Advice For Ccj Please

Robdel100

Would be very grateful if anyone could give me advice; I have been working away for some time and have had letters passed onto me from my previous address. The letters are from a County Court and are about a dispute that I have had with a firm of solicitors about their fees. Basically the firm have taken the claim to court and the papers state the following:

Judgment for Claimant (in default) (dated 22/3/07)
To the defendant : You have not replied to the claim form. It is therefore ordered that you must pay the Claimant…..

The second form dated 28/6/7

General Form of Judgment or order

Before ---- sitting at

---

Upon the Claimant not appearing and the Defendant not appearing

IT IS ORDERED THAT judgment be set aside.

If anyone can advise particularly what the second form means I would be really grateful. I understand the first means that a County Court Judgment was made against me, but why has this been ‘set aside’ on the 28/6? Could the matter be ongoing or is it over? Thank-you very much in anticipation.

penguin83

Judment set aside basically means that the judgment has been cancelled and will be removed from your credit file. The claimants may still be continuing with the claim but have realised it needs amending or they may have discontinued. Did you complete any of the court papers you received. Contact the court in the morning to find out exactly where the case is up to as if they are amending the claim you will have your chance to defend the case.

Robdel100

Thanks very much for your reply. To be honest I put my head in the sand and hoped it would go away, I have had other issues to deal with. I know its not the right way. I have not completed any of the court papers, I moved house and all the papers were sent back to the court marked 'gone away'. Given this situation do you think its still better for me to contact the court? If the claimants were continuing with the claim I wonder why they didn't show up at the secod hearing, any thoughts?
Thanks again..

penguin83

It could have been done ex parte - that means there was no court hearing and the judge just looked at the file and any letter or application the claimant may have sent. The court will only act on the claimants say so. if you want to phone and ask whats happening you dont have to provide any info apart from your name and claim number. You could wait and see what happens next but you run the risk of a default judgment being entered. Let me know what you decide to do and ill try and help further x

Robdel100

Hi,

I have contacted the Court and judgment has been entered against my previous address. I know I can apply to have the judgment set aside; I would be grateful if you could help me with this : can I contact the claimant directly to see if they will accept a financial offer from me, PRIOR to applying to the Court. In this was I would know if my application had a chance before I spend money and time on the Court application. Also would I be still liable for costs, that were added to the judgment before, if I apply to have it set aside? Thanks very much for your help.

CCCS_Emily

Hi,

It seems to me that the judgement has already been set aside. This can sometimes happen, even if you have not challenged the judgement, if there has been some procedural error. When you contacted the court did you ask them to confirm if the judgement had been set aside? If not I would suggest you do this just to double check. If it has already been set aside you do not need to apply for this to be done.
If it has been set aside, I would suggest that you contact the solicitors and try to come to a payment arrangment that you can afford, if you agree that you owe the money.

If it has not been set aside and you dispute the total amount you owe there are court forms and procedures you can use to sort this out. Generally it costs £35 to submit a form or £65 if you want a hearing.

Hope this is useful.

Robdel100

Thanks for your reply; the court staff told me it had been set aside because of an error in the figures, but that the judgment stands! Didn't understand this but I am going in to see them. Do you know if there is any barrier to me contacting the claimants to offer them a settlement before I formally go to the court and will I still be liable for costs? thanks for your time.

CCCS_Emily

I would suggest that you deal with it through the court.

You need to find out how much the judgement has been set for, how much you need to pay back and over what time scale. You can get this changed, if you cannot afford what the judgement asks, by using an N245 form (£35) to vary way you pay the money back.

I am right in thinking that you dispute the amount you owe? In which case you may need to request a hearing to get the whole situation heard and agreed to. You can do this with an N244 form (£65).

I'm glad you are going to the court to discuss this with them, they will be able to advise you best on what you need to do.

Keep us posted and good luck.

Robdel100

Thanks Emily, I wanted to try to have the judgment set aside by agreeing a figure with the claimants and going back to the Court on the grounds that I only recently became aware of the proceedings; and applying formally to have it set aside. Do you think this sounds feasible. Sorry to ask you for help again!

CCCS_Emily

Robdell,

Unfortunatley you cannot get a judgement set aside because you did not know about it and if the judgement still stands you need to come to a repayment figure through the court. It's for your own protection really; if it is agreed through the court and as long as you keep to your side of the agreement, there is nothing else the solicitors can really do.