Click on my video for the latest legal developments and tips. I promise it won't hurt.
If your creditor is threatening to bankrupt you personally or wind up your company, try and ward off proceedings until 01 November 2022 at least. That's because these insolvency cases started on or after that date will cost them substantially more and the prospect of laying out this extra money without any guarantee that proceedings will yield a penny, may not appeal to them.
How much more? The deposit the creditor must pay on account of Insolvency Service fees - and this is in addition to the court fee - jumps from £990 to £1,500 for bankruptcy and from £1,600 to £2,600 for winding up. The Insolvency Proceedings (Fees) (Amendment) Order 2022 (SI 2022/929) is to blame.
And if you are the creditor and intent on bringing proceedings, PULL YOUR FINGER OUT and escape the increase.
Applications by debtors for their own bankruptcy are unaffected.
I know, I know, I know. It's only ten pence that I have been overcharged at Waitrose when redeeming Daily Mail vouchers but it should not have happened. And it may have happened to YOU! In my 24 August 2022 post, I reported on my experience. But it happened again and here is my cordial exchange of emails with Waitrose since then. If you have been similarly overcharged and you can prove it then you should be reimbursed. This is not a matter of discretion. It is a right.
Me to WaitroseI refer to my message below.* Thereafter, you telephoned me to justify the charge of 10 pence on the ground that the cover price had increased by that amount and suggested the charge would only be made if I was purchasing an item other than the newspaper in the same transaction. It transpires that this was mainly nonsense. Yesterday, I was charged 10 pence without another cash purchase at your Havant store and today, in the same situation, no charge was made.I have spoken to the Mail. I am assured that the charge should not have been made which can only mean that you have wrongly benefited by 10 pence on each of the transactions in question and my understanding is that this situation has arisen because you have failed to adjust all your tills at the branch to reflect the price change. It may well be that this failure relates to all your stores and that the aggregate overcharge nationally is substantial.Will you undertake not to wrongfully demand 10 pence from me or any other of your other customers in the above situation in the future and will you explain why you misled me during our telephone conversation.
* I set out my original message of complaint
Waitrose to me
I am sorry that you were unhappy with my explanation but, as the price of the newspaper was scanned at the checkout the price was shown as 90p which is 10p more that you voucher you produced so you would have been charged the 10p.
I am sorry that you misunderstood my communication and I do hope that you will accept my apologies for this.
Me to Waitrose
Thank you for your most economical message. Would you now please do me the courtesy of answering most of the matters I raised in my message of 08 September 2020 which you have ignored: in particular, I seek to know why you are making a charge that is apparently unlawful when you know or should know that you will be reimbursed by the publisher for the 10pence inclusive value of the tokens; why you have not adjusted all your tills; what you intend to do about reimbursement of overcharged amounts; and what you say about the undertakings to which I referred. If you are not prepared to personally respond, please pass this matter to your CEO and /or legal department.
Waitrose to me
Thank you for your further email, I have spoken with our technical team in relation to you being charged for the extra 10p, They have advised that a till refresh should have been activated to resolve this problem on Saturday 10th but after speaking with the Havant branch this may have been unsuccessful so this resulted in you being charged the extra 10p. I have spoken with the branch and requested that they report this issue and get this resolved. so this does not happen again. The branch are also able to arrange an additional coupon manually to prevent you from paying the extra amount. I have arranged to sent you a £15 gift card as a gesture of goodwill for the inconvenience caused and this will be sent via email and will be with you within the next 24-48 hours.
I'd love to hear your thoughts on how I've dealt with your Case. Your comments are really valuable to us and if you'd like to share your views, please click on the following link to take part in our quick survey (link provided).
Me to Waitrose
Thank you. For the avoidance of any doubt, I was overcharged more than once and I think on different tills but I cannot be absolutely certain on that point. I will, of course, accept your very reasonable gesture but I must make it clear that I did not embark on this complaint for personal financial gain but to ensure that right was done for me and your other customers who, like me, have been wrongly overcharged and it is on this latter point that I must dwell. Will other wrongly overcharged customers at all your branches be reimbursed for the overcharge and what steps are being taken to ensure that this does not happen at other branches?
Waitrose to me
Thank you for your email, my colleague is out of the office today, I hope you don't mind me replying on her behalf. I am sorry to hear of your recent experience, I can see that my colleague has been in contact with our technical team who have been refreshing the till software to ensure that this does not happen again. Once again thank you for taking the time to contact us and we do look forward to seeing you again soon.
