Court Case- Getting Desperate!

thendongofti

My husband is being taken to court over a van-rental matter from back in 2007/8. He used to run a courier franchise for DHL and hire quite a few vans.
Basically, this company reckon he broke a contract over 2 vehicles, and want £15,000 from us, but it is a really, really complicated case, as my husband believes he hired as a Ltd company, and the company think he was a sole trader and .... anyway... it is massively convoluted.
To cut to the chase, we've been wading through the process of defending ourselves in court- we have no money for a lawyer and cannot get legal aid or any other form of help (believe me- we've tried all the avenues!).
My husband was made redundant in 2009, and is now part time self employed- basically, we're scraping by on meagre earnings and tax credits. We have an interest-only mortgage, and virtually no equity in our house currently. We have no savings and at least £15, 000 debt already.
We have 4 kids under 10. We have exchanged witness statements, and our case seemed pretty good, but now they've come back with a whole load of 'new' (dodgy) evidence that we have to now counter.
It's dragged on so long now- we've both been suffering from depression and stress, our new business is suffering, as are our kids. We're doing our best but we're fighting a massive company with a team of lawyers and we're getting really tired now, I'm ready to give up even though I'm convinced we're in the right. If we lose it will be well over £20,000 they will want, and we have literally NO money.
We are already paying off other debts in installments, and are not managing from one month to the next.
If we do lose- which seems increasingly likely- and the other 'team' are really playing dirty- 'losing' all our paperwork, despite it being sent special delivery etc... what is likely to happen?
Our mortgage is in joint names, this debt is only in my husband's. Is a charging order likely? We had a year of continual bailiffs after the business folded due to the same company putting the wrong address on the vehicle documents, and I don't think I can handle that again. Please advise!!!!
(Ltd. Company signed off in 2009)

[Deleted User]

I'd suggest that you may get a better response in some of the business forums on here.

Can I also ask that you break your post up into sections, there are some really clever people on here, all you need to do is get them to read it, you have written so much some people will just run.

I cant answer your question relating to the security of your house. I suppose the question is can you prove that you took the debt/ agreement as a Ltd Company? If so then you should ensure that you fight this case all of the way, I know it's easier said than done!

If you are in the right and you have tried to defend the case, remember the court will see that you are not qualified and will take this into consideration, the decision will be taken based on the facts and not what people have made up or added. Just keep your records safe and continue to post for advice on each aspect.

arcon5

Does the paperwork have the company name or anything on?
Was payments made to the courier from his account or a company account?
Can you get a free consultation with a solicitor?

thendongofti

arcon5 wrote: »

Does the paperwork have the company name or anything on?
Was payments made to the courier from his account or a company account?
Can you get a free consultation with a solicitor?

The Paperwork was all in the company name- BUT, without the Ltd. My husband asked to have it ammended but was never done.
The company was registered as a Ltd company at companies house and he would never have entered into the transaction if he'd have thought they were under the impression he was a sole trader as he HAD to work as a Ltd company due to DHL rules.
He actually never signed the contracts- we have the unsigned copies here still. This was an oversight as he requested changes before signing... the vans were issued, and the new contracts never materialised but both parties didn't really realise (the broker went bust half way through which didn't help... and everything was done over phone..)
The Claimant has produced a couple of parts of the contract (no originals, and not the whole thing) they allege my husband signed... but it is (obviously to us) NOT his signature and we have our unsigned copies still...
This has dragged on for years- we've had a forensic handwriting expert involved- the verdict was inconclusive as both the signatures are quite simple- hence easy to forge...
Payments were made from company account...
As I say... this matter has been extremely complicated... my husband was quite naive at the time.... first business and it got very busy very quickly... we also had our youngest child going through open heart surgery at the time which kind of made the business hard to keep afloat. Nevertheless, as I can't explain the whole scenario without downloading our entire witness statement (pretty nassive) my main concern at this point is that if we lose (which will mean they are treating him as a sole trader- otherwise, we'll win..) what is most likely to happen. Even if they sold our house they wouldn't get their money, and 6 of us would be homeless! We thought this was all resolved back in 2009- then they suddenly decided to take us to court...
Basically, they have very little paperwork, and we don't have everything we would have had back then... only luck we kept any of it as the business folded back in 2009...:¬/ Sorry for rambling....