ALTERNATIVE DISPUTE RESOLUTION (ADS) SOLICITORS

Debt Recovery for businesses

Capstone Law (London) offers high-end debt recovery advice, tailored to the needs of your business.

We understand that at time, the most important criterion for your business is to balance invoices that need to be paid whilst maintaining good relations in an ongoing contract dispute. Similarly, there will be times when you seek to adopt a more aggressive approach. We will discuss the strategy with you at the beginning, and adapt our approach as the matter progresses. At times, it will call for a claim to be issued and the dispute adjudicated through the Courts.

The first step when pursuing either a business or an individual is for us to write to them and inform them of your intended claim, details of the dispute and the amount you are seeking. You will have provided us with all the documentation and information in your dispute and we will attach relevant documentation to this letter, such as invoices.

Our speciality is negotiation and mediation, so whilst we will try out best to avoid a Court battle and settle the dispute through correspondence or a meeting, at times, a difficult opposition and dispute can only be settled through the Courts. We are however mindful of the cost and stress associated with going to Court, and so will discuss this with you in detail, prior to issuing a claim. All costs and fees will be made transparent to you.

If a claim is issued, the court will send sealed copies to the debtor, at which point they must decide if they will settle immediately or defend the claim. At this stage, most debtors do not agree to settle but it does often happen further down the path to trial. It can take anywhere between 12-24 months to go to Trial.

Debt Recovery for Personal matters

If a County Court Judgement (CCJ) has been issued against you, and you have never received a claim form, we will make an application to set aside the Judgement. If you did receive a claim form, we can still make an application if you have a good reason for not replying to the acknowledgement pack in time.

If you wish to issue a claim against a negligent builder or negligent professional (this list is not exhaustive), we will advise you on the merits of your claim

TYPES OF COURT FOR DEBT RECOVERY

In the County Court, there are three ‘tracks’ for civil claims:

the Small Claims Track,

the Fast Track and

the Multi Track.

The court will allocate the matter to the most appropriate track depending on the claim amount and complexity of the claim.

Generally speaking, money claims for an amount under £10,000 (which do not relate to Personal Injury) are likely to be allocated to the Small Claims Track.

The small claims track is generally designed for lower value (less than £10,000) and less complex cases. There is still a requirement for all parties to comply with the correct civil procedure rules.   PART 27 – THE SMALL CLAIMS TRACK – Civil Procedure Rules (justice.gov.uk)

Claims allocated to the small track do not have the same requirements when it comes to costs and there is no presumption that the losing party will be responsible for paying the winning party’s legal costs.

What to do next?

Fill out our enquiry form or email us on info@capstonelaw.london and someone from our team will get back to you.