Me to Waitrose
Come off it! You have not answered my question as to whether or not you will reimburse those other customers you have wrongly overcharged. Let’s have a straight answer to that straight question, please, and no more evasion. Also, I assume that it is the tills at all branches of Waitrose that are being corrected where necessary. Otherwise, thank you for communicating and my commiserations on having to pick this up.
Waitrose to me
Thank you for you further email. I am afraid that I am unable to answer the question with regards to other customers being refunded. It is quite possible that the branches would have used their discretion in refunding customers if this overcharge happened. I have been advised that this overcharge should not happen again as all tills have been updated to reflect the price increase when the coupon is presented.
Oh dear, a little problem with Waitrose again. I thought I would try the prune juice (as one does) which might go down well after a pint of Newcastle Brown ale. The one litre carton delivered with a Waitrose online order on 26 August 2022 was stamped 'BBE AUG 23 2222'. How should that be interpreted - best before August 23 2022 or 2222? In other words, three days before the date of delivery or good for 200 years? One might take a risk with a cheese sandwich but prune juice could be trickier, eh? I completed the usual online complaint form and then this.
From Waitrose 27 August 2022
Good evening Mr. Gold,
Thanks for your email, although I am sorry to learn that there’s an issue with the date on Benefit Juice. I understand that this can be frustrating for you. We are keen to resolve this for you, please respond to this email providing a photo showing the date on the product.
Kind regards,
Waitrose & Partners Customer Care
The usual cover price of the Daily Mail has increased by 10 pence. If as a subscriber you present a Mail voucher for a copy of the newspaper at Waitrose alongside a 'cash' purchase, you will be charged that extra 10 pence. Moral of the story? Get the Daily Mail on its own using the voucher and you will be charged nothing. If you have other purchases, make them immediately before or after and apologise to the person behind you in the queue. Do not mention my name or book.
20% of couples after divorce are jointly applying for their freedom. That's possible under the new divorce laws for England and Wales. I explain these laws for those who do not have legal help (and lawyers too) on my free video. Click opposite or below on the thumbnail for episode 12 of my series of videos. Episode 1 is devoted to winning financial applications. And I haven't forgotten cohabitees. How they can seek justice is the focus of episode 2. The videos are all free to watch and you won't even have to sign up to contribute towards the cost of my next haircut.
One minute is a long time to hear about the law and look at me, I know. So I have cut down my latest video to 59 seconds. Domestic abuse cross-examination. Revised civil court forms. Joint divorces. And taking in temporary workers during strikes. I have covered them all. It's fast. It's painless. You have no excuses for ignoring.
"I put it to you that you are a scheming liar. You tried to stab me with your nail scissors and have been conducting a secret affair with the postman since we got back from honeymoon."
From today 21 July 2022, domestic abusers will never have had it so bad. The Domestic Abuse Act 2021 sections 65 and 66 are brought into force in relation to court proceedings started on or after today (see SI 2022/840). No longer will the unrepresented abuser have licence to agitate, if not terrify, the person they have allegedly abused by putting questions to them in person. Instead, in the majority of such cases involving abuse allegations, the court will appoint an independent lawyer to conduct the cross-examination.
In family proceedings, where a party has been cautioned for, charged with or convicted of a specified offence - you name it and the offence is probably specified in a 14 page list of them - that person will be prohibited from personally conducting the cross-examination. And for good measure, the party making the abuse allegation is similarly prohibited so a vice-versa situation. The same prohibitions will apply to civil cases unless there has only been a charge of a specified offence.
In both family and civil cases, where there has been a protective injunction made - for example, a non-molestation order - following a hearing which was notified in advance to the party injuncted - neither unrepresented party may cross-examine the other.
There is automatic prohibition in these scenarios. Otherwise, the court has a wide discretion to prohibit cress-examination in person when this would be likely to affect the quality of a witness's evidence or cause significant distress to a party to the case or a witness.
If you have watched my latest video (see post below and click away, if you haven't, and shame on you) you will be an expert in peppercorns. This post is to confirm that the Leasehold Reform (Ground) Rent Act 2022 WILL come into force on 30 June 2022 as indicated by me would happen. This is as a result of regulations just made (see SI 2022/694) which also provide that the Act will be extended to leases of retirement homes on 01 April 2022.
Sorry, you won't get your cheque quite yet. For the last instalment in the Walter Merricks claim against Mastercard on behalf of us all (well, most of us) see - https://www.breakinglaw.co.uk/search/label/MasterCard%20claim
Mastercard did not like the ruling that, when someone had had the potential to collect compensation as at 06 September 2016 but had since died, the personal representatives of their estate could step into their shoes. So Mastercard decided to challenge that ruling through an appeal. But they needed permission to appeal. The Competition Appeal Tribunal has just refused permission. If they have the will and the energy, Mastercard could now ask the Court of Appeal to grant permission. However, this should not slow down the preparation for a final hearing. Bigger than Depp and Vardy!
