CCJ Technicalities

brightonian

Hi all,

I had a CCJ issued against me by Lewis Group on a GE Cap store card in 2009. Now, at some point the address I was living at got corrupted, presumably when I moved, and I've only just discovered that a CCJ was issued. The address it was issued to was a corruption of my old and new addresses and Lewis Group say this is the address GE Cap gave them, which, presumably, is why I ended up with a debt made out of charges after making one payment to clear the account a day or so late, it would seem.

So the address was incorrect, when Lewis sold the account I was traced and paid the debt, not knowing about the CCJ.

I have also just found out the claim form was issued on 4th June 2009 but the default notice was not issued until 13th June 2009.

Is this sufficient grounds to have a reasonable prospect of a set aside judgement, should I request it?

National_Debtline

Hello there.

Given the information you have provided there are two important points. The first is that if you have proof that the claim was sent to an incorrect address you could have grounds for a mandatory set aside.

The second is that legal action can only be commenced once a default notice has been sent and the required fourteen days have passed. It appears that they took action too early. A set aside using this argument would be discretionary, you would need a realistic prospect of succeeding.

Although I cannot advise you as to your prospects of succeeding with your set aside, given what you've said I can appreciate why you are considering your options.

We outline the basics around set asides on our website, here's a link: http://www.nationaldebtline.co.uk/england_wales/factsheet.php?page=12_how_to_set_aside_a_judgment_in_the_county_court

Best wishes,

David @ NDL.

brightonian

Thanks for the advice, the only thing which I'm concerned about here (other than the loss of the fee!) is that the judgement will be sent back to the "claim stage".

Can this be retrospective? As in, could I end up with a 2013 judgement, even though it is long since paid? Of course had it been sent to the correct address I'd have had the chance to pay within a month, so, all things being fair, I assume there is no risk here (or it would be unfair)?

dotdash79

If you had it set aside and they then had judgement again, you could pay it off in a month and it wouldn't appear on your credit file.

National_Debtline

Hello again.

I must admit that I didn't notice that you mentioned that the debt is paid already. It is generally the case that a set aside would be used where there is a dispute so that the defendant can have their arguments heard by the court.

What I would like to do, is to undertake some research to see what the options might be. I'll endeavour to reply back tomorrow to let you know my findings.

I can appreciate your frustrations, it's not great to discover a judgment that should have never been placed on your file.

David.

Tixy

If the judgement is set aside then as the debt is paid they couldn't take court action again (or they could take court action, you would prove to the court you had already paid it and so the court would not grant the CCJ).

antonic

As DotDash has said, if you apply to have it set aside the clock restarts and they could go for judgment again at the correct address.

Can you clear the debt now or within 28 days if judgment is granted against you ?.

If you cant do either then you may want to consider leaving it alone , as the CCJ will drop off your credit record in June 2015 anyway, as thats the 6 year anniversary of Judgment being granted.

brightonian

The debt has been paid and was paid when the debt was sold (selling on of a CCJ?!) and the new company realised there was an address error and traced me.

antonic wrote: »

As DotDash has said, if you apply to have it set aside the clock restarts and they could go for judgment again at the correct address.

Can you clear the debt now or within 28 days if judgment is granted against you ?.

If you cant do either then you may want to consider leaving it alone , as the CCJ will drop off your credit record in June 2015 anyway, as thats the 6 year anniversary of Judgment being granted.

Gordon_Hose

antonic wrote: »

As DotDash has said, if you apply to have it set aside the clock restarts and they could go for judgment again at the correct address.

Can you clear the debt now or within 28 days if judgment is granted against you ?.

If you cant do either then you may want to consider leaving it alone , as the CCJ will drop off your credit record in June 2015 anyway, as thats the 6 year anniversary of Judgment being granted.

Read the OP again

National_Debtline

Hello there. I've undertake a little more research for you.




If the claim form:

• Was not served correctly, and as such did not come to your attention before the judgment was entered; or
• was returned undelivered by the Post Office

You may be able to have the claim set aside. There is a case where this happened: Akram v Adam [2004]. The key problem, though, is that it is likely that you will need to demonstrate a reasonable prospect of succeess in defending the claim - if you have paid the judgment there doesn't seem to be a dispute.

In Nelson v Clearsprings (Management) Ltd the claim form went to the wrong address but the court allowed the to stand - the reason being was that was no benefit to allowing fresh proceedings to be started and that it would be contrary to the 'overrding objective' (one of the key principles within the civil procedure rules) to require it. It is my understanding that a court should only refuse a set aside where there is no prejudice to you - although a delay in making the application could justify the refusal.

Did your payment cover the full amount outstanding including any further costs that could have been added such as court costs?

Hope you find this information useful. I'm unable to tell you what the likely outcome will be in your case but I hope you are able to make an informed decision about how to move things forward.



David.