Statute barred debts and the Limitation Acts

fermi

Talk to National Debtline on freephone 0808 808 4000. Not overly familiar here with the procedure for overturning decrees in Scotland, but NDL should be able to help.

National_Debtline

Barloue wrote: »

anyone any advice on this one?

Hello there.

Is it registered as a County Court Judgment or as a Decree? If you are in Scotland it needs to be the latter.

The process to remove the court order is known as a 'recall of decree'. A word of warning, though, is that there is generally a very short timescale. Here's a link to our fact sheet:

https://www.nationaldebtline.org/S/factsheets/Pages/07%20SCOT%20Decrees%20in%20the%20sheriff%20court%20-%20applying%20for%20recall/Default.aspx#quicklink2

Best wishes,

David @ NDL.

Bigjazzy

Hi All

I was wondering if anyone can advise me. I went into financial difficulties in 2008 and tried to negotiate reduced payments on my debts but many companies refused. I then did the SOA letter in around April 2009 at which time many of my debts went default. I took the credit out in Scotland where I was living at the time.

I then moved to England in 2010 at which time I tried to use a debt management company to negotiate a repayment for me in around April 2010. However I found out that they were going to take 80% of my monthly payment in fees, I stopped all contact with the DM company and buried my head in the sand. The DM company made contact with all my creditors in April 2010.

Can I firstly ask as I took the debts out in Scotland but now reside in Scotland will the 5year or 6year statute of limitations apply? Will the statute of limitations apply from my contact in 2009 or the DM in 2010. since then a lot of the debt has been sold and will they still have record of all these contacts with the creditors in 2009/2010?

Any advise please?

johnboy20

Hi All, I am asking the following:

A CCJ has been registered with the court and an earnings attachment issued to my wifes pay on a debt going back to 1992, during that time no letters or chasing was ever received or acknowledged. The CCJ was issued in 2010. A subsequent credit check by my previous employer showed the order and due to the profession I worked in I was subsequently asked to leave under the fit and proper act. I was not aware of the Limitations Act until now hence my posting. I need to know if I can dispute this and get a refund on monies paid? Can I also challenge the court for what seems to me like a flagrant breach of the rules, or did the debt company lie?

Just to confirm this all happened without our knowledge.

Any help or advice would be most welcome.

fermi

Call National Debtline on 0808 808 4000 to see what they think.

I have a feeling they may say that it could be too late for a set aside now, and that technically they did not break any rules seeking a judgement on a statute barred debt. They may have not followed rules if they knew your up to date address at the time and sent forms to a different address, but again after all this time it could be difficult to argue the CCJ being removed.

johnboy20

Many thanks Fermi, I will do that and let all know the outcome.

johnboy20

Hi all, I have spoken to National Debtline and they have recommended that I complete form N244 to ask for the ruling to be set aside, they have stated that there is no guarantee that this will work. I will send the form, together with a fee of £80.00!!

Oh well no pain no gain

fermi

Thought that might be the case, as not only do you usually need to show that you didn't have a opportunity to defend the original claim not due to your fault, and that you have a reasonable prospect of success in any defence, the rules that judges follow also say that:

In considering whether to set aside(GL) or vary a judgment entered under Part 12, the matters to which the court must have regard include whether the person seeking to set aside the judgment made an application to do so promptly.

A lot of judges seem to apply that very harshly, not giving much account to the fact that people only discover the CCJ years and years after.

Some do apply common sense though, so I wish you some luck and success.

National_Debtline

fermi wrote: »

A lot of judges seem to apply that very harshly, not giving much account to the fact that people only discover the CCJ years and years after.

Some do apply common sense though, so I wish you some luck and success.

Hello there,

The promptness test *can* operate pretty harshly, In the following case it was stated that 56 days was the absolute maximum:

http://www.bailii.org/ew/cases/EWCA/Civ/2000/379.html

Any degree of success may flow from when the CCJ was actually discovered. That said, if the debt was statute barred it could well provide a sound reason as to why the judgment should be se taside. It would be worth seeking qualified legal opinion prior to making the application.

Best wishes,

David @ NDL.

thewhiteavenger

National_Debtline wrote: »

Hello there,

The promptness test *can* operate pretty harshly, In the following case it was stated that 56 days was the absolute maximum:

http://www.bailii.org/ew/cases/EWCA/Civ/2000/379.html

In that case, the judges did not set the judgment aside because of the 'lack of promptness in making the application, and the lack of reasonable success.'


As to the latter point they said


' It seems to me that Mr Carnall's version of events, and particularly the matters identified by the judge, are inherently incapable of belief and could not be described, as I see it, as having a reasonable prospect of success, even on the test which excludes only fanciful cases. '


The OP needs to set out clearly, with dates, the order of events. But I agree that promptness could be an issue as even if the judgement had been obtained without the defendants' knowledge, the attachment to earnings on what I presume is a joint debt could not be.