Lowell claim form - old cat debt***Claim Dismissed***

[andyep]

Well done Tulip !

[Tulip637]

Thank you!

 

Here's how it all went..

 

I got on and my case wasn't assigned so we had to wait, the usher was really lovely at first and helpful.

 

After their rep arrived, she was all over the usher, really ott and gusty, and from them on the usher only spoke to their rep, who then came and told me and I found that quite odd.

 

After my case was assigned i handed my skeleton argument to their rep and she very loudly said I couldn't submit any more evidence as it had to be in 14 days before.

 

I explained that I understood that but id been advised to hand it in and it wasn't further evidence, there was nothing that wasn't in the ws already and that it was just my skeleton argument.

 

She still objected and I went to hand mine into the usher and to asked her to put it in my file but their rep was still very vocal and complaining.

 

The usher eventually agreed to add it to my file but said she would make it absolutely clear to the judge that their rep had raised an objection and didn't want it seen.

 

Their rep then went off and was sat in the corner scouring the document, taking photos of it and texting etc and making notes,

 

then she went into a private room on the side to make phone calls,

she'd been making phone calls all morning so I know that she went in there to make phone calls about my case and it made me wonder if spelling out my arguments up front had been a good idea or not.

 

We eventually went in to see the judge and she had everything out on her desk including my skeleton argument which she'd obviously been using.

 

She read the details of the case for the tape, then asked us to go to point 19 of their witness statement.

 

She asked their rep where the notice of Assignment was.

Their rep had loads of notes that she'd just made and said that the law didn't actually require a notice to be sent, just one to be written.

 

The judge said nice try but that's ridiculous of course it needs to be sent.

She was reading the law directly from their witness statement and from my skeleton argument.

 

The judge said the noa did have to be sent and their rep said it had been, and that the proof was that the woman who wrote their ws had signed a statement of truth and that was evidence enough.

 

The judge asked if she'd actually been the one to send it, and it sounded like if she had she may have accepted their word, but as their rep said no i doubt it the judge said that the noa was necessary.

 

She said if id not questioned it in my defence and ws it would be assumed to have been received but as I had said id not received it they had to physically prove that they had.

 

Their rep tried 2 or 3 times to get it adjourned so they could get one but the judge said no, the hearing was set for today and theyve had months to get it together.

 

She asked their rep some more and after a while the rep said they just don't have one, the judge clarified that lowell don't actually have a noa and the rep agreed.

 

She had pages of notes on my skeleton argument that she must have made with her phone calls and she'd obviously been told to try and blag it and if that failed to try to get it adjourned, but as she buckled and admitted that there wasn't one they must have been planning to create one!

 

the judge then said to me im sorry to jump straight to this issue, there are clearly a number of points here that would need to be discussed at length, but that she wanted to jump straight to the notice of Assignment because it underpins the rest and if there wasn't a noa there wasn't a case, therefore case dismissed.

 

She then told their rep off for trying it on with it..

 

Oh one other thing, after she'd ruled she asked if there was anything else

I thought id push my luck and ask about the default,

i knew she couldn't do anything but thought it wouldn't hurt to try anyway,

 

I said it's damaging to me was there anything she can do, and the judge said what's a default?

I explained a little but she didn't know what one was, she then asked their rep who also didn't know what a default was.. it really quite shocked me..

 

Then when we came out their rep asked if id understood everything and was ok.

Then she went out of her way to tell me that she didn't work for lowell.

 

I said yeah I know they rent solicitors, and she said yeah well thats what I am but I definitely do not work for them.

She was almost apologetic for representing them...

[AndyOrch]

" and the judge said what's a default? So I explained a little but she didn't know what one was, she then asked their rep who also didn't know what a default was.. it really quite shocked me.."

 

Nice to see we have the experts safely dealing with our judicial system...good job she knew what a Notice of Assignment was:!:

 

Pleased you managed to get the Skeleton in front of the judge...now you know why their Legal was insistent it shouldn't be allowed.

 

Andy

[Tulip637]

Yeah I was really worried about spelling things out to the judge, i thought it'd be like telling them their job, but she was reading the law as in their ws it was all quoted, she mainly used that and a little from my skeleton.

 

Next time, and there may well be a next time as I have 2 more to sort out, but I'm not as sure about those that I don't owe them, this one I knew the balance was cleared. Anyway next time I will have absolutely everything quoted..

 

Is there a way of dealing with these before they get to court? Or is it just wait for them to take further action?

[AndyOrch]

Easier to just wait and see if they instigate litigation..... otherwise its simply turns into letter tennis and you wont get any sense out of a DCA anyway.....