There have been monumental changes in the divorce laws for England and Wales and they are now all in force. For a full explanation on how they work - with both primary and subordinate legislation covered - treat yourself to my book The Return of Breaking Law. And if you want a free ride or a big taster, take a view of my video (episode 12 - see below) on the subject and enjoy the wallpaper behind me.
As I predicted in my video on the new divorce laws coming into force next week, the President of the High Court's Family Division has issued (just yesterday) guidance on how the courts should approach an application by one party for an order that the other party should pay their costs of proceedings. In fact, the guidance covers not only proceedings for divorce but proceedings for a dissolution of a civil partnership or for separation in marriage and civil partnership where mirror reforms will also come into force on 06 April 2022.
The guidance has a special eye on proceedings that are uncontested and where, because of the legal reforms, the court will no longer be considering the conduct of either party towards the other during their relationship. It makes clear, however, that the conduct of the party being asked to pay the costs of the other party in connection with the actual proceedings, rather than the relationship, may be relevant. This will be particularly so if, for example, the other party has attempted to evade service of court documentation and increased the costs as a result. Raising spurious or unreasonable arguments in proceedings will also be taken into account and could lead to a costs order.
This guidance in no way affects current proceedings or those which are started between now and 06 April 2022. This means, as I have been suggesting, that bringing proceedings under the current laws may well make it more likely that the blameless party will score on costs than under the new laws.
All is explained in my video which you can access by clicking on the video image in one of the posts below.
The Divorce, Dissolution and Separation Act 2022 WILL be fully in force on 06 April 2022. It's official. Thank the commencement regulations which have now been made - SI 2022/283.
Bring proceedings now or wait until 06 April 2022. How will the new laws work? For painless answers to these and other questions, click on my free video and settle down for twenty minutes......with a drink.
It is all due to be happening on 06 April 2022. That's when the new divorce laws will come into force. In my free to view video, I explain how they will work and whether anyone after divorce or civil partnership dissolution should bring proceedings under the current law before 06 April or wait for the new laws to arrive. Account is taken of all the relevant legislation as well as the amended practice directions.
If you are after collecting a few bob without having to strain yourself, you will know all about the Mastercard claim brought by Walter Merricks in the Competition Appeal Tribunal. If you don't, take a look at https://www.breakinglaw.co.uk/search/label/MasterCard%20claim
Where are we with this claim? Yesterday 09 March 2022 on the latest preliminary skirmish, the Competition Appeal Tribunal ruled that where someone who had the potential to collect compensation as at 06 September 2016 has since died, their claim will live on through the representative of their estate. This will add in an estimated three million extra claims. The Tribunal also gave permission for interest on compensation to be sought at the higher rate of 5% above base rate which raises the £14 billion being sought on behalf of UK consumers by up to £2.7 billion.
The case will move to a further hearing at the end of July 2022 when it is expected that a timetable for a trial will be set. A bit early to apply for tickets for the front row stalls.
The Supreme Court has now spoken in the matter of flexible tenancies (see my previous post here at https://www.breakinglaw.co.uk/search/label/flexible%20tenancies) and I warn you - it's a bit technical! It has disagreed with the decisions reached by the lower courts.
The ruling is that a flexible tenancy landlord can take steps to terminate the tenancy early (before its fixed period has come to an end) on the basis of some default by the tenant provided that the tenancy agreement contains a forfeiture clause. In deciding whether there was a forfeiture clause, regard would be had to the substance of the words used rather than their form. The standard flexible tenancy agreement used by Croydon Council which was the landlord in the case did contain provisions which amounted to forfeiture clauses and the same standard agreement has been used by most -if not all - of the local authorities who between 2014 and 2018 granted an estimated 30,000 flexible tenancies.
The Supreme Court also ruled that where a flexible tenancy agreement contained a break clause and no fault was being alleged against the tenant, then, provided the conditions for its exercise were satisfied, the landlord could take steps to exercise it and obtain possession before the end of the fixed term This would be appropriate, for example, where possession was required so that the let property could be redeveloped.
Without a break clause (where no tenant fault) or forfeiture clause (tenant fault), the landlord looking to oust their flexible tenant will be stymied.
Try and stay in your job until 06 April 2022. If you fired on or after that date, the ceiling for the compensation an employment tribunal can award you for an unfair dismissal is increased by a handsome 4.9%. This is in line with the rise in the retail prices index between September 2020 and September 2021.
