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The RCJ Advice Bureau provides advice to litigants in person at the Royal Courts of Justice and the Principal Registry of the Family Division, as well as operating the Miscarriages of Justice Support Service across England and Wales.  Since the onset of the recession the number of people approaching the Bureau for help has increased by 40%, with big rises in debt, employment and housing problems.  The case studies below help to illustrate the people and the problems that your donations help us to resolve.

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Case study - Civil Litigation

Mr R had defended five sets of court proceedings issued against him by his local council (who were seeking possession of his property based on his unwillingness to change his method of payment for his rent) and decided to issue proceedings against the council himself for an injunction and damages for harassment under the Protection from Harassment Act 1997. The council successfully applied for his claim to be struck out, and Mr R was initially refused permission to appeal. Mr R applied for an oral reconsideration of this refusal and was granted permission to appeal.

The Bureau team advised Mr R throughout his appeal litigation, and he was able to represent himself at the full appeal hearing where his appeal was successful, Lord Justice Rimer commenting that: “This appeal does raise an issue which can fairly be said to cross the part 52.13 threshold. It raises in fairly stark form whether the visiting upon Mr. A of the repeated claims of the sort he has had to suffer is capable of constituting harassment within the meaning of the Protection from Harassment Act 1997”.

Case study - Bankruptcy

Mrs A came to the Bureau’s bankruptcy court desk for advice on a problem many of our clients face – being served with a statutory demand for debts that have been assigned to a debt recovery company. Mrs A had received the demand from a debt recovery agency acting on behalf of a bank for a credit agreement she allegedly signed in 1999, which they said had an outstanding balance of £4,235.

Mrs A could not remember any dealings with this bank, and when the debt collectors had first written to her she had responded to tell them that they had got the wrong person. The Bureau wrote to the debt recovery agency asking for copies of her agreement and payment history with the original creditor, and also highlighted that if any debt existed it was likely to be statute barred as there had been no communication from 1999 until 2008. The Bureau also assisted Mrs A to apply to have the statutory demand set aside, and at the hearing the creditor failed to provide proof of the debt and Mrs A’s application to set aside the statutory demand was successful.

 

 

Team members:  David Mackie, James Banks, Ann Black, Florence Ayo, Penny Brix, Jeanette Daly Mathias, Stuart Mathias, Wendy Smith, Toks Okeniyi, Cathy Kane, Christine Holligan, Sean Butler, Beccy Scott, Jacqui Brooks, Esther Brown, Asha Ganesh, Jennifer Beynon, Neliswa Kwatshube, Neeta Pattani, Sue Littledale, Rebecca Wragg, Hazel Kettle, Howard Levy, Aniko Ajozi, Elena Abraham, Jonathan Driscoll, Louise Lawson, Anir Chatterji and Aneesa Mala.