Small claims - won judgement, advice on next move?

terryw

If he decides to apply to have judgement set aside he must pay a fee and give an address for service of documents and then attend a hearing at which you should also attend. It is difficult to say if the judge will set aside but if he has some convincing story it is possible, probably even likely, that it will be set aside. BUT the judge may well make conditions such as a defence to be entered within a certain time limit.

At present this just looks like bluster. Take the opportunity to send a letter with proof of posting thanking him for the email and reminding him that he has still not supplied you with a current address. Point out that you will not commence enforcement proceedings for ,say, seven days to allow him to either pay the judgement debt or make the set aside application.

ILW

Does he have any spare money? If not you are wasting your time and money.

zzzLazyDaisy

hs04avp wrote: »

I have various questions, let's say he does apply to have the judgement set aside based on the fact he moved house and didn't receive the court papers, what is the likelihood this will be agreed by the courts?

To have judgement set aside, he has to a) pay a fee; b) convince the court that he did not receive the original court claim and did not know about the court proceedings against him and c) that he has a reasonable prospect of successfully defending the case. Having said that, the bar tends to be set fairly low in small claims court cases, so provided he comes up with a believable reason for not knowing about your court claim against him, and a reasonable defence to your claim, it is quite possible that judgement could be set aside

If it is agreed, what exactly does it mean? If I chose to, would I be able to /have to start the claim again? Can I do this given the fact I don't know his current address?

In order to apply to have judgment set aside, he has to provide the court with a current address. If judgment is set aside, this just puts the court proceedings back to where they were when judgment was entered - you don't need to start again, the court proceedings carry on from where they left off

Lazy daisy, regarding your post about sending a letter, do you mean to just send the letter you suggested earlier, basically saying he needs to pay in 14 days or I'll be contacting his employer or do you mean to send him the judgement?

The point of the letter was to flush him out and get him to respond to you. Now that he has replied by e-mail at least you have established that he is now aware of the court case, there isn't much point in sending the letter, you have done what you needed to do, for now


Very frustratingly, I never received the judgement myself and the courts say I have to pay a fee for them to send it out again!

So presumably you attended the hearing, and you were told that judgment would be entered against him, but you never had any confirmation in writing from the court about this? In that case, you are not asking for a replacement copy of the judgment (for which there is a fee) but for confirmation of the outcome of the court hearing. If that's right, you should write to the court, quoting the court number and the hearing date, and say that although you attended the hearing and the judge told you that judgment would be entered against the defendant, you have never received any confirmation of this in writing from the court. Say that the defendant has failed to pay and you are now considering your options concerning enforcement of the judgment debt and please could they send confirmation of the judgement so you can take advice on what you should do next

Surely even if I send the judgement or a letter about the judgement and can prove he received it, if he can prove he moved before the initial claim was sent, he can just say he had no opportunity to respond?

I wouldn't bother sending the letter now. He has sent you an email acknowledging that he does now know about the court case and saying he is seeking legal advice. In order to have judgment set aside, he must act promptly once the matter has come to his attention. *IF* he is seeking legal advice, his lawyer will explain this to him and tell him that he must not delay in making the application to the court to have judgment set aside. So for now your best bet is probably to sit back and give him time to either make the application to the court, OR leave it too late to do anything about it.

I assume I should put my name and return address on the back of the letter, but then if he is at the address he'll see it's me?

No, you would put your name and address on the letter inside and keep the envelope anonymous - exactly the same reason as you don't send the letter recorded delivery. If he is genuinely not there, and not getting his post forwarded, your letter will either be binned by the current occupants or returned by royal mail. But since he has now made contact, that has now been superceded.

Really appreciating all the advice, please do keep it coming!

Hope the above helps.

D

justmyopinion_2

Couldn't you 'stake out' his known address & take pictures of him entering or leaving? If he doesn't appear at some point, there's a good chance he has moved & therefore might apply to set aside the ruling.

hs04avp

ILW wrote: »

Does he have any spare money? If not you are wasting your time and money.

Like most people would be, I'm unaware of his financial circumstances. I know he has a full time job and would be in a decent position as a manager or high up as an administrator of sorts.

Daisy that was incredibly helpful, thank you so much for all your advice, I've been feeling like I've been shooting in the dark a bit and your clarification has been amazing!
One last question, you say if the judgement was set aside the proceedings would go back to where they were when judgement was entered. So I wouldn't have to pay any money and could still continue the case against him?

Not sure if it's relevant, but I chose the option of not attending the hearing and having the judgement fed back to me by post. I will definitely follow your advice about writing to the courts, I only have one document the courts ever sent me, the one just saying they've received my claim.

Justmyopinion, I seriously considered this but thought maybe it was a bit extreme, I'm trying another way to find his current address and will see how it goes.
I had confirmation at the very end of December he was still at his address, sent a letter before action 11th Jan and started the claim feb 16th. If he has moved I wish I knew what date it was!

zzzLazyDaisy

hs04avp wrote: »

One last question, you say if the judgement was set aside the proceedings would go back to where they were when judgement was entered. So I wouldn't have to pay any money and could still continue the case against him?

Exactly. All that would happen would be that the judgement would literally be 'set aside', in other words 'treated as if it never existed'. It wouldn't change anything that had gone before that, and the court proceedings would just continue.

