CCJ set aside hearing - wages over payment claim

[fka001]

Hello,

 

I recently found out I had a CCJ when I received a notice from the bailiffs.

The notice was sent to my current address but turned out that the CCJ was sent to an old address.

 

I immediately contacted the county court where the order was given and a very helpful court clerk told me to what to do.

I completed the required form to stay the high court action and requested hearing to set aside CCJ.

 

I now have a court date in April for set aside hearing

 

Background

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I had been in dispute with a previous employer from around early 2014 where they claimed they overpaid my salary after I left the company. I disagreed with them and asked them to prove this other than with an itemized list of payslip transactions that made very little sense. They later passed the debt collection to a firm of solicitors after a few months.

 

I argued that the payment made to me was as a result of monies owed from share options and other schemes I was part of when I was employed and which had to be liquidated when I left. We have been going back and forth on the issue for over 2 years mainly by email communication. During that time I moved to a new address.

 

On a number of occasions during the email exchange, I referred to the fact that I had changed address - not explicitly - but in statements like " I have just moved house and my papers are in the loft" etc.

 

in July 2017, I got a letter through the post at my new address to check my address, I called back and left a message on VM saying Yes I had changed address.

 

I didn't hear back and the next thing was the bailiffs notice I received in December for CCJ issued in September.

 

My argument for set aside was that the claimant knew I had changed the address so had no excuse for sending the claim to the wrong address.

The bailiff was able to get my new address.

I also mentioned that I called them to notify them of change of address when I received a letter asking me about it.

 

I also stated that we had been in dispute for several months and I believe that given the opportunity I would have successfully defended the claim.

 

After I had put in the set-aside application,

I requested a copy of the original claim.

 

The claim stated that I was overpaid salary in February 2014.

 

This is one of the arguments, I had with them.

I had shown them a copy of the payslip for February which showed the payment from the employer of the sum total of £247.

They stated I owed £2400 or thereabouts.

 

In one of the correspondence, they had agreed that they made a mistake about the month and it was in fact April.

THis is correct. I.e. Money was paid in April 2014, but I disputed what the payment was for.

 

In the claim used to secure the CCJ, they have repeated February 2014 as the date overpayment took place.

 

My question is whether to just stick with the fact that February 2014 was the date stated in the claim and I can easily prove with bank statement and payslip that they did not pay me the sum in February.

Will the judge allow me to introduce evidence not mentioned previously?

 

Since I was unaware that they were repeating the previous pay date of February, my defence put forward on the N226 was that we were in discussions and they had not proven that I owe them the money.

I also offered to have the matter mediated by a body like ACAS to get the matter resolved.

 

If successful, can I claim the cost of N226 and litigant in person?

 

Many thanks for staying with me so far and look forward to your words of wisdom.

[dx100uk]

moved to general legal forum.

 

I would suspect there will be a later hearing other than the set aside one [if you win and if the claimant wants to continue further]

that will be where your costs would be addressed and docs would be exchanged

the judge in a set aside wont be interested.

as it only needs a very brief reason why you do not owe the claimed sum at that stage

[ploddertom]

Please be aware that just applying for a Stay against the Writ does not halt enforcement,

only when the Order is actually made will this happen.

 

In the meantime the Writ is live and can be enforced at will.

You could try going back to the Court and ask it is treated as an urgent application because of the involvement of the HCEO, they may be able to grant this as an interim measure.

 

Until then still adopt a fortress type mentality in case the HCEO returns making sure anything outdoors is either under lock & key or moved to a more secure location - motor vehicles are particularly at risk.

[fka001]

Sorry, if I didn't didn't make it clear previously.

 

The writ was stayed on the same day I applied

- I sent form my email and paid over the phone.

 

A few hours later ,

i got an email with the judgement that writ was stayed.

 

I was actually quite impressed by this!

 

The hearing for the set aside was then transferred to my local court.

And I now have a date for that.

[ploddertom]

Absolutely wonderful to hear that as many that I help think that once application is made that is all there is to it. Just make sure you you abide strictly by the terms of the Order.

[fka001]

As I was reading through various other posts, I came across something called small claims mediation service.

 

It occurred to me that I could ask the solicitors to agree to a set-aside and for the matter to be dealt with by the mediation service.

 

I am fairly confident the claim will be set aside in court given that the claim itself is for the wrong payment date.

 

It's just that I have a remortgage coming up and need this CCJ off my record asap.

[fka001]

Any advice on my post PLEASE?

[dx100uk]

you wouldn't meet up with the mediation service unless the claimant re-issues the claim and chooses to use them.

[fka001]

I went to court for the hearing today and it was ADJOURNED.

 

The judge who hadn't read any of the notes beforehand said he wanted to give the claimant a chance to respond to my claim that

a) they were notified of my change of address and

b) the amount in dispute was salary overpayment.

 

I argued that surely the second point was for any subsequent submission of the claim but IMHO the judge had little experience in these matters.

 

I argued about fairness given this was giving the claimant a chance to clarify their position while I still had a CCJ hanging over my head.

 

He ignored didn't seem to acknowledge that the claimant had given the wrong date for overpayment , he just seemed to want to get through the cases quickly.

Edited April 16, 2018 by dx100uk
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