Hoist Portfolio holding 2 Limited County court summons

[512mattheww]

Hi thanks for letting me join.
Back in March 15 the above company summonsed me £1400 Howard Cohen via due to an overdraft debt they had been assigned by Santander.
On 22nd March I filed an acknowledgement of service. On 17th and 31st March I sent a CDA request to Howard Co and company so I could file a defence as I did not recognise the name of the companies on the summons, they have never responded.It was subsequently allocated to small claims track
In Aug 15 CC Judge set a hearing date of 14th Oct 15, with an order that all documents to be served on all parties 21 days before. On 25th Sept 15 I received documents from Howard Cohen which shows that this was a Abbey National Account, FULL details enclosed clarified matters and I accept it is my debt, they have also said that they will be requesting my previous defence is thrown out. Can they send these docs 19 days before a court hearing, are they admissable due to 21 day rule ? If they had the docs when they filled in the statement of truth why did they not send them as a response to my CDA ? And if they did not have the docs then statement of truth on claim form is not correct ? Can a Jersey company sue in UK county court ? What should I do from here, many thanks Matt

[Pixie]

Re: Hoist Portfolio holding 2 Limited County court summons

Hi Matt and welcome.

Someone will be along shortly who will be able to answer your queries but could you just clarify a couple of things in the meantime? The title of your thread mentions Hoist Portfolio but you haven't mentioned them in your post. How much is the claim for?

BTW your thread is in the wrong section so when we know a little more we'll be able to move it into the relevant section.

[512mattheww]

Re: Hoist Portfolio holding 2 Limited County court summons

The claim is for approximately £1400, The claimant is Hoist Portfolio 2 Limited of JERSEY, their solicitor is Howard Cohen and Co. The claim is for an OLD Abbey National overdraft that HC say has been assigned to HP2L.

[Never-In-Doubt]

Re: Hoist Portfolio holding 2 Limited County court summons

I'm out at moment - give me couple hours & I'll get back to you. The fact It's from Jersey doesn't matter.

[cymruambyth]

Re: Hoist Portfolio holding 2 Limited County court summons

Hi matheww and welcome to AAD, you need to wait until Niddy is back. He will ask lots of questions and request documents; everything will be secure and this will enable the site to give you the best advice.

[Never-In-Doubt]

Re: Hoist Portfolio holding 2 Limited County court summons

They are in breach of the order but I suspect that realistically the court will still allow their witness evidence in as it is a small claims.

Depends on the DJ though! Some say yes, others say no.

If it was me, I would contact Howard Cohen and try to come to a deal - they will be spared the costs of attendance and recover the hearing fee so maybe I'd offer around £800 over a period of XX months with no CCJ (agree a Tomlin).

That seems to be the best option in this instance. I'd certainly not try and fight things - I'd try to get a good deal sorted via Tomlin.

[PlanB]

Re: Hoist Portfolio holding 2 Limited County court summons

they have also said that they will be requesting my previous defence is thrown out.

^^^^ Has the Claimant made an application for a summary judgement to be heard at the same hearing?

In Aug 15 CC Judge set a hearing date of 14th Oct 15, with an order that all documents to be served on all parties 21 days before.

Was there anything in the Claimant's Witness Statement (have they served one?) which could give you bargaining power if/when you make any offer? This may be an overdraft but there are plenty of legal hoops which a creditor has to jump through before they can claim their prize in court. Maybe they have or maybe they haven't but you haven't posted the full story yet.

Have you filed a Witness Statement as per the court Order? (I'm guessing you were obliged to do that too even though you've not said it was in the DJ's Directions.)

You need to be guided as to whether any offer you make should be made "Without Prejudice" or not in case they reject it and you still find yourself in court on 14th October.

Plan B x

[PlanB]

Re: Hoist Portfolio holding 2 Limited County court summons

The claimant is Hoist Portfolio 2 . . . . their solicitor is Howard Cohen and Co. The claim is for an OLD Abbey National overdraft that HC say has been assigned to HP2L.

