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I've got judgement by default - For the second time !!!**WON**
The title says it all, really.
I put in a county court claim recently, for a few thousand pounds, against a Credit card company who i won't name for now.
They did not defend so i put in a request for judgement by default last week. Because of a court backlog, the CCJ was only awarded a week later.
Now I have a bad feeling that the Cc company will defend my claim once they get the judgement, going for a set aside.
My quandary is:
Should I go for enforcement now, while the iron's hot, or leave it for 28 days, as is often advised???
Leaving it for a while would give them a chance to settle the claim. On the other hand, they've had this request since September and i would like it dealt with asap.
I offer help and advice in good faith, based on my knowledge and experience. I am NOT a legal or financial expert. There are many CAG members and site team who are better qualified. Please do not make major decisions based on my advice alone.I do not give advice via P.M's. If anyone can correct my mistakes or improve on my advice, please do.
Could you just explain why you would not tell the cc company? Is it because they will have less chance of a set aside or because they can't apply for a set aside after a certain time?
I offer help and advice in good faith, based on my knowledge and experience. I am NOT a legal or financial expert. There are many CAG members and site team who are better qualified. Please do not make major decisions based on my advice alone.I do not give advice via P.M's. If anyone can correct my mistakes or improve on my advice, please do.
Decided to play the waiting game and leave it a month before enforcing judgement. They, (the cc company who cannot be named), have ignored the initial court claim form, and are now ignoring the actual judgement against them, which would have arrived in their offices just before Christmas.
Now, one more thought.
In most cases enforcement will be done by court bailiffs and a warrant of execution, but I'm having strange thoughts about going down the statutory demand route, i.e. why not demand payment and start proceedings to wind up their whole rotten business. Now, I know I couldn't feasibly bankrupt a multi - billionaire company, but think of the publicity!!!
Now I just need a brave solicitor and the massive SD fee . . .
... out... in... out... I'm shaking it all about...
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11,407
Re: I've got judgement by default - what now?
Originally Posted by noomill060
If you leave off for 28 days they cant apply for a set aside.
Where is this stated? Is it in CPR, or is there some caselaw or statute on it?
Always happy to help where I can!
Beware of legal advice given on a private forum - do you REALLY know who is posting? Are they REALLY accountable for their posts? What if you follow their advice and get something wrong?
It was Winston Churchill who said; "Democracy is the worst way to run a country except for all the others"
Advice and comments posted by car2403 are offered purely without prejudice. They reflect only my personal opinion and do not represent the opinion of this forum or it's management. You should always seek legal advice from a qualified legal advisor. As a member of the site team, I disable reputation - reputation points mean nothing, please check my posting credentials yourself and make an informed decision. You shouldn't PM me and await a reply - I may be too late with a response. No replies will be given in Private Messages - just as with getting advice from the forum, getting advice via Private Messages is dangerous. CAG is about sharing successes so others can follow your example, this is primarily why I'm here, so please don't be offended if I don't offer replies in PM that doesn't comply with this. Help CAG to help others by keeping your thread up to date.
Yeah, I've read that leaving it 28 days before enforcing makes it difficult for them to successfully apply for a set aside, and this is my plan.
A few threads in the HSBC forum seem to have gone for enforcement too early after the default judgement and the bank has applied for and been granted the set aside. However these cases involved Bank Charges, unlike mine, and were more or less guaranteed to be set aside because of the test case.
I will wait till the 28 days are up, then enforce through a WOE, (the SD was wishful thinking!). Now, if they apply for a set aside, I think their application will stand less chance, but I'm not certain that it will be actually barred through CPR. Anyhow, by that stage I will be happy to let them obtain a set aside as long as they give me the money, (they may just want to get rid of the judgement),and I will be in a very strong position by this time. Alternatively, they may just pay up when I enforce.
Phoned up today and asked if any enforcing had been done yet.
The warrant has been sent to a county court that is nearer to the defendant's address so they can enforce it there.
Apparently it can take up to a month before any enforcement action is taken! The court staff also told me that the defendant could still apply for a set aside even though I waited for 28 days after getting the default judgement, before I issued the WOE. Hope they are wrong!
I will scour the rules on enforcing judgement to check this. I would love to know the likelihood of them successfully getting a set aside after all this time, and after ignoring both the initial claim and the default judgement. Okay, if it was a litigant in person, maybe there could be mitigating circumstances like changing address, going on holiday etc - but this is a mutinational, multi - billionaire company with thousands of staff!
... out... in... out... I'm shaking it all about...
Posts
11,407
Re: I've got judgement by default - what now?
Originally Posted by Blossomandebony
Surely they can't be this incompetent?
Is that the Court, or the Defendant?
My understanding of this situation is that, as the address for service, (head office, or the likes) is usually a secure building - this means that the county courtbailiff can't get access and they don't have a right to force access. (Well, not yet!)
They write to the Defendant asking for payment. If they don't pay, they write again and tell them when they intend to visit. If they don't pay, they visit at the time stated. (and don't get access) At this point it's a toss up as to whether they send the Warrant back as unexecuted, in which case they **may** charge you a fee to execute it again. This circle continues until you give up, run out of money because of Court fees, or the Defendant has the decency to acknowledge the Judgment and pay up.
Always happy to help where I can!
Beware of legal advice given on a private forum - do you REALLY know who is posting? Are they REALLY accountable for their posts? What if you follow their advice and get something wrong?
