LARC's Steve Conman....

HI Steve,

thank you for your email, your words are in italics, mine are in plain text. I have spoken with anthony as a result of dialling his number and he has advised me that he will be able to attend the meeting on tuesday 18th october at 10am.

with regards to your last email:

Let me confirm the meeting as next Tuesday 18th October at 10.00 am. I need you to confirm that this is in order. Venue here at LARC. Consultancy rate will be made for the attendance. Ian to note. agreed.

I need to know the exact amount of the debt to be paid. Ted is a signatory and I will ask one of the other signatories to sign prior to Tuesday. We will need an invoice from you for the amount. You can send this by email now.

account reference / invoice(incl of vat) / date of invoice / duration of overdue account

24874.007.3 / £1172.06 / 1 June 2005 / 83 days
24874.001.7 / £1233.75 / 13 may 2005 / 100 days
24874.003.2 / £940.00 / 11 may 2005 / 102 days
24874.004.5 / £470 11 / may 2005 / 102 days
24874.005.8 / £293.75 / 11 may 2005 / 102 days
24874.006.0 / £940.00 / 11 may 2005 / 102 days

total £5049.56

in addition to the principal sum, the claimant claims interest pursuant to s69 of the county courts act 1984 at the rate of 8% per annum amounting to the sum of £112.89 for the period 11 may to 23 August 2005 on accounts24874.003.2, 24874.004.5, 24874.005.8 and 24874.006.0, £110 for the period 13 may to 24th august 2005 on account 24874.001.7 and £91.86 for the period 1st June to 24th August 2005 on account 24874.007.3 and accruing thereafter at a daily rate of £1.11
the claimant claims
1. £5049.56
2. interest as pleaded

amount claimed:£5049.56
court fee:£250
solicitors costs: £100
Total amount payable: £5399.56
claim number !!!!!!!!!!
issue date 30 august 2005

because LARC failed to issue a cheque to Young and Lee as requested by the steering group see YOUNG and LEE letter dated 10th October 2004 and minutes of 03 02 2005 and I quote:
"Kate (Kate King: CEO of LARC at the time): - Kate asked about the situation with the legals and in particular, the issue of dissolving the unincorporated bmn organisation and the agm. It was pointed out by Anthony that once Stuart Price of YOUNG & LEE was in receipt of payment, he would initiate all outstanding legals. It was stressed that all other legal issues relating to contracts etc were more important at this stage. Kate said she would sort it all out and issue the monies to start the ball rolling."

....and at our many meetings and emails and phonecalls and texts including those of from 2nd March 2005 through to end of May and also

1st June, 2nd June, 6th June, 8th June, 9th June, 20 July, 21 July, 22 July, 26 July, 27 July, 2nd august, 18th august, 31st august, 6 September, 9th September, 23rd September, 28 September, 29th September, 30th September, 3rd october, 4th october, 6th october, 7th october, 10th october, 11th october, 12th october, 13th october and 14th october which is today including this email(I can provide documentary evidence to validate these dates and others if you wish)

Birmingham County Court has sent Judgment for Claimant in Default dated 24th September 2005 claim number ******** the following

"It is therefore ordered that you must pay the claimant £5389.41 for the debt(and interest to date of judgment) and £380 for costs You must pay the claimant a total of £5769.41 forthwith"

they have added a warning:
If you ignore this order your goods may be removed and sold, or other enforcement proceedings may be taken against you. If this happens further costs will be added.

With this in mind a cheque Payable to Young and Lee Solicitors to the value of £5769.41 should be issued immediately to reach their account by the due date of 22nd october or the judgement will remain on the public record and BMN ltd will have no option but to initiate further action against LARC. I warn you that BMN ltd has already sort detailed legal advice and our deadline of 22nd october 2005 stands unless we confirm otherwise in writing.

As you are aware there are certain conditions which we want to talk about. A document is being produced but is not ready at this time. If I can get it to you before Tuesday then I shall.

I don't think discussion of any documents other than those proposed for discussion by BMN ltd will have any opportunity for discussion until payment has been made to young and lee to reach their account by 22nd october 2005. However we will happily view and discuss any points contained in such a document but any signatures to anything legally binding can and WILL ONLY take place after our legal representative has read and advised us what to do on the matter. With this in mind it is in your interests to make immediate payment to young and lee and thereby avoiding any potential complication caused by further action taken by BMN ltd.

Having got that far BMN ltd would be happy to consider and respond to any opportunities offered to by LARC with regards to our future working relationship.

If we all reach an agreement the cheque will be given to you on the day. no, this is wrong. You will need to pay the cheque to Young and Lee direct quoting relevant reference details contained in this email.

I understand that on payment of the cheque the debt is satisfied and that it does not have to clear in the bank beforehand.

This is also wrong, the payment must clear into the claimants account by the due date of 22nd october and they must advise the court by the same day that payment has been satisfied. see advice below

The giving of the cheque is the acceptable payment. You may wish to check this out. not on this occassion, see advice below.

I hope this offers a clear indication of what needs to happen next:

1. LARC make immediate payment to "YOUNG and LEE solicitors" of £5769.41 by electronic transfer to Natwest Bank sort code: ****** account number: ******
(be warned that having spoken to YOUNG and LEE'S financial manager, a cheque will take 5 working days to clear into their account and any uncleared funds are insufficient to enable the clearing of any entries from the register by the due date. On this matter BMN ltd therefore requests that any payment made should be made by electronic transfer to the Natwest Bank whose details are above immediately)

2. YOUNG and LEE must advise the court that Payment has been received by due date of 22nd October, BMN ltd will also have to advise the Court that payment has been satisfied and request that the entry on the register is cancelled.BMN ltd will also have to supply the court with proof of payment. The letter from Birmingham County court confirms there is a fee to do this and BMN ltd will confirm to LARC what that fee will be. BMN ltd will invoice LARC for the payment of this fee.

3. once points one and two have been confirmed BMN ltd would welcome all positive dialogue with LARC on a number of issues in order to ensure a positive and constructive regularisation of working relationship between BMN ltd and LARC in order to ensure the successful finishing of the project to the satisfaction of all involved.

Please be aware that the staff and members of the steering group have all had to endure considerable stress, anxiety and uncertainty throughout this whole process and BMN ltd is furious that we have been placed in a position where our working relationship with the staff and all involved has been compromised and the staff's own working environment has been challenged. BMN ltd would like to offer the opportunity to LARC to resolve this issue for the benefit of the staff of the project, all at larc and all those who have interacted with us as a collective entity since the start of this project. In addition, I have yet to go through all the meetings and phone calls and emails on this issue and calculate how much money has been spent on this one issue - "to pay or not to pay this bill" when we all know (and agreed at the steering group) how important the work, this bill relates to, is to the success of the project itself. I'm sure the evaluation of this project will identify how much money has been spent ensuring our aims and objectives are met, and how much money has been wasted as a result of this whole saga.

I hope that the "Value added" achievements of the staff and the work of BMN ltd during the running of this whole project will at least make some attempt to balance the

"absolute needless waste of vital funds intended for the good of the West Midlands music and related community"

that has been initiated as a result of LARC choosing to delay payment.

There is no need for any further complication. Lets get points one and two achieved and then lets discuss how we can all get on with our work. We are all accountable and we all have a responsibility to deliver this project successfully, lets get on and do that.
cheers
mark