Company claiming compensation

[markWML]

I received a court’s & tribunal letter on Monday. The claimant (a recruitment agency) is claiming £9300 on an unpaid invoice from my company for services provided (providing vans and drivers to operate in the London area).

The thing is I have never heard or dealt with this agency. At first, I thought it was a scam letter, but it’s real. The claimant company also checks out fine too.

I spoke a solicitor about them possibly dealing with the required response to the letter. They told this would cost around £2000-£2500+vat, and I might be able to claim some or part of the cost back from the claimant.

So I decided to call the claimant and explain they have made a mistake and I have never dealt with his company. Their director explained to me that a guys claiming to be my company had contacted him etc, it’s a case of identity theft I guess.

I have given him 48 hours to withdraw the claim, otherwise I will have to instruct my solicitor to respond to the court letter, and I will claim my costs back from him.

I also told him he needs to go to the police as this fraud and that I’m happy to assist with their inquiries if it helps.

But I could do with some advice. Should I respond to the court letter myself (to avoid the solicitor fees), or should I instruct my solicitor to deal with it and hope I can claim the costs back? Does anyone know if it’s a complicated procedure?

 

[fisicx]

Check your business insurance. They may offer legal services as part of the policy.

 

[Michael Loveridge]

What exactly have you received? If it's just a letter then on the basis of what you've said you can just ignore it - you don't need to respond to it and you certainly don't need to pay your solicitor to do so.

But if it's a Claim Form then you do need to respond, and within 14 days, so as to avoid a default judgment. Again, though, there's no need to involve your solicitor, you just complete the Acknowledgment of Service form that will have arrived with the Claim Form saying you intend to defend the whole of the claim, and return it to the court.

That will then give you 28 days to file a Defence, which is plenty of time for the Claimant to withdraw (technically "discontinue") the claim.

You won't be able to claim any costs from the Claimant, as it's within the small claims limit of £10k, which is another reason to avoid using your solicitor.

 

[Nathanto]

The thing is I have never heard or dealt with this agency. ... Their director explained to me that a guys claiming to be my company had contacted him etc, it’s a case of identity theft I guess.

This all sounds a little odd. Presumably you haven't received any prior quotes, invoices, reminders or Letter Before Action so why only now are you receiving court documents to your address?

Those are questions I'd be asking the agency and I wouldn't rule out incompetence on their behalf before jumping to conclusions it's fraud.

Regardless, as already advised, within 14 days of the date of service you need to submit online an Acknowledgment of Service disputing the full amount of the claim on the basis your company has never had any dealings with the Claimant.

 

[Newchodge]

I received a court’s & tribunal letter on Monday.

Was it a letter or was it a cliam form requesting that you file a defence?

 

[markWML]

What exactly have you received? If it's just a letter then on the basis of what you've said you can just ignore it - you don't need to respond to it and you certainly don't need to pay your solicitor to do so.

But if it's a Claim Form then you do need to respond, and within 14 days, so as to avoid a default judgment. Again, though, there's no need to involve your solicitor, you just complete the Acknowledgment of Service form that will have arrived with the Claim Form saying you intend to defend the whole of the claim, and return it to the court.

That will then give you 28 days to file a Defence, which is plenty of time for the Claimant to withdraw (technically "discontinue") the claim.

You won't be able to claim any costs from the Claimant, as it's within the small claims limit of £10k, which is another reason to avoid using your solicitor.

Thanks Michael, after short phone conversations with two different solicitors, this the conclusion I'm rapidly coming too. Yes, its actually a claim form.

I'm slightly cautious about advise from solicitors has they seem to want to escalate things to increase their fee's. Neither actually mentioned I could not claim legal costs back, mmmm.

I did call the claimant company to speak to their a director, I have made him aware he has been scammed by a gang claiming to be my company. Lucky for me, the gang used a free gmail email addresses, bogus mobile phone numbers, fake staff names and several other things making it easy for me to prove my company had nothing to do with this.

The situation has only occurred due to the claimant have an inadequate credit clearance system in place.

Hopefully the claimant will do the right thing and withdraw the claim asap. But if I do have to respond, as you have made me aware that I can not claim legal fee's back, I will do it myself rather than using a solicitor. (Thanks for this piece of advise).

Many thanks.

 

[markWML]

I'm completing the online response to the online money-claim, i'm rejecting the claim. To this, I need to create a money claim account, I need to enter the claim number and defence pack password.

For the life of me, I can not find the defence pack password. Its not mentioned anywhere on the letter. The letter has the case number and a security code (tried using the security code, but doesn't except it).

Does any one know how get or where the defence pack password is?

Thank you in advance.

 

[FreddyG]

Here we go! This is a common point of confusion with the UK Government’s Online Civil Money Claims (OCMC) system. The defence pack password - where the F is it?