Were you ever sent a Notice of Assignment by Santander?

Sorry to sound daft but I don't know what you mean by a "CDA request" in your previous posts

What documents did you ask for (formally?) and what documents were disclosed by the Claimant (if any)?

If you want to negotiate a good deal to settle then you need the ammunition to put them under pressure to accept your offer.

Plan B x

[Never-In-Doubt]

Re: Hoist Portfolio holding 2 Limited County court summons

All offers should be marked "Without Prejudice". Sorry I was vague - of course you're right that he'd need some guidance, I only quickly replied so the OP wasn't hanging around.

Its a tactic so as to save on costs.

[PlanB]

Re: Hoist Portfolio holding 2 Limited County court summons

All offers should be marked "Without Prejudice". .

Its a tactic so as to save on costs.

I agree even though legal costs are not normally an issue in the Small Claims Court 'win or lose' unless either party has behaved badly.

In my personal experience Howard Cohen sometimes behaves badly

Plan B x

[Never-In-Doubt]

Re: Hoist Portfolio holding 2 Limited County court summons

I mean to save their costs by not taking it to court. So a reduced settlement would negate any added expenditure thus they're more likely to negotiate a settlement.

You know what I mean - I'm just rushing

Happy to help if required. Some successes this week with settling small claims

-> http://forums.all-about-debt.co.uk/s...626#post528626
-> http://forums.all-about-debt.co.uk/s...220#post527220

[julian]

Re: Hoist Portfolio holding 2 Limited County court summons

I don't want to raise any hopes, but Cohen's tried the same with me some years back. I went to court and won as they did not bother to turn up. I suppose it depends where you live and what other cases they have on.

[512mattheww]

Re: Hoist Portfolio holding 2 Limited County court summons

ALL thanks for your response

After I had received the summons I filed an acknowledgement of service (in time) and sent this letter to Howard Cohen on 17th March 15

"Dear Sirs,

Claim Number: B7ALxxxxx

Request for documents mentioned in a statement of case under CPR 31.14

On 13th March 15 I received a County Court claim from yourselves of which I will be acknowledging receipt of indicating my intention to defend in full.
To enable me to file my defence and/or counterclaim, I require inspection of documents the documents below that you mention in your statement of case ahead of filing my defence on 27th March 2015.

1. Signed copy of the overdraft Agreement.
2. Copy of Notice Served.
3. Copy of “Santander” Assignment Notice.

In accordance with CPR 31.15(c) I undertake to be responsible for your reasonable copying costs incurred in complying with this CPR 31.14 request.
You should note that this claim has not yet been allocated to a specific track and the provisions of CPR 27(2) are of no effect. Had your claim not been issued through CCBC the Claimant would have been obliged to attach copies of the documentation upon which it relies to the Particulars of Claim.I , as Defendant, am entitled to see the documents on which the Claimant relies and which you will have to produce at trial. Disclosure at this stage will enable me to fully plead my case and further the Overriding Objective.
You should ensure compliance with your CPR 31 duties and ensure that the document(s) I have requested are copied to and received by me within 7 days of receiving this letter.

If you require more time in which to comply with this request you must tell me in writing and confirm your agreement to an extension of the time allowed for me to file my defence as allowed under CPR 15.5 so I may notify the court.

I look forward to hearing from you.

Yours faithfully"

And on the 31st March 15 as Howard Cohen had not replied I sent them this letter

"Dear Sirs,

Claim Number: B7AXXXX

Request for documents mentioned in a statement of case under CPR 31.14

On 17th March 15 I wrote to you regarding the above case and requested additional information. Please note as of 31^st March 15 I have still not received the information requested. I have acknowledged service of the summons on 22^nd March 15 and I have 14 days from that date to file my defence, however without the information in my previous letter I am unable to effectively prepare a proper defence.

I therefore request as specified by CPR rule 15.4 that you confirm your agreement to an extension of the time to file my defence; I suggest the extension date that we agree on is 28th April 15.

