We have partnered up with SRA-regulated Escalate to offer a debt recovery and dispute resolution service on our platform. This case study, created by Escalate, shares a case of an unpaid final instalment in the sale of a PR company.
Value of Dispute: £325,000
What was the challenge?
When a PR company was sold, it was agreed that the purchase price was to be paid in stages to the business owner. However, the final instalment of £250,000 was unexpectedly not received.
The explanation given by the parent company was that there had been a breach of contract. Both parties engaged legal professionals to explore the claim – spending £20,000 in legal fees in the process – but no progress was made.
The business owner was seriously considering writing off the monies owed to them when they sought advice from their accountant in relation to the relevant tax treatment. The accountant suggested speaking to Escalate.
Result
The case had three months of mediation before moving on to litigation. Since there was no legal merit to justify withholding payment, the defendant tried to delay the process (threatening to counterclaim, requesting to switch the case from a regional court to London, and asking for an extension of time) to increase ongoing costs so that the claimant would drop their case.
Because there was no financial risk to the claimant with Escalate's no-win-no-fee policy, the attempts to dissuade them from pursuing the case had no impact – in fact, they increased the defendant’s own costs.
Pushing for a full settlement, Escalate managed to secure £325,000 for the client, six weeks after the mediation. The defendant had been forced to concede once its costs became unsustainable. The total cost to the defendant – including its legal fees – in its pursuit to delay the claim amounted to around £450,000.
If your clients need support recovering a debt or if you want to know more about adding Recovery to your firm's service offerings, just book in a call at a time that suits you.
