ccj summoned for questioning

vanlink

Hi all,
This morning i will be appearing in county court to answer questions and show my financial state to an official of the court. If i do not attend then a warrant may be issued. This is following an 'Order to attend court for questioning' on a ccj that was given on 11th april 2006. In approximately 4 weeks time this ccj will be 6 years old and should be removed from court records. I never received an original summons for the court, which was done in a different city to where I live and I never received any notification of a judgement either. The debt is claimed to be against a limited company that i was a director of, which ceased trading approx 8 years ago. The creditors are holding me personally liable. I have also received no correspondence from them since over 6 years but i am aware that a statute barred does not apply to CCJ's.

Even the solicitor that hand delivered the summons could not believe that a judgement so old could be enforced.

It really is difficult to understand how you stand legally on judgements (ccj's) which you dispute but are years old. How can i challenge this? and will the time be reset for an other 6 years when i attend for questioning even if i am disputing the original judgement . Is it too late to appeal a judgement which i knew nothing about after all this time and if i do appeal and lose are we going to have to wait an other 6 years to have it removed?

Answers on a postcard :rotfl:

I will let you know the outcome later.

NewStart09

Please get down to your local CAB and discuss ASAP, they would be to help you.

NewStart09

maninthestreet

How can you be held (legally) liable for the debts of a limited company, even if you were a director of it?

DominicJ_2

maninthestreet wrote: »

How can you be held (legally) liable for the debts of a limited company, even if you were a director of it?

It is possible.
Unusual, but possible.
Letterheaded Paper is usualy the culprit I think.

Basicaly their arguement will be they extended credit to the director personaly, not credit to the company.
Usualy they need some sort of evidence to that effect.

vanlink

Firstly, i have always found CAB to be a waste of time.

The issue over personal liability and limited liability is irrelevant at the moment because the CCJ has already been issued albeit nearly six years ago and some how in secret.

I was summoned to give answers on finances to a court official who used them to fill in a standard questionnaire. The last question was 'what would would you like to offer as payment' to this i answered that i dispute the judgement and will be seeking legal advice.

My initial worry was that by attending and answering the questions i was admitting some kind of guilt. It was explained that i had no choice , had i ignored the order and not turned up the court official would simply had gone to a judge and a warrant would have been issued.

So what happens now:

The form has been sent to the solicitors of the creditors. They will then decide if it is worth going to the judge to ask for any assets i may have and/or seek a deduction from my wages at source. They may decide it is not worth it but they won't write to tell me that. If they decide to seek money they will need to move very quickly as it is dangerously close to being 6 years.

This 6 years thing is very vague and is at the judges discretion, it would also not be removed on the exact six year date but at the end of the year in which the sixth year falls i.e in my case not 11th april 2012 but rather not until 31st december 2012.

My choices

1 If i try to appeal the original judgement and i lose then the whole six year ccj starts again.

2 If i apply to have it set aside (due to a default judgement) and i am successful then the creditor has the right to resubmit the court forms again. Once again the six years starts again. The creditor also has the right to appeal the set aside. If it is set aside then i would claim statue barred if they re-submitted the forms.

3 Do nothing and wait to see if the creditor seeks assets. Risky but if they do nothing then at the end of the year its gone from the register.

4 Seek legal advise.

Now i understand the meaning of the phrase 'Stuck between a Rock and a hard place'

DVardysShadow

vanlink wrote: »

If i apply to have it set aside (due to a default judgement) and i am successful then the creditor has the right to resubmit the court forms again. Once again the six years starts again. The creditor also has the right to appeal the set aside. If it is set aside then i would claim statue barred if they re-submitted the forms.

If the CCJ was wrong in the first place and the creditors resubmit, you have a chance to show that a CCJ should not be issued. If you could not have successfully defended it originally, then there is no point in getting it set aside.

vanlink

Ok so the creditor decided to go for option 3: seek my assets, which is basically my wages. Due to working for the fire service i am an easy target for claiming through wages. I received yet an other court form asking me to state my in-goings and out-goings as the creditor wanted to enforce my employer to pay them.

I immediately applied to have the judgement set aside, which halted the claim on my wages. The hearing is now set for this friday 15th June. Not sure how the set aside hearing works? Is it a full blown trial?

vanlink

Ok, went to the hearing for ccj set aside today. The claimant did not attend but instead of ruling in my favour the judge has decided to adjourn and write to the claimant giving them 14 days to respond. If they do not respond it will be set aside and if they do a new hearing date will be set.

This seems a little unfair, when a defendant does not attend then default is entered automatically with no second chances. The judge also said that he did not have a file on the case in front of him. (mainly because it is 6 years old). He said what he could see was that there was an 'acknowledgement of service' and asked if i had used a solicitor at some stage, which i have not.

I can not help wondering whether had i had a solicitor with me, would they have pushed for the set aside to go in my favour due to claimant not attending?

If the judge is so keen to give the claimant a second chance then i should imagine had they been there i would not have stood a chance. I am going to have to wait for at least 14 days to find out and then should a new date be set i am going to have to engage a solicitor to act because i really do think you stand a chance without them regardless of your defence.

DVardysShadow

vanlink wrote: »

If the judge is so keen to give the claimant a second chance ....

Don't get your hopes up, but if a judge is minded to do something against someone they often get handed a bit of rope to start them off.

It was very quick going from the hearing of 11th June to a set aside hearing on 15th June. The fortnight's adjournment is a gift to you to prepare your arguments. use it wisely.