Urgent: Solicitors trying to claim i'm liable for a company debt?

[Keggy46]

I set up a company a few years ago and was the director.

 

I had a court claim sent to me a few weeks ago, from solicitors representing a company who hadn't been paid for an invoice of £511 from 2 1/2 years ago.

 

My written defence to the court (N9B form) was this:

 

This claim is disputed on the grounds that the contracted invoice was between ***** and *****.

 

At no time did the named defendant [My name] enter into a personal guarantee with **** (see attached invoice from claimant) and therefore the defendant is not personally liable for the company debt.

 

**** has applied to be struck off the company register and dissolved (documentation attached). There are no funds nor assets associated with ****, which was an embryonic entity developing ***** with financial assistance and support from local universities and regional development agencies. These funds were exhausted during the prototype development phase.

 

The named defendant [My name], is currently unemployed and on income support.

Today i received an allocation questionnaire :-? which i have to return by september 6th. At the bottom it says "A fee of £200 is payable by the claimant on the filing of their allocation questionnaire", so i presume that means they pay, not me (as i'm the defendant).

 

Can someone help me understand if there is any legal basis to chase a debt from a company that's getting struck off and trying to name the director as a second defendant?

 

Thanks for any help in advance.

[cerberusalert]

Moved to the Legal Forum

[cerberusalert]

As I understand it if you were a Ltd company you have limited liability and unless you acted as a personal guarantor you are not liable.

[GuidoT]

Very difficult to get at you personally and lift the corporate veil.

 

We have limited companies to basically protect the directors from liabilty if things go wrong.

[Keggy46]

As I understand it if you were a Ltd company you have limited liability and unless you acted as a personal guarantor you are not liable.

 

Yes i thought that as well.

 

I think the solicitors are trying it on by claiming the first defendant is my company and second defendant is my person as a legal entity.

 

I didn't personally guarantee anything as it was just a business invoice between the two entities.

 

Is there any validity in their claim?

 

After i sent off my defence, i expected the case to be dismissed, but after receiving the AQ i wonder how far they can/will go? Do i even need to fill in the AQ?