Not sure if it's relevant, but I chose the option of not attending the hearing and having the judgement fed back to me by post. I will definitely follow your advice about writing to the courts, I only have one document the courts ever sent me, the one just saying they've received my claim.

So how did you know that judgement had been entered against the defendant? Presumably you phoned up and asked? In that case the court should have followed this up with written confirmation - as you say, you were offered the option of having the judgment fed back to you by post and this hasn't happened, so you need to make this clear in your letter (though they may say you should have followed this up more quickly)

You need a copy of the judgment to enforce it.

Since the Defendant has broken his silence and confirmed that he has received your communication about the judgment, but has not responded to your requests for his current address, you are entitled to rely on his last known address (as is the court).

As you know where he works and you know he is likely to have a reasonable salary, your best way forward is to apply for an attachment of earnings order, as previously discussed. There is a cost for this and it will be added to the judgment debt. (Normally posters, quite rightly, advise caution when trying to enforce a debt because you could be throwing good money after bad if the debtor has no assets or money, but your case is different).

In your shoes, I would

1 write to the court and explain that you were advised that you would received written confirmation of the outcome of the hearing on [date]. That you have not yet received that confirmation or a copy of the judgment and as you are now considering your options re enforcement, you'd be grateful to receive the relevant paperwork as soon as possible (don't get into what they said earlier about paying, it will just confuse the issue).

2 I would personally let a month elapse from the date of the e-mail saying the debtor is seeking legal advice. Then phone the court to see if an application has been made to set aside judgment. If not, I would then take steps to enforce the judgment by way of attachment of earnings order.

3 Be aware that an application for an attachment of earnings order may flush him out and he then still may make a late application to set aside, in which case you will just have to deal with it.

4 If you do apply for an attachment of earnings order, you should provide the court with the employer's details at the same time. The court will write to the debtor at his last known address, if he fails to respond, the court can then write directly to the employer. Note - this procedure is only available to you if the money owed is more than £50.

More info here

http://www.adviceguide.org.uk/england/debt_e/debt_action_your_creditor_can_take_e/creditor_takes_money_from_your_wages.htm

hs04avp

Hello all,

Just thought I'd send an update and fish for a little more advice.

I applied for the attachment of earnings order, he was sent the request for information about his employment which he ignored, so his employer was sent the request.
They complied, all was well, I received a letter telling me how much I would be receiving per month.

Then I heard nothing and received no money. Finally got through a progress report informing me his employer says he is no longer employed with them.
I called the courts today and they said they have sent him a form asking for details of his new employment.
They said if he fails to complete this (which no doubt he won't bother), he'll be served it by a bailiff, if he still doesn't do it then he could go to prison.

I asked what happens if he registers as unemployed on the form but then gets a job in the future and the woman said I would have to inform the courts so they can start the process again. I asked how I would know if this person starts employment again (?!?!) and she said she didn't know.
Is there no system where the court would get some notification from HMRC or something when that person starts working again?

I'm really frustrated, hoping he wouldn't have left employment just because of the debt, as compared to his salary, it wouldn't be crippling, the amount coming out was only £100 a month.

Advice would be much appreciated once again! FYI I have no intention of paying out any more money on this, just want to know what I can expect to happen now

hs04avp

Hello all,

Just thought I'd send an update and fish for a little more advice.

I applied for the attachment of earnings order, he was sent the request for information about his employment which he ignored, so his employer was sent the request.
They complied, all was well, I received a letter telling me how much I would be receiving per month.

Then I heard nothing and received no money. Finally got through a progress report informing me his employer says he is no longer employed with them.
I called the courts today and they said they have sent him a form asking for details of his new employment.
They said if he fails to complete this (which no doubt he won't bother), he'll be served it by a bailiff, if he still doesn't do it then he could go to prison.

I asked what happens if he registers as unemployed on the form but then gets a job in the future and the woman said I would have to inform the courts so they can start the process again. I asked how I would know if this person starts employment again (?!?!) and she said she didn't know.
Is there no system where the court would get some notification from HMRC or something when that person starts working again?

I'm really frustrated, hoping he wouldn't have left employment just because of the debt, as compared to his salary, it wouldn't be crippling, the amount coming out was only £100 a month.

Advice would be much appreciated once again! FYI I have no intention of paying out any more money on this, just want to know what I can expect to happen now

zzzLazyDaisy

What would you expect to happen now?

Nothing.

He appears to have changed his employment, so unless you know (or can find out) who his employer is, then you have reached a dead end as far as attachment of earnings is concerned.

It is clear that he is determined to ignore any correspondence from the court and that he will do his best to avoid paying you. It is also clear that he is not worried about the CCJ that has been registered against him.

Some people are professional debtors. If he has few assets, is in rented accommodation, and is either self employed or not concerned about being unemployed, the harsh reality is that you can kiss goodbye to the money.

As frustrating as it is, if you continue chasing him through the courts, you are probably going to be throwing good money after bad. But I think you've already come to that conclusion.

Daisy

arcon5

You can at least take solice in the fact he's destroyed future financial prospects as a result of an unsatisfied ccj - no mortgage, cc etc. Nobody will wanna touch him.