The simple answer is - there isn't one!

If you have a security code (but no defence pack password), the case is being handled through Online Civil Money Claims (OCMC). You need to go to -
www.gov.uk/respond-money-claim
That system does not use the older “defence pack password.”
There are two online claim systems in England & Wales (no, I don't know why either!)

Scream for help at their helpline - 0300 123 1057 (Monday–Friday, 8:30am–5pm)

 

[Michael Loveridge]

You can scream for help at the court’s helpline:

0300 123 1057 (Monday–Friday, 8:30am–5pm)

Good luck with that. It's likely to take a minimum of 50 minutes just for someone to answer the phone.

 

[HFE Signs]

I think you've done the right thing by contacting the claimant and explaining the situation, I would follow up this conversation by email so you have a record of it and ask for a reply.

I wouldn't involve solicitors at this stage, nor would I put a time constraint on it.

I would keep my email and reply safe and see if anything progresses, if not I'd consider the case closed.

 

[Newchodge]

I think you've done the right thing by contacting the claimant and explaining the situation, I would follow up this conversation by email so you have a record of it and ask for a reply.

I wouldn't involve solicitors at this stage, nor would I put a time constraint on it.

I would keep my email and reply safe and see if anything progresses, if not I'd consider the case closed.

If they do thast there will be a default judgment made against them!

 

[HFE Signs]

If they do thast there will be a default judgment made against them!

How?

 

[Newchodge]

How?

A claim in the county court has been lodged against them. If they don't file a defence the claim will be allowed.

 

[HFE Signs]

A claim in the county court has been lodged against them. If they don't file a defence the claim will be allowed.

I that case I'd still follow up with an email but keep the time constraint

 

[FreddyG]

I that case I'd still follow up with an email but keep the time constraint

I doubt that it works like that - there are (for no reason that makes any sense to me!) TWO systems and they are separate. He can no more protest an absence of liability with one, when the claim has been filed with the other, than I can invoice for my services to Mrs Avagne Goat-Posture, 17 Oil Drum Lane by invoicing Authur Armstrong Fortisqueue-Minge of Lower-Scrote-under-Slaughter.

The OP must check the URL on the claim letter.

If it says www.moneyclaim.gov.uk, he needs the Defence Pack Password.
If it directs him to www.gov.uk/respond-money-claim, he should use the Security Code already on the letter.

 

[markWML]

Thanks everybody for the replies. The money claim website is not the most user friendly, well, at least for tech dinosaur like me!!! I got a little confused when I couldn’t sign into my gov.uk gate account.

After a couple of hours, I eventually figured it out. So all sorted now. Defence logged etc. I opted not to use a solicitor as I wouldn’t be able to claim costs back.

Yes, after speaking to the claimant, I also emailed my points to him. Thinking it would help him if he had things in writing.

I am disappointed to say that I have not heard back from him or his staff, and he hasn’t withdrawn the claim either.

On a positive note, this all down to poor credit checks by the claimant, the email address, staff names and phones used by the bogus client do not match my company’s details. I expect claimant to not succeed with his claim.

 

[Mark T Jones]

Thanks everybody for the replies. The money claim website is not the most user friendly, well, at least for tech dinosaur like me!!! I got a little confused when I couldn’t sign into my gov.uk gate account.

After a couple of hours, I eventually figured it out. So all sorted now. Defence logged etc. I opted not to use a solicitor as I wouldn’t be able to claim costs back.

Yes, after speaking to the claimant, I also emailed my points to him. Thinking it would help him if he had things in writing.

I am disappointed to say that I have not heard back from him or his staff, and he hasn’t withdrawn the claim either.

On a positive note, this all down to poor credit checks by the claimant, the email address, staff names and phones used by the bogus client do not match my company’s details. I expect claimant to not succeed with his claim.

Unfortunately there is no particular motivation for them to withdraw the claim - they've paid the fee and done the work- the telling point will be whether they submit their package of evidence in the allotted timeframe.

Did either/both of of you agree to mediation?

 

[Michael Loveridge]

Did either/both of of you agree to mediation?

The last thing that markWML should be thinking of his mediation. That's designed for genuine disputes, and this isn’t one.

Instead, he needs to concentrate on getting rid of the claim ASAP, and without all the rigmarole, hassle and delay that a small claim involves.

He can do this by applying to strike out the claim as showing no cause of action under rule 3.4 of the Civil Procedure Rules – https://www.justice.gov.uk/courts/procedure-rules/civil/rules/part03#3.4

But before doing so he should write to the claimant, pointing out that the claimant doesn’t have a valid claim against him, and asking him to discontinue the claim immediately. He should go on to say that if the claimant doesn’t do so within 7 days he will apply to the court to strike the claim out and claim the costs (ok, it's only the court fee, but the claimant may not realise that) against the claimant.