Looking for a bit of advice as I currently can't afford to employ a solicitor. Will keep this as bried as possible; I work for a limited company in Scotland, quite often from home, and recently there was a dispute over delivery of an order. I was one of the representatives that dealt with the matter which wasn't resolved, customer was very unhappy. Some months later I receive an envelope containing court documents from my manager; it seems the customer is holding me personally responsible and claiming the £180 through the small claims procedure at a Scottish Sheriff Court. However he sent to the documents to the wrong address, they were sent to an old company address. When I received the documents the court date had already passed and a decree had been issued against me. First one of the directors of company contacted the court and explained the situation, without success and I have now made a formal complaint to the court. I had a free meeting with a solicitor who stated that it was a "abuse of process". Firstly the claimant should have raised an action against the limited company, not me personally and secondly of course he should have sent the documents to the correct address. Here is the response from the Sheriff Clerk: In relation to small claims procedure - when a party raises a claim against an individual or a company they are required to provide the information as set out in FORM 1. When a claim is lodged, court staff check over the claim to make sure it is presented in terms of the rules (ie: parties are suitably identified and designed/ that a claim gives sufficient notice to the defender and that if it is for a supply of goods and services a brief description of what was supplied etc). In addition the value of the claim is checked to make sure it is raised within the limits for these types of actions. I am not aware of any requirement upon court staff to check addresses prior to service of a summons. These details are a matter for the person raising the claim. The validity of a claim is a matter for the Sheriff if the claim is disputed by the defender, by returning the formal response by the return date specified in the service copy summons. In this case, according to our records no such formal response had been received and the pursuer applied for decree in absence, which was granted in terms of the rules. As the case has been extracted any appeal would, in terms of the rules, be out of time. It is for the appropriate party seeking to have a decision by the court reviewed, to lodge the appropriate application, with the appropriate court and within the appropriate timescales as provided by the rules. If you are unsatisfied with the outcome of my response to your complaint you should write to Mr D Shand, Sheriffdom Business Manager, Edinburgh Sheriff Court and Justice of the Peace Court, 27 Chambers Street, Edinburgh, EH1 1LB to ask for your complaint to be reviewed. I'm astounded that someone could raise an action against me at a different address for something that is not my responsibility. The claimant I have discovered knowingly put the old address knowing that the papers would not get passed onto the company for at least several weeks thus getting a successful claim at court, he didn't even need to attend, since the papers were not returned by the cut off date, he won by default. Any thoughts? My own thought is to take the Sheriff Clerk to court for the sum of £100 and have the papers sent to a completely unrelated address; therefore he won't get the papers and I will win the case by default; then see how he feels about it. I've made my formal complaint to Edinburgh but the only response is that a decision can take up to 90 days. I could go to a solicitor but it's going to cost me around £500 to have the matter dealt with. Any advice gratefully accepted, thank you.