Help Needed for Court Case. Claimant ignoring Directions and Witness Statement needed by Friday

[Desperate Daniella]

Thanks for that, Elsa. I'll have a look at swarb. I must admit I haven't even heard of it.

 

The misrepresentation is a good line too. I was warned by a friend of hers to be careful - that she was very manipulative, but for the first few years of our friendship she seemed really good fun and good company. However, a few things happened in her personal life which were not good and she became increasingly dependent on me to be around. When we started the business and she advanced the money it was very difficult not to be around whenever she wanted me to be "to discuss the business". My mother would freak if she knew about this situation because she too always said that my friend wasn't serious, that she was too lazy to commit to anything. She was right.

 

DDx

[Desperate Daniella]

By the way, you mentioned the IOUs, but really these were just scribbled on bits of paper saying I owed her £x. I thought I was dealing with a friend so they weren't drawn up formally at all. What an idiot I was.

[Desperate Daniella]

I'm also thinking possibly of writing to her solicitor as you suggested challenging her to explain what she thought I was doing exactly in spending all this time and money (okay, not much, but petrol, telephone, etc.) because she has said I was a shareholder, but now says I wasn't, and then bringing in the misrepresentation angle. Probably better to that in the next week or so and hope that she isn't tempted to pay the court fee. She has too many questions to answer here. She should be terrified of going to court.

[Undercover-Elsa]

Yep..don't forget "perjury" and "fraud" too as it sounds as if you have enough documentation to make mincemeat of her POC

It's basically a war of nerves..she probably thought you'd just roll over, panic and pay up. She sounds like a vindinctive b**** but hopefully she's not stupid ( however the fact that she's not supplied the required docs indicates to me that she didn't expect you to defend so she's probably panicking now)

Lets get her!

 

PS. Swarb is OK but not as friendly as CAG so you'll need to condense it to the bare facts and use any replies you feel are useful. They're not always right, or even sympathetic, so just take it as a wider view.

[Desperate Daniella]

Well, the POC just said she lent me the money and I hadn't been in touch to pay it back. There was no mention at all of the company and what it was really all about.

 

The really damning stuff was in the information she sent in with the AQ - so much of it was untrue. She may not have realized that everything you submit to the Court has to be true - and accurate.

 

I do think she just expected me to panic and pay up. I don't think for one moment she expected me to fight back, but really I feel I have been totally conned and used. She will not like my witness statement and the documents attached to it because I have mentioned her conduct which was appalling at times.

 

I just cannot believe she isn't supplying anything apart from the IOUs she sent with the POC. I've said I've got the bills/workbooks to prove my involvement and they aren't asking to see them. All the copy emails show how much I was doing.

 

I think I said that the solicitor's letter said we must comply with Directions and move forward to the trial and they haven't complied with a single one.

 

He must surely know that she has lied about so much. Of course (as Bazaar says) he's got to act for her, but any solicitor with any integrity would advise his client that she hasn't got a strong case here (I hope) and he's not a solicitor working for card companies/DCAs.

 

DDx

[Undercover-Elsa]

It makes my blood boil. What sort of legal system is it when anyone can make a spurious claim like this and the innocent party has to spend money, time and stress in sorting it out? Technically anyone could claim anything and hope to profit by default. It's disgusting.

I've had a brandy or two ( ) so I'm ranting a bit I know, but I find this situation ludicrous and a testament to just how DCA's get away with so much by abusing the system in the same way.

Rant over, time for my chicken risotto!

Nite nite hon,

Elsa x

[Desperate Daniella]

Thanks, Elsa. Hope you enjoyed the chicken risotto.

 

You wouldn't believe how much of this stuff goes on.

 

I'll send you a pm tomorrow - not all about this.

 

DDx

 

 

 

 

DDxx

[bazaar]

Just an additional thought, depending on how youve answered in your defence. You now know the company is solely in her name and not your through your checks. So maybe you can deny that the IOU's were such and say that they were, as far as you knew an advance for work. Then your counterclaim would be for the remaining hours you worked. Not sure if it'll get messy for you though.

[Desperate Daniella]

I am just drafting a letter to her solicitor saying that I have now found out that she lied to me in saying the shares were split 50/50, that that was the basis on which I worked and therefore she misrepresented the situation, and would she like to explain on what basis she thought I was working exactly.

 

I have said in the defence that the IOUs were signed informally because I trusted her as a friend, and the funds were given to me as advance payments against fees. That is the actual case regardless of what she is trying to say now. She knew I could not afford to work for this new company unless she was willing to advance the funds and she said she was very happy to do that. The amount in question is a lot of money to me, but not to her.

 

I mean really, if I were a shareholder as I thought I was of course I would be working for the future good of "our" company, and she agreed that I could have the drawings until the money came in, which in this business it really couldn't fail to do.

 

I said to the solicitor that as I can prove I did hours and hours of work she must surely owe me a considerable amount of money in salary.

 

Have to run out now.