I enclose a copy of the previous letter mentioned above, hence now:

1) Please confirm that you are in receipt of this request.
2) Please confirm that you agree the extension of time.
3) Please also confirm when you will be providing the information requested.

Yours faithfully"

Again no reply from Howard Cohen at all.

So I filed the following defence on
18th Apr 15

"I originally acknowledged this claim on 22nd March 15 on the MCOL gateway.
I am unable to access the claim through the MCOL gateway for some reason, hence this email.
Please note my address for service is XXXXXXXXXXXXXX and not the address noted
on the acknowledgement of service I filed on 22nd March 15.
I have twice written to the CLAIMANT on 17th March 15 and 31st March 15 requesting documents mentioned in a
statement of case under CPR 31.14. The CLAIMANT has not responded to either of my requests. In my letter of 31st
March 15 I asked for an extension of time until 28th April 15 to file my defence under CPR 15.4 due to the above issues,
this has never been acknowledged either. I enclose a copy of my TWO letters and acknowledgement of service.
I do not recognise the name Santander or Hoist Portfolio Holdings as any that I have dealings with in the past, and I cannot file any other defence without documents to confirm statement of case.
I request that the court make an order that the CLAIMANT responds to my correspondence of 17th March and 31st March
without further delay, and in any case by 30th April 15 at the latest. Upon the CLAIMANT supplying this information I
request that the court grants a further period of 21 days (from the date the information is provided) for me to amend my
defence in line with the documents provided.
I further request that if the CLAIMANT does not provide the above information by 30th April 15 that the case is dismissed
without delay as the case is not being actively pursued due to the CLAIMANT not providing documents requested under
CPR 31.14 to support the statement of case in a timely manner.
Kind regards MATTHEW XXXXX"

Still no response from Howard Cohen, and nothing more from County Court other than allocation questionnaire.

So I amended my defence on 29th May 15

"I, Matthew XXXXX am the Defendant in this action and make the following statement to add to my defence to the claim made by Hoist Portfolio Holding 2 Ltd.
2. Except where otherwise mentioned in this defence, I neither admit nor deny any allegation made in the Claimants' Particulars of Claim and put the Claimant to strict proof thereof.
3. The Defendant is embarrassed in pleading to the Particulars of Claim as it stands at present, inter alia:-
The Claimants' particulars of claims disclose no legal cause of action and they are embarrassing to the Defendant as the Claimant's statement of case is insufficiently particularised and does not comply or even attempt to comply with CPR part 16.
4. I wish to draw the Court’s attention to the following matters below.
5. A copy of the purported written documents that the Claimant cited in the Particulars of Claim, and which appears to form the basis upon which these proceedings have been brought, has not been served attached to the claim.
6. On 17th March 15 and 31st March 15 the Defendant submitted requests under CPR rules 31.14 via First Class Recorded Delivery for copies of the written documents in 5 above, in order to assess if the sum claimed is accurate and any other documentation that the Claimant is relying upon in pursuit of this claim. The claimant did not respond to either request.
7. On 31st March 15, the Defendant submitted a written request by First Class Recorded Delivery for an extension to file his defence to the Claimants solicitors. The Claimant did not respond.
8. If the Claimant had the written documents in their possession, then it would follow that they can easily comply with CPR rules 31.14 requests made above.
9. If the Claimant does not have these documents in their possession, then they could not have viewed the documents they are relying on prior to taking this court action. It therefore follows that their statement of truth on the claim form is therefore untrue, and I respectfully request the court should consider striking out the claim.
10. I respectfully ask the permission of the court to amend this defence as per this document, and to allow a further amendment when the Claimant provides full disclosure of the requested documents.
Statement of truth
I, Matthew XXXX believe the above statement to be true and factual.
Signed
M XXXXX"

The court wrote to me in Aug 15and set a trial date of 14th Oct 15, with an order that ALL documents are submitted 3 weeks prior to the trial. This means documents should have been submitted by 23rd Sept 15. I have not submitted anything as I had nothing new to add.

