Arrow/shoesmith amend ordinary case day before court! - **decree of absolvitor issued **

[riptscript]

Hi,

 

I'm hoping for some advice re. an ordinary cause action I'm defending in Scotland .

 

The Pursuer is Arrow Global with Shoosmiths acting as their solicitors

- pursuing an alleged debt of £7,239 which they claim was assigned to them by HBOS.

 

The last day for submitting any adjustments to either the writ or defences is 1st April (i.e tomorrow!!).

 

I had previously requested a lot of relevant documentation regarding this case,

but heard nothing until today when Shoosmiths telephoned me,

saying they now had the documentation I had requested and asking if they could send it to me by e-mail,

adding that they would send the hard copies to follow by post.

 

What they have actually e-mailed is a greatly adjusted writ, which has clearly been re-written in response to my original defences,

along with a copy of a personal loan agreement I had signed 15 years ago for an advance of £2000 with approx £500 in personal protection.

 

The documents they have sent me have clearly been submitted to the court today as well,

which will keep them within the time limit for submitting adjustments,

 

but I did not receive the e-mail until late afternoon,

so I was already too late to respond by the time I received it.

 

I can't believe I was stupid enough to give them my e-mail address,

and I can't believe they can get away with pulling a prank like this.

 

Surely there must be something I can do to be able to respond to their significantly re-worded writ.

 

I would be grateful for any advice that anyone can offer.

[dx100uk]

usual tricks by shoe's

is yule involved too?

 

phone the court and tell them.

 

scan up the agreement please

 

UPLOAD

[pancake roll]

I think that Any adjustment of claim has to lodge by

Incidental Application under Summery cause rules 13.1 (see below)

 

13.1. (1) The sheriff may, on the incidental application of a party, allow amendment of the summons, form of response, counterclaim or answers to a counterclaim and adjust the note of disputed issues at any time before final judgment is pronounced on the merits.

 

(2) In an undefended action, the sheriff may order the amended summons to be re-served on the defender on such period of notice as he thinks fit.

 

(3) Paragraph (1) includes amendment for the following purposes:-

 

(a) increasing or reducing the sum claimed;

 

(b) seeking a different remedy from that originally sought;

 

© correcting or supplementing the designation of a party;

 

(d) enabling a party to sue or be sued in a representative capacity; and

 

(e) sisting a party in substitution for, or in addition to, the original party.

 

(4) Where an amendment sists an additional or substitute defender to the action the sheriff shall order such service and regulate further procedure as he thinks fit.

 

Email the solicitors and point out this rules. If you had a solicitors acting for you, your solicitors would point this out and object this.

 

Sorry, i quoted you for SUMMERY CAUSE RULES. The ORDINARY CAUSE (under rules 18) should be the same.

[riptscript]

Thanks to those who have responded.

 

I decided to stay up half the night to prepare my adjusted defences and I lodged them with the court by hand today,

so I made the 1st of April deadline for submittimg them.

 

The Pursuers' copy has been posted to Shoosmith by special delivery today,

which will mean they will receive it a day after the deadline,

 

although the postman has been and gone today and I have still not received the copy of the adjusted writ

which has supposedly been posted to me

 

(apart from the e-mail attachment Shoosmiths sent to me,

which has in part been rendered illegible by the photo-copying process).

 

I am now fully expecting Shoosmiths to lodge some motion or other in an attempt to win by default

due to their copy of the adjusted defences being delivered to them late or for some other similar reason,

 

but I've dealt with this situation before in similar types of cases, and I am confident that I could successfully oppose such a motion

if that's the route the Pursuers decide to go down.

 

I occasionally act as a nominated lay representative in debt related cases like this

- it just happens to be me as defender myself this time,

but the work involved is still the same.

 

Barring any motions being lodged, the options hearing is due to be held on 15 April.

 

I will keep the forum posted on how things progress.

[maroondevo52]

 

I will keep the forum posted on how things progress.

 

How did things go ?

[riptscript]

It was a very good outcome in the end.

 

At the options hearing, Shoosmiths had appointed a local solicitor to speak on their behalf,

and he asked for the case to be continued for a further 6 weeks to allow Shoosmiths "clients" (i.e Arrow Global)

more time to find the relevant documentation to back up their claim.

 

I opposed that motion on the grounds that the pursuer had already had several months to find any relevant documentation,

which the sheriff agreed with and therefore set a date for a proof hearing.

 

A few days before the date set for the proof hearing, Shoosmiths made contact with me

and told me their client had decided not to proceed with the case.

 

They asked if I would agree to the case being dismissed with no costs due to or by either side,

but I told them I would only agree to do that if Shoosmiths asked the court for a decree of absolvitor,

which they eventually had to agree to as otherwise the proof hearing would have gone ahead

and I would have won as they clearly had not one shred of evidence to back up their claim.

 

A decree of absolvitor can be granted in these situations, whereby the sheriff can treat the case as if the defender has won

when no proof hearing has actually taken place, because the Pursuer has dropped the case without presenting any evidence.

It means that I cannot be taken back to court in respect of the alleged debt Arrow Global were pursuing.

 

Thanks to all who have shown an interest in this case.

[citizenB]

That was a good move on your part to ensure that they cannot issue another claim further down the line.

 

You would have thought they would have learned their lesson by now by ensuring that all the documents they intend to rely on are already in their possession prior to issuing claims.

[dx100uk]

hey great news

 

that's a bloody nose in for them too in Scotland now

on these speculative claims

 

it would really really help CAG if you could stick around..

or atleast look in on the Scottish forum once in a while.

 

 

you know what you are doing...we dont

 

 

dx

[deimosboy]

Great news.

 

Also great to hear that "speculative claims" are something that does happen. As have received a summary cause summons myself on old debt from a DCA and just wondering why if there was a claim the original loan provider would not pursue themselves if it was enforceable!

 

This is a great site and so glad i have discovered it as it gives great heart, that you can take these guys on and use the system to beat them.