 

DDxx

[postggj]

Did You Get A Template Ref Getting The Case Struck Out For Failing To Supply Info As Directed By The Court CPR

 

Any Chance Of A Link

 

Helping Out A Fellow Cagger

[dad]

Hi DD,

 

You seem to have quite a complicated case, depending on the exact facts. Two key questions are:

 

1. Does a contract exist - ie there are the required elements: offer, acceptance & consideration.

 

2. If not, and the money was lent to you, should the loan be regulated, and subject to the CCA?

 

Separately even if there was no contract you may have a counter claim based on the principle of 'Quantum Meruit' - See the following link:

 

Quantum Meruit

 

HTH

 

Dad

[The GodMother]

Hi DD.

 

Just found this thread and had a thought.

 

I am wondering if u can search a companys records at companies house and find out if there were past directors etc.

 

Also the website does it have any evidence that you we infact a director on there or your name as some type of person in the company?

[Desperate Daniella]

Hi postggj,

 

The thread that I found was Suggested letter where the claimant fails to comply with Court Orders

 

I wrote when they hadn't complied with the first date and didn't hear back from the court. I wrote when they didn't comply with the second date and that was on the same day that the court wrote to me saying I had to pay £75 and the letters crossed in the post. Their second reply just sent a copy of their first letter. They won't take the file into the judge unless I pay, but if I need to do a counterclaim I'd be better off saving the £75 to use towards that.

 

Dad,

 

It was a verbal arrangement between friends. The company was her idea, but she was not able to go forward with it on her own. She needed my expertise. So, yes, there was an offer, and acceptance from me on the basis that I would be 50% shareholder in the company, and a director of it, and for this she advanced the funds. It was agreed that after expenses were deducted we would receive 50% each of any income.

 

Godmother, on the Companies House register it shows that I was a director of the company from first registration and that she removed me at the time she threw me out of the company.

 

There is no reference to me on the website, only her because she was "the personality" for want of a better word, and it was decided she would be the "face" of the company. To use her on her own meant it would be a better story from a pr point of view and this proved to be the case. I got her a fantastic pr opportunity - interview for a national Sunday newspaper - and she refused to speak to the journalist!!!! I doubt very much if she has done very much with the company at all - she certainly didn't do that interview. I asked her if I could take it over, do all the work and still pay her 50% of any income and she refused.

 

At the time she did this she was very angry, jealous and spiteful. She didn't need the company to work because she didn't need the income it would generate. I did, desperately, and really would have done it on my own and paid her half of the fees, but she was just spitting with rage at this point so there was nothing I could do.

 

There was no mention of paying back the advances at the time. She started her claim six months later.

 

However, the stationery shows clearly that I was a Director of the Company, and she paid for it. People are usually directors of companies because they put in money and/or time. It's very unlikely that someone who had "no input" as she says about me would be a director of any company. She put the money in and I put almost all of the time in.

 

Thanks everyone for all your ideas on this. Sooo appreciated.

 

DDxx

Edited September 29, 2009 by Desperate Daniella

[Desperate Daniella]

Dad,

 

Sorry, meant to say thank you for that Quantum Meruit link. I really do think I have grounds for a counterclaim and I said in my defence statement to the court that the only reason I wasn't counterclaiming at the time of putting in the defence was due to lack of funds and I hoped to put in a counterclaim at a later date if I could afford it. I spent many hours setting up the business, and then many hours on the road incurring expenses such as petrol and mobile phone calls. It's absolutely astonishing that she doesn't give this any recognition at all.

 

DD

[dad]

DD,

 

Rather than a counterclaim, you may be able to mount what is called an 'equitable defence' to the claim. I do not have a link to point you to, bu the essential difference between a counterclaim and an equitable defence is that you do not have to pay a fee!.

 

In essence what you are saying is: I defend this claim for money because the claimant owes me money.

 

You will need to include in your witness statement evidence of all the time and expense you went to while 'working' for the claimant.

 

You will also have to deal with the 'iou' you mentionioned as these are evidence that the sums were intended to be repaid. A key point about equity is that you must come to the court with 'clean hands'

 

It seems to me that you might proceed with alternative defences:

 

1. Verbal contract.

 

in the alternative:

 

2. Quantum Meruit.

 

HTH

 

Dad

[Desperate Daniella]

Hi Dad,

 

Thanks for this.

 

The Defence, the documents attached to it and those listed under Standard Disclosure, and the Witness Statement I've already done have detailed everything I did. Fortunately I had copies of emails about almost everything I drafted and I have work books and itemised telephone bills. I didn't actually provide the figures but obviously they could have inspected these.

 

I haven't put a price on it either although I could.

 

Can I change what I have already done to an Equitable Defence? I'll search that in a minute because it's not a term I've heard of before. I think though that that is what I have been trying to do albeit a bit messily.

 

I have more or less finished the letter to her solicitor about being misled about the shareholdings. I was going to end by asking on what basis did she think I was working? and saying that as I clearly wasn't a shareholder I was therefore an employee and must be owed a considerable amount of money in unpaid salary and I must start a counterclaim against her. I really don't think she will want that. Her reaction to anything she doesn't want to do is to run away from it. She wouldn't discuss the situation at all when she threw me out, she just avoided me. She did something similar in a totally different situation with someone else the previous year and now of course looking back I'm almost certain she lied in that situation too.

