Was judgement obtained using correct procedure?

motherof6

Hello, A couple of days ago I had a letter arrive addressed to my 26 yr old daughter. She no longer lives at home (and hasn't since she went to university 7 yrs ago). On leaving university she went to work for Deloitte in Edinburgh. Whilst there she had some sort of starter loan from the company to help her pay off some uni debts. (it seems this is normal practice for Deloitte graduates). She had to take more exams with Deloitte and as a condition of employment she had to pass them all. She failed one and due to this condition lost her job. so she came back to the west country, rented a cottage and got another job. She hadn't heard from Deloitte since leaving 18 months ago. She has not tried to run away from this loan in anyway shape or form just didn't hear from them about the subject.
Sam came around for tea friday night and I gave her the letter , it was from a company called shoosmiths and it appears they have a court judgement against her that was gained in Reading County court on the 6 December 2011. now surely we should have had some sort of notice that proceedings were being taken and given chance to pay?
We had no court summons, No notice of judgement, that seems to have gone straight to shoo smiths.. On the judgement it states. To the Defendant, you have not replied to the claim form...... we have not had a claim form. There is nothing on the county court judgement other than samanthas name, no address. It does state on the judgement that if you pay in full within one month you can ask the court to cancel the entry on the register...... but shoo smiths only sent us this on the back of a letter dated the 28th febuary from them.

Please help, surely procedures have not been followed correctly?

fermi

Court papers can be legitimately sent to a person's last know (usual) address if the creditor doesn't have a more up to date one for you.

So it really depends on whether she notified them of newer addresses after she left?

If she did, then she could have grounds to have it set aside.

Or if she agrees with what is owed and can pay within the one month, she can have the judgment registration cancelled.

motherof6

but one month has already passed, shoosmiths didn't send this letter until the 28th feb so that was already too late. Also shoo smiths obviously have this as an address for her as they have sent this letter now. So all in all it still doesn't make sense to me :mad:

Pitlanepiglet

The Claimant is required to serve the Claim form on her last known address. Presumably this is one that she doesn't live at and doesn't get post from anymore hence why she hasn't heard anything about the court proceedings or about the loan generally.

Sounds like Shoosmiths have now tracked her down to your address and will be trying to enforce the Judgment.

There is a procedure to set aside Judgment but given that it was made on 6th December I suspect she's out of time and also that the CCJ will already be on the Register of Judgments.

Unfortunately by not giving them a current address she has put herself in the position where they couldn't contact her. They aren't required to try to track her down to serve papers, if she didn't give them a current address they are entitled to serve on her last known address.

I'd send her in to the CAB to get it checked out, but I suspect her best option is to contact Shoosmiths and try to negotiate a sensible way of paying, I think the best she can hope for is the Judgment to be shown as Satisfied now, it is too late for it not to go on the Register.

fermi

Sorry, I missed the December 2011 date.

First of all you need to check with her if she has kept the creditor up to date with her current address?

If she has, then as said you might want to apply to have it set aside.

See: How to set aside a judgment in the county court

fermi

Pitlanepiglet wrote: »

There is a procedure to set aside Judgment but given that it was made on 6th December I suspect she's out of time and also that the CCJ will already be on the Register of Judgments.

It will already be on the register, but it's not out of time to be set aside if the daughter can show that she kept deloittes up to date with her current address. Or had other legitimate grounds to oppose the CCJ in the first place, had they known of it.

vax2002

She should still apply to have it set aside quoting that the debt company have acted with deception having served papers at an address they knew she no longer resided but are seeking payment at an address they knew her to be living.
It will take some explaining in court on behalf of the debt company trust me.
I would also get hold of a good credit check and write to the loan company requesting full details it holds, this debt could be statute barred this is scotland so it may be a 5 year barred time limit, they have served the papers on a Scottish address and they could have "invented" a payment she has not made to overturn the statute barred status, debt collectors are notorious for it.
this is a fight you could win if you can get the information to prove your case. If the County Court refuse appeal or hearing I would seek futher legal advice, they are 3 higher tears available to pursue that can over rule the county court.

fermi

vax2002 wrote: »

She should still apply to have it set aside quoting that the debt company have acted with deception having served papers at an address they knew she no longer resided but are seeking payment at an address they knew her to be living.
It will take some explaining in court on behalf of the debt company trust me.

No. They would have had them served at the last known address, which is what they are supposed to do under the civil procedure rules.

They are not sending demands for payment to a current address where she lives. Read the first post.

vax2002 wrote: »

I would also get hold of a good credit check and write to the loan company requesting full details it holds, this debt could be statute barred this is scotland so it may be a 5 year barred time limit, they have served the papers on a Scottish address

Who said they were served on a Scottish address? The county court was Reading. We don't know where papers were served.

Unlikely to be statute barred either, as presumably the loan wasn't due and payable until she finished her training or left 18 months ago. The time limit would run from that point.

fermi

motherof6

She needs to....

- Find out where papers were severed.
- Remember whether she kept Deloittes up to date with a current address.
- Read the info from National Debtline in the link: http://www.nationaldebtline.co.uk/england_wales/factsheet.php?page=12_how_to_set_aside_a_judgment_in_the_county_court
- Give them a call and/or seek other advice.
- Apply to set aside the judgement if it seems that there are grounds to do so. e.g. sent to a previous address when the creditor had been formally notified of an up to date one; claim issued out of jurisdiction, other defendable issues.
- Remember that a set aside only returns the claim to the initial stage, so would either have to come to payment arrangements then, or have a firm defence, if that were done.