It was Winston Churchill who said; "Democracy is the worst way to run a country except for all the others"
Advice and comments posted by car2403 are offered purely without prejudice. They reflect only my personal opinion and do not represent the opinion of this forum or it's management. You should always seek legal advice from a qualified legal advisor. As a member of the site team, I disable reputation - reputation points mean nothing, please check my posting credentials yourself and make an informed decision. You shouldn't PM me and await a reply - I may be too late with a response. No replies will be given in Private Messages - just as with getting advice from the forum, getting advice via Private Messages is dangerous. CAG is about sharing successes so others can follow your example, this is primarily why I'm here, so please don't be offended if I don't offer replies in PM that doesn't comply with this. Help CAG to help others by keeping your thread up to date.
Part of me is getting impatient and I'm thinking of phoning the litigation team at the CC company to ask them when they are going to pay up.
I will politely inform them of the judgement against them, recording all details of what they say, and give them the phone number of the bailiffs so they have have a chat about their 'situation.'
This is a company who have fobbed me off in the past, with months of "We ain't gonna pay ya," then - lo and behold - as soon as the court claim gets started, "Oh, okay, how much do you want?" (A previous claim.)
For this new claim, they didn't even have the decency to reply to my request for charges, instead they left it for 5 weeks, then, on about the 5th time I phoned them, said, "No, we're not gonna pay you, you've had your lot." Apparently, they don't even see fit to tell you by letter - their words, not mine.
Maybe they're just inundated with 1000s of claims and can't cope, poor dears. Anyway, if this does ever get sorted I will reveal the name of these scallywags, though some of you have probably guessed already.
Contacted the court bailiffs today. They told me a few interesting things - namely that they have contacted the cc company to ask for my money, and will be phoning them again in a few days if they have not responded.
In her experience, (yes, the bailiff was a woman!), the Warrant can be passed around from department to department several times before the right people get hold of it!
The bailiff, by the way, she was very helpful. She even told me of a financial company, ( bank / cc company ?) which she had gone to recently to request payment. She ended up standing in the reception of this company, telling them that the 'van was on its way' - funnily enough, this made them produce a cheque in minutes!
Oh, yeah, and she said that there was 'plenty of stuff she could take' from the Head Office of the defendant in my case! I should have asked her if she had done a levy but forgot.
So, basically, the bailiff sounded hopeful in retrieving the money and even said that sometimes the money can be transferred direct to your bank account.
However I won't be counting any chickens yet. I wouldn't put it past them to apply for a set aside even at this late stage . . .
I offer help and advice in good faith, based on my knowledge and experience. I am NOT a legal or financial expert. There are many CAG members and site team who are better qualified. Please do not make major decisions based on my advice alone.I do not give advice via P.M's. If anyone can correct my mistakes or improve on my advice, please do.
... out... in... out... I'm shaking it all about...
Posts
11,407
Re: I've got judgement by default - what now?
I have o2 applying for a set aside of a Judgment by Default - claiming they didn't receive the Court Claim and were CLOSED over the Christmas/New Year period!
Beware of legal advice given on a private forum - do you REALLY know who is posting? Are they REALLY accountable for their posts? What if you follow their advice and get something wrong?
It was Winston Churchill who said; "Democracy is the worst way to run a country except for all the others"
Advice and comments posted by car2403 are offered purely without prejudice. They reflect only my personal opinion and do not represent the opinion of this forum or it's management. You should always seek legal advice from a qualified legal advisor. As a member of the site team, I disable reputation - reputation points mean nothing, please check my posting credentials yourself and make an informed decision. You shouldn't PM me and await a reply - I may be too late with a response. No replies will be given in Private Messages - just as with getting advice from the forum, getting advice via Private Messages is dangerous. CAG is about sharing successes so others can follow your example, this is primarily why I'm here, so please don't be offended if I don't offer replies in PM that doesn't comply with this. Help CAG to help others by keeping your thread up to date.
As I said, I'm not building my hopes up, yet. On the one hand, the defendant has shown to be totally incompetent and ignored all communication regarding the claim - good for me; on the other, I know this claim is not as watertight as my previous claim which they paid out - the present claim contains CCI and charges past the 6 years etc . . . so if a set aside is granted, I will have to prepare my case very carefully.
Also, I'm itching to say who the c/c company is but because of a past creditor monitoring the site, I can't yet . . .
I put in a county court claim recently, for a few thousand pounds, against a Credit card company who i won't name for now.
They did not defend so i put in a request for judgement by default last week. Because of a court backlog, the CCJ was only awarded a week later.
Now I have a bad feeling that the Cc company will defend my claim once they get the judgement, going for a set aside.
My quandry is:
Should I go for enforcement now, while the iron's hot, or leave it for 28 days, as is often advised???
Leaving it for a while would give them a chance to settle the claim. On the other hand, they've had this request since September and i would like it dealt with asap.
Any thoughts???
To be 100% sure, you could pass it to the High Court bailiffs and they would not take no for an answer.
It costs £50 to transfer the case for High Court collection and the bailiffs charges £60 to go out. If they collect a cheque they add this to the costs. If not, that's all you pay.
Yes, I may consider sending this to the High Court bailiffs if the county courtbailiffs have no success. I doubt it will come to that, though.
By now the cc company, (who I'm sueing), know about the default judgement and I think they will have to act, (surely they couldn't be that stupid!).
I figure they will do one of two things - 1) pay up or 2) apply for a set aside. Now, if they agree to paying up in return for me not objecting to the set aside, no problem! But if they go for a set aside and won't pay, that's when the fun will begin!