 

I'd certainly be going to Court with clean hands.

 

I thought she would reply by denying that I did most of the work but she hasn't. That's because I've got proof I did it, and she won't have proof that she did very much at all.

 

What happened is that when I put in my Defence there were two documents attached as part of it, and referred to in it, because otherwise it would have gone all over the place. When they sent her the Defence they did not attach these two documents, one of which was a complete chronology of the company and everything I did. When she sent in her statement attached to the AQ she said she didn't know what was in the attached documents as the Court hadn't sent them and therefore she made all these untrue statements before knowing exactly what I was going to produce as evidence. For example, she said I made "no input", but I could provide copies of all the stuff I drafted and sent to her to look at. One small example was the brochure draft where I have sent the layout and said for the front page: "This is where we put in a picture of your ......" If she had written it, it would have read: "This is where we put in a picture of my, or the ....."

 

It was when she got my statement refuting what she said when I sent her a copy of my AQ that she got in a solicitor. I had always thought dates for returning AQs were the same for both parties, and I think they forgot to send mine out because the first I knew of it was when I got the copy of hers. I rang the Court and asked why I hadn't received one and they sent it with a return date of about a fortnight later.

 

I don't see how even with a solicitor she can go back on the statements she has already made.

 

DD

[dad]

DD,

 

I haven't put a price on it either although I could.

 

Yes, I would in your witness statement, together with a reasonable basis for the calculation (previous payslips, previous invoices, professional publications). You appear to have used some technical skill and it is only reasonable that you are rewarded for it. Equally, if you acted as a director you are taking on personal liabilities under the Companies Act and would expect to receive some fee for those duties.

 

Dad

[angel_1]

Just popped in to say hello DD

 

i see you are getting lots of help thanks for the rep click,,, just keep positive and keep posting

 

take care for now off to do a bit of dinner and will be back laters

 

angel x:)

[the_shadow]

Hi DD,

 

Just found this thread.. you have more than enough braincells on this helping you but if I can add my 1/4 of one for a second..

 

If they are actually claiming you werent a director but rather an employee....

 

Payslips, payment records and most importantly PAYE and NI records should exist else HMRC arent going to be happy.

 

S.

[Undercover-Elsa]

yep.. and they don't. No records from what I gather from DD.

presumably the woman would like the court to assume DD was neither director nor employee, but did all the wotk on a voluntary basis?

Gut reaction is she'll perform COURTUS INTERUPTUS and drop it before she either forks out any more fees or puts herself at risk of commiting perjury. We live in hope

Great advice on here now DD..

Chin up hon

Elsa xx

[Desperate Daniella]

Hi Angel, and Hi Shadow!! (and Dad and Elsa),

 

I wish I'd started this thread ages ago, but it was trying to cut the first posting down enough so that people would actually read it without losing the will to live.

 

Anyway, I've done the Witness Statement and sent it to her, but now wonder if I need to amend the whole thing to an Equitable Defence and if I need to apply to the court to do this.

 

I've still received absolutely nothing from them in accordance with Directions.

 

As far as PAYE and NI are concerned, my tax situation is tied up with my other company and my accountant said I should take Director's Drawings so that the whole thing could be done together.

 

We started to work (or more accurately talk on, and on, and on.....) some 16 months before we got our first client. My own company was set up in three weeks flat. My mum always said she was just playing at it. She set up the company exactly a year before she chucked me out, and we only actually got the first client two months before the end of that year, when I finally went out and got a client. (During this period she insisted on meeting up once at week, at the weekends, which usually just involved her coming over to my house for Sunday lunch and staying for about seven hours, to talk about the most minor points, again, and again, and again.)

 

She hasn't denied I was a Director - she can't because of the stationery. She said in her AQ statement that she set up the company on her own as a 100% shareholder and I "was enthusiastic about being involved" and my role was "never specifically discussed". She always said everything - shares, income - would be 50/50. As Elsa says, presumably she thought I was doing everything on a voluntary basis. Surely any judge would see that?

 

What is so very, very upsetting for me here is that I was finding it a struggle financially and wanted (needed) to emigrate and this company could have really solved my financial problems here so I didn't need to do that. In just six weeks I was proving that I could get results and she absolutely couldn't bear it so she turned on me and that's where I am now.

 

Thanks again everyone.

 

DDxxx

[Desperate Daniella]

Elsa,

 

Forgot to say that I love the 'voluntary basis' idea. I'll be adding that into the letter to her solicitor just after asking on what basis I was supposed to be working exactly.

 

DDxx

[Undercover-Elsa]

[citizenB]

Hi DD,

 

Just found this thread.. you have more than enough braincells on this helping you but if I can add my 1/4 of one for a second..

 

If they are actually claiming you werent a director but rather an employee....

 

Payslips, payment records and most importantly PAYE and NI records should exist else HMRC arent going to be happy.

 

S.

 

Nice one, shadow:)

 

presumably the woman would like the court to assume DD was neither director nor employee, but did all the wotk on a voluntary basis?

 

Yeah right.. but then most employers want you working that way nowadays, Elsa

[Desperate Daniella]