High Court enforcement disputed debt and fee fight guidance

[ploddertom]

Most HCEO charges can be challenged as quite a few are made up under Misc. You mention the mileage - this is indeed capped at £50 but only if he has driven that may miles, if he has only done a 50 mile trip then that is all he can claim - very few can claim the maximum. I assume you got your Stay on the grounds you were applying for Set Aside and it is this application you would need to concentrate on. If you win your application then all the HCEO fees are rescinded anyway. Will need more detail to comment further.

 

PT

[ploddertom]

The Set Aside Hearing only deals with your debt and not the involvement per se of the HCEO. It will basically boil down to this - do you owe, if so how much & how are you going to pay, otherwise you are replacing one CCJ for another so are no further forward. Don't forget all commercial debts are Forthwith Judgments. Did you initially receive all the Court docs or was the first you knew about this was when the HCEO turned up. Has the Claimant tried to claim £10k when in fact you only owed £1 for example. The more you can prove they are wrong the better. Did they try to ask nicely for their cash or just bulldoze ahead with litigation.

 

PT

[ploddertom]

really appreciate your input ...I have answered your questions below and have a couple of remaining queries..

 

Q Did you initially receive all the Court docs or was the first you knew about this was when the HCEO turned up?... The first knowledge was the HCEO, so a bit of a shock! My instinct told me that must be able to do something but anyone reading this who doesn't know should appreciate the HCEO can and will mislead you, they really are only interested in maximising the fees! Not having had the opportunity to defend/counterclaim/make offer of payment is in itself sufficient grounds to apply for Set Aside. May be worth finding out from the Court what the original Particulars of Claim were and most importantly what address everything went to.

Q: Has the Claimant tried to claim £10k when in fact you only owed £1 for example?.... Yes, exactly - c 22k being claimed only perhaps £8k owed net. This may be partially due to them taking action in another country though the amount being claimed still looks far too high based upon everything at this end. They will need to be able to justify the amount. Conversely you will need to provide details of what your figures are.

Q: Did they try to ask nicely for their cash or just bulldoze ahead with litigation?.... They started nicely then when we disagreed stopped communicating. made some sensible attempts to resolve amicably but they decided to ignore these. Sounds typical

 

Can you elaborate slightly on "...otherwise you are replacing one CCJ for another so are no further forward. Don't forget all commercial debts are Forthwith Judgments..."

 

Not sure if I understand exactly what you are saying - do you mean even if we agree an amount or I can prove a different (much lower) amount that the claimant effectively has judgement for a different amount without going through the whole process, which would still be payable immediately?

 

You already have a Judgment registered against you which for whatever reason you are asking the judge to set aside ie the process then goes back to the beginning as if the initial papers had been served. However if the result is that if you do owe and cannot pay then the Judge is only replacing one CCJ for another so putting you back into the same position. If for arguments sake you can afford to pay the sum you think you owe then offer to do so.

 

The process so far has been the Claimant has issued papers against you, as you never received you never acknowledged and subsequently the Claimant was awarded Judgment by Default. Again not knowing anything you never paid and the Claimant instructed the HCEO to enforce the Judgment. His arrival being the first you knew of anything amiss. This is very common.

 

If this is the case do I not need to be properly prepared for the HCEO charges? The court officers mentioned 'interpleading' - Interpleader is when some of your goods have been seized but you claim they are owned by a 3rd Party but cannot provide the proof at the time. You only have a short time to provide this and submit to the HCEO who then passes it to the Creditor who either admits or denies the claim. If it is admitted then the goods are released from seizure otherwise they institute Interpleader in front of a Master usually at the High Court in London - (which I am unsure of the true meaning of) and they also talked about 'asking for more time' (not advice of course just general chat as I was there most of the day) but of course the court staff fixed the date with me on the day when I was granted the set aside. But I am now struggling to get all the background docs together in the interim and though I have sent copies of the order I got to the claimants I have heard nothing from them (so far).... I suppose they are leaving the HCEO to do the litigation now! On the day of the hearing their will only be yourself & the Claimant present the HCEO takes no part in the Set Aside.

 

Apologies for probably very dumb questions but I simply have no comprehension of the process and so Thursday looms large!

 

Many thanks

 

Have you asked for a breakdown of the fees from the HCEO? Did he leave you Form No 55? Did he leave a Notice of Seizure?

 

PT