The same level of increase is applied across the board for the various types of employment complaints that can be made but none of the increases are retrospective. They apply to the employer's misdeeds which are taken to have arisen after 5 April 2022.
For these hikes, you can kiss (or kick, if you are an employer) the Employment Rights (Increase of Limits) Order 2022 (SI 2022/182) which, for example, also sees what is deemed to be one week's pay - and this limit is used for the calculation of redundancy payments and the basic and additional award for unfair dismissal - rises from £544 to £571. The maximum compensatory award for unfair dismissal goes up by £4,385 to £93,878.
All this applies to England, Wales and Scotland.
COMING SOON HERE - MY VIDEO FOR LAWYERS AND LITIGANTS IN PERSON. AND NO CHARGE TO VIEW.
A DIGESTIBLE EXPLANATION OF THE NEW DIVORCE LAWS DUE TO APPLY FROM 6 APRIL 2022 PLUS THE NEW PROCEDURES AND THE NEW FORMS. WAIT UNTIL 6 APRIL OR USE CURRENT LAW NOW? FIND OUT SHORTLY.
We have previously had a look at how to go about getting the court to make an agreed order for finances on divorce, civil partnership dissolution, nullity or separation without a court hearing. A draft of the proposed order has to be accompanied by a statement of financial information. That statement is called a form D81. You know it makes sense.
The form is changing into a 23 page job which is designed to extract more detail so that the judge who considers it in the comfort - sometimes discomfort -of his work room can decide whether it is fair to both sides. You won't get that agreed order simply because it is agreed. The judge must be satisfied that it is reasonable to make it. The more information the judge has, the less likely they will have to ask questions. Doing that can cause delay of some weeks.
The new form or the current form can be used as from now. But the new form must be used if the old form has not been signed up by both sides no later than Friday 18 February 2022. The moral. If you don't fancy the new form, pull your finger out with the current one. You will find the new form at - \https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/1051993/D81_0122_save.pdf
You will have heard. There's a new highway code and there are some reports of cyclists behaving as though they now have total command over our highways. Let's get the legal record straight. What the code now says is this.
1) Ride in the centre of your lane, to make yourself as clearly visible as possible, in the following situations
2) When riding on busy roads, with vehicles moving faster than you, allow them to overtake where it is safe to do so whilst keeping at least 0.5 metres away, and further where it is safer, from the kerb edge. Remember that traffic on most dual carriageways moves quickly. Take extra care crossing slip roads.
The message is clear. Do not make a nuisance of yourself.
And the code also says this.
Rule 66
You should
'Take him down.' May be downtrodden at home but you could be ruling the roost as a magistrate dealing with criminal cases and, if you wished, family cases as well. They want you. There is a national shortage of some 4,000 beaks and the Ministry of Justice has today launched a campaign to try and recruit them.
Aged between 18 and 70, able to tell the difference between 'guilty and not-guilty' and not fresh out of prison and you could be selected. If employed, the boss is under a legal duty to give you a reasonable amount of time off to make a contribution to the administration of justice in England and Wales but it's up to them to decide how much time and whether it is to be paid or unpaid leave. You will get lost earnings and expenses but there are limits. You will find them at https://www.magistrates-association.org.uk/magistrates-allowances
You can apply online at https://magistrates.judiciary.uk/
Involved in a child dispute? Reckon there is a reasonable chance that the intervention of a trained and independent mediator may result in a settlement with the other parent and avoid a contested court hearing? The government has been dishing out tokens worth £500 a go to couples to pay the cost of this form of mediation or at least to go towards the cost where the arguments are about how much contact, whether your son should wear short or long trousers, whether he should be kept to a vegan diet, which school he should attend, whether he is watching too many box sets...... There is no means test:millionaires qualify. I wrote about the scheme at https://www.breakinglaw.co.uk/2021/08/child-dispute-scheme-bolstered-500-on.html
The hot news is that the government has just committed to make available tokens for another 2,440 couples and that should keep the scheme going to the end of March 2022 although my money is on the scheme being extended, with more tokens being issued beyond then. It is claimed that since the scheme started, there has been a success rate of 77% which is commendably high although this percentage includes disputes where there has only been partial agreement. But don't worry. The courts won't be out of work.
The law was temporarily changed to allow wills to be witnessed remotely as I reported here on 07 September 2021 (see https://www.breakinglaw.co.uk/search/label/wills). This change was aimed at assisting would-be will makers who could not organise the two required witnesses to breath down their necks in the same room as they were signing up, on account of Covid-19. But the temporary law was due to run out at the end of this month.
Today, legislation has been laid before Parliament which will extend the temporary provisions until 31 January 2024.
