Bank account name different from defendant's name on Judgment

[Mec1]

As the claimant,

I have county court judgment against a UK limited business.

 

 

Following failure of a warrant to seize goods, I applied to the court for a third party debt order.

 

 

I have since discovered that the UK bank account the business uses is actually in the Director's own name and not in the business name,

so the Judge states he can not change the interim third party debt order (which has naturally been rejected by the bank)

as I have no judgment against that individual name.

 

Any advice please on how to now best proceed?

Thank you.

[citizenB]

I will try and find someone who can help.

[AndyOrch]

An Order to Obtain Information requesting a Director to attend court to account for the financial situation of the company can assist with a Third Party Debt Order.

 

The Order to attend must be served personally on the judgment debtor. In the County Court only the Enforcement Agent (Bailiff) Service can be used to serve an individual who is acting on their own behalf, a self-litigant.

 

In all other cases, the judgment creditor must make their own arrangements to have the judgment debtor personally served.

 

This is best done using a Process Server who will then file an Affidavit proving that the Order was served. The Order issued by a court contains a Penal Notice that will empower the court to commit a judgment debtor to prison for contempt in the event that the Order is not complied with, so it is important to ensure that the Order is served correctly on the judgment debtor, and that the correct proof of service is obtained.

 

The purpose of an OOI is to elicit sufficient information to enable the judgment creditor to make an informed decision to enforce the judgment.

The questioning is carried out either by a court officer or a judge. When questioning is carried out by a court officer the judgment creditor or his representative may attend.

 

Where the questioning is carried out by a judge, the judgment creditor or his representative must attend and conduct the questioning.

There are provisions for committal to prison of the judgment debtor for failure to attend. These provisions are rarely enforced, it is more usual to adjourn the matter to a later date and sometimes this may happen more than once. Committal to prison is treated as a penalty of last resort.

 

In some circumstances the judgment debtor's financial situation may be so that the judgment creditor may make a decision not to enforce immediately.

 

How to issue an Application for an Order to Obtain Information

 

Lodge at Court:

 

the completed N316 form - Application for an Order that Debtor attend Court for Questioning (for a limited company or PLC complete N316 form - Application for Order that officer of Debtor Company attend Court for Questioning)fee of £50.00 or completed EX160A Court fees - Do I have to pay them? (application for fee remission)

 

information leaflets:

 

EX324 - How do I apply for an order? - Order to obtain information from a person who owes you money

 

Regards

 

Andy

[Mec1]

Thank you for your very informative reply Andy.

 

Unfortunately, the Director lives in America so any 'personal' service of papers will not be possible. He has history of county court claims etc. I'm surprised the bank allows a UK registered/Limited company to operation from a personal account! I may still be able to serve the Order at the UK registered address though?

 

The Application hearing was set for tomorrow, however in light of the judges decision regarding the interim third party debt order I have asked for an adjournment until I can sort this all out.

 

So to summarise, I have a county court claim and judgment in the company name, and an interim third party debt order in the company name instead of the Director's name, which the Judge says can not be amended.

Edited November 19, 2014 by Mec1

[AndyOrch]

Why did your Warrant to seize goods fail? Have you considered bumping it to the High Court and HCEO?

[Mec1]

Why did your Warrant to seize goods fail? Have you considered bumping it to the High Court and HCEO?

 

Because all the known UK addresses for the company are either old ones or just postal drop off/collection points (used by many companies). I tried paying for a professional search but they drew a blank too.

 

Because the Director has been in this situation before, I think he's covered his tracks this time.....

 

It's really frustrating to have everything in place (claim, judgment, etc) and the fail at the last hurdle due to the bank account name on the interim third party debt order! Whilst I've seen guidance on changing names on claims, I've not seen any on judgments, so I'm guessing I know have to start again (and lose all the costs unless I can add these to the new claim). I can't ask the judge to issue an Order for information as it can't be personally served on the Director, which I understand has to happen, with evidence of such.

[AndyOrch]

And so you would have difficulty and trying a further claim in his name as he resides in America.......