On 25th Sept 15 I received absolute proof from Howard Cohen that the debt was mine, this was posted to me on the 24th Sept 15. Hence out of the 3 week timescale, however along with it they said they intend to write to court and make a request to strike out my defence.

So what is the best way forward?

If they make an application to strike out the case what should I do ?

They may have not Paid the hearing fee, on the back of saying they are seeking to strike out the defence?

If they had the documents they sent me on the 25th Sept 15 back in March when they filed the claim, they should have been able to respond to my CDA request. Surely when making a claim they should have the documents in their possession to sign a statement of truth ?

What rights does a JERSEY REGISTERED LIMITED COMPANY to sue in a UK court, Jersey is not a member of the EU ?

Also I have read something in various places on internet about their being different types of assignment notice, one of which would need my signature to agree to the “novation” Is there anything here to be looked at. It is something along the lines that an absolute assignment does not need my signature, but a type of assignment classed as a novation does need my signature (the latter type the original debtor can call back to chase themselves) see link below, sorry it from another site link removed by Admin

Howard Cohen have given chapter and verse on why the debt is mine on the 25^th Sept 15, if this document is allowed as evidence by the judge and he strikes out the defence then I will lose, if there is a hearing and the Judge allows the document then I will lose ? Could I successfully request document is disallowed completely?

Based on all of the above I welcome your best advice

[512mattheww]

Re: Hoist Portfolio holding 2 Limited County court summons

Many thanks for your help

[PlanB]

Re: Hoist Portfolio holding 2 Limited County court summons

inspection of documents the documents below that you mention in your statement of case ahead of filing my defence on 27th March 2015.

1. Signed copy of the overdraft Agreement.
2. Copy of Notice Served.
3. Copy of “Santander” Assignment Notice.

In accordance with CPR 31.15(c) . . . . . I filed the following defence on
18th Apr 15

". . . .
I do not recognise the name Santander or Hoist Portfolio Holdings as any that I have dealings with in the past . . . "

. . . So I amended my defence on 29th May 15

" I respectfully request the court should consider striking out the claim.
10. I respectfully ask the permission of the court to amend this defence as per this document, and to allow a further amendment when the Claimant provides full disclosure of the requested documents. "

The court wrote to me in Aug 15and set a trial date of 14th Oct 15, with an order that ALL documents are submitted 3 weeks prior to the trial. This means documents should have been submitted by 23rd Sept 15. I have not submitted anything as I had nothing new to add.

On 25th Sept 15 I received absolute proof from Howard Cohen that the debt was mine

They may have not Paid the hearing fee . . .

Did the Claimant provide ALL the documents in your CPR request as Ordered by the court?

Were you not ordered to file a WS in the same Directions Order (which may have been seven days after the deadline for the Claimant to provide their documents so you can react to them)?

When was this old Abbey National overdraft finally 'called in' by the bank? This may have been some time after your last payment. Did you go on paying after the overdraft was 'called in' such as in a DMP etc? Can you recall the last time you made a payment? You say you've had no dealings ever with Santander (or Hoist). Santander bought Abbey National in 2004 (i.e. eleven years ago) so is there the remote possibility this debt could have been statute barred before the claim was issued in March 2015?

In your amended Defence you told the court that you may need to amend it again when/if you got the response for documents. You didn't mention SB in your Defence because you didn't have any information to assess the situation.

Cases are won or lost in two ways either on a procedural error or a fact of law (or a combination of both).

You say Howard Cohen has provided absolute proof that the debt is yours (and Hoists?). What was the proof?

Call the court to check if HC has paid the hearing fee. They probably have but check all the same.

Howard Cohen have a habit of sending a pre-completed Consent Order close to a hearing date in the hope you'll agree to their terms. Typically they offer two. Either a reduced lump sum for one-off payment, or the full sum in monthly instalments. Have they sent you a Consent Order?

I hope these questions help you to make an informed decision as to how you wish to proceed.

Plan B x