost and discontinue" or you will claim all your costs.

This is amazing, thank you so much for taking your time to respond with such clarity. I am still waiting by the phone for the mediator to call, which could have happened any time from 9:30. I shall update this forum once the call has happened. 

Gr1pr

Follow the instructions above,  but whilst wait read this recent one,  so you can see how it went ( no resolution   )

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6631060/g24-just-had-my-mediation-call#latest

SarahBDE

My mediation appointment was confirmed for today between 9:30 and 12:30. I sat by the phone diligently that didn't ring. It is now nearly 1 pm and the mediator did not call. I double checked my N180 to make sure I gave the correct phone number, which I did. What should I do? Shall I email the mediation service?

Gr1pr

No, it's not your problem if they fail to call you,  but I suppose that they might still do so, today sometime 

It wont affect you if they failed to call you 

SarahBDE

Luckily I did email the mediation service to let them know I had been sitting by the phone. Turns out the date is in October, not September. Whoops. I was surprised they gave so little notice.... Anyway, I am glad I emailed and they emailed me back to clarify, otherwise I would have missed the date in October. 
Meanwhile DCBL are continuing to call regularly (I just hang up). I will keep the forum updated. 

Coupon-mad

SarahBDE said:

Luckily I did email the mediation service to let them know I had been sitting by the phone. Turns out the date is in October, not September. Whoops. I was surprised they gave so little notice.... Anyway, I am glad I emailed and they emailed me back to clarify, otherwise I would have missed the date in October. 
Meanwhile DCBL are continuing to call regularly (I just hang up). I will keep the forum updated. 

But Mediation doesn't matter on parking cases. You won't be talking to them about your defence, despite the 'instructions' in the email and it wion't benefit you.

Defendants attend only because it's mandatory (but a waste of time). Mediators aren't a judge and their entire job is 'making' Defendants settle claims, which is appalling in this context.

Car1980

We've seen no evidence yet that not even answering has any negative consequences.

The defendant only answers the phone in 25% of all cases anyway. Maybe the pilot had better figures, or they were happy that 5 or 10% of them came to an agreement and so that's 5 or 10% of court time freed up.

Umkomaas

The mediation process is confidential to the two parties and the mediator. A judge will never know. 

SarahBDE

Just as an update: I have just had the call from the mediator. DCBL offered to drop the case if I pay £260 though the mediator said they usually come down, that's just where they start. So I said I offer nothing and was advised that it'll now go to the court but that can take 9-12 months. The never ending story continues. I bit my tongue and didn't say that they will likely drop the case as they are simply using our court system to pressure people into paying obscene amounts of money.