Citizens Advice official accused of harassment by civil recovery firm

BBC News report that a Citizens Advice officer has been accused of harassing a company that sues shoplifters on behalf of retailers. Retail Loss Prevention (RLP) has also threatened legal action against consumer websites because of comments on forums. RLP, reportedly one of the biggest civil recovery firms, has accused its critics of trying to damage its business in a “vindictive” campaign. It has accused Citizens Advice civil recover industry policy officer , Richard Dunstan, of “orchestrating” a three-year long “sustained campaign of harassment and defamation” against it and its staff.

Mr Dunstan is reported to have said: “I don’t plead guilty to either harassment or defamation, and would warmly welcome a police investigation. The accusation is simply ludicrous - there is no way I could single-handedly launch an internet campaign against them.

He added: “What RLP wants is to shut down reporting and discussion of a disastrous ruling in court in April.”

The court ruling, at Oxford County Court, saw two teenage girls, represented by Bates, Wells and Braithwaite solicitors (BWB), being sued by a leading retailer. RLP’s client lost and the judge criticised the legal basis of its case. RLP had demanded that the girls pay £137.50 towards the costs of the retailer, but the judge dismissed the claim saying the costs had been exaggerated.

Subsequently, Schillings law firm sent letters on behalf of RLP to websites including Legal Beagles and the Consumer Action Group, accusing some forum contributors of harassing RLP and its leading staff over the past few years, and also of defaming them. Mr Dunstan was named by Schillings as the alleged ring-leader of the critics.

The law firm’s letters demand that not only should all the defamatory and threatening posts be taken down, but that the websites should reveal to RLP the identities of all the contributors who made the comments.

Schillings also wrote to BWB, demanding that it take down from its own website its report of the Oxford court case in which it had acted for the two teenage girls. Schillings also demanded that Citizens Advice withdraw all its previous publications on civil recovery, including two reports published in 2009 and 2010 which are available on its website (Unreasonable demands? from 2009 and Uncivil recovery from 2010).

For the full story, see here CAB official accused of harassment by civil recovery firm

Sounds like desperation. This firm apparently has no legal right of recovery and any recovery has been judged to be disproportional anyway. They seem to be (allegedly- careful now!) the retail version of car clampers!

We live in a very compliant society : we do what we are told, Dont make a fuss in restaurants, Queue in an orderly fashion etc etc. Some organisations (including Jobcentre Plus) take advantage of this and its nice to see a firm get its comeuppance.