Received a letter from DCA, they have a writ, I had no idea I’d even been taken to court!

[Gezza79]

Hi all not sure if this is the correct place to post, if it's not could someone redirect me please.

Anyway I need a little advice, will be going to the Citizens advice, but would like to see the response here first.

A bit of history, 2 years ago I was company sectary of a company, which 12 months age ceased trading and had a couple of outstanding liabilities to another companies one of which was for just over £1700.00.

I have just received a letter from the DCA (not a court approved one) saying one of the companies have a writ in my name (well not my full name, its my nick name then my sir name) now for £2500+ Trading As (Ta) a company I’ve never traded as!!!, which has been sent to my home address. This is the first I’ve heard of it, I’ve never been given the opportunity to fight and case in court (which I would have done as the debt belongs to a Ltd company and not myself), which could be proven quite easily as the invoices from the claimant we addressed to the Ltd company and every payment they ever received was done so by company cheque.

At no point did I ever personally guarantee anything.

Having spoken to the courts they have told me the address that all the correspondents were sent to, which was the old office address of the Ltd Company, and not even the registered office address.

Now I’m not disputing if the claimant is owed the money, but that as they dealt with me on a few occasions they have taken court action against my name and not the companies name, and it’s the company that owe them the money, a company that has other directors who I believe they should have contacted and taken to court, rather than me the company sectary!

What are your thoughts?

Any responses would be appreciated!

[wino]

Hi Geeza79
When my Ltd company went int liquidation I was taken to court personally by several suppliers as it was my signature on the account forms. Hidden in complete gobbledegook was a small sentence saying I agree to be responsible for any debts. I took this to mean I would be the one in the company to oversee payments from the companies accounts not out of my own pocket! How wrong I was.

Have you signed any such account application to the company who are claiming from you?

[Gezza79]

Not that i remember, i will check.

So if thats the case i'm liable?

[baileyboy]

A Company Secretary is the legal guardian of the the Limited Company operations. It will be common practice to have your name on documents as a point of contact etc. This doesn't change the fact that the "company" has limited liability. Providing that you and the other directors acted in good faith and did nothing illegal, or gave "personal" guarantees, then IMHO there can be no claim against yourself.

[Gezza79]

that being the case, whats my best course of action?

[I've got no money]

The term writ is fairly obsolete. You need to establish what this "writ" - it could simply be a summons in which case you need to get it and file a defence. If, however, its' actually a "writ of fi fa" - that's slightly different and means that a Judgment has been obtained either in the County Court and registered in the High Court (if its' only £2500) that seems most likely and has been passed to a High Court Officer (they used to be called the sheriff) for collection.

Without seeing the claim form I couldn't tell you if you have a defence. The whole idea about having a limited company is that the company has its' own legal persona and consequently, subject to certain exceptions, the debt is the comapny's not yours.

If the claim has been brought against you t/a - that suggests that the claimant has got it wrong and should have sued the company.

You need to obtain the documents - if it is a high court enforcement then you need to apply for a stay and to set the judgment aside.

Unfortunately company law is relatively complex and this is not really the place to get advice. The adviser, for example, needs to see order forms, company note paper etc.

[wino]

I think I would send the DCA a letter. I do not acknowlege any debt to your company and get them to proove otherwise.
Or
Get in touch with the business debt helpline and ask them for advise.