Small Claim Advice

ease

I'm wondering if anyone can give me some advice.

Basically I started a small claim against someone a year ago who owed me around £1500. They disputed it, refused mediation, it went to court, and I won easily since they had no evidence and I had a lot. I was awarded the full amount plus costs and they were ordered to pay.

They then did an application to vary, offering me £100 per month due to being "unemployed", but they gave false financial information (they work freelance, but don't pay tax, which I've also reported them for). I applied to have them go to court and prove their income, which they did but gave false information again.

I complained to the court so they ordered them to send 6 months of bank statements for 3 accounts. They sent 1 month for 1 account, claiming the other 2 were closed, conveniently around the time they were asked to come to court.

I've now had to write to the court again with a stack of information and proof of their income, along with lots of evidence showing how ridiculously obvious it is that this person is lying to the court.

Last time I wrote to the court it took them two months to get back to me, after many phone calls and e-mails.

I'm just wondering where I stand and what my best action might be? I've been told I can escalate it to the high court and get bailiffs involved, but is this the best option? I also want to do something about the fact that they keep lying to the court and ignoring court orders. Is there anything I can do in that regard?

Thanks for any help

daytona0

I'm struggling to find out what you actually want from all of this. I am thinking either:

1. Wanting to try and destroy this person's life as much as possible (spite)

2. Trying to recoup the money faster than the proposed 15 month timeframe.


I'm erring towards number 1 because you seem quite passionate and committed to the task! Not saying that tax fraud is ok, but it isn't your job to correct the wrongs of the world and you must be expending a hell of a lot of energy in the process. And for what? To try and ruin a freelance trader? Possibly alienating you a bit from other freelancers in the same industry too? To get your money back quicker than 15 months? I'm not sold.

Also, a side point but 100 pound a month is a lot for someone who has declared themselves as "unemployed". The dole only pay about 300-400 a month and to pay out 100 to a non essential bill is something the courts theoretically wouldn't have done. Therefore, I suspect that the person has made some kind of declaration of earnings/savings. Whether they go above the tax threshold is therefore likely the real debate. Could be tricky to prove, depending on the solid evidence you have of this.

pinkshoes

Do they not have any assets for their business that you could send a bailiff in to seize?

ease

daytona0 wow, that's quite a bizarre attitude you have there and quite a confrontational reply. You could have just asked me to clarify a couple of points.

No, I don't want to destroy their life. I just want the money that's owed me, and they're making it as hard as possible to get it. They're working illegally while claiming ESA and housing, can quite easily afford to pay me in full, but keep lying to the court.

Hence me asking if there's anything I can do about that, and anything I can do to speed the process up a bit. The court seems blind to the lies, despite them being ridiculously easy to verify.

pinkshoes I'm not sure they do, besides a laptop, but I'm told bailiffs can't seize that sort of thing if it's claimed it's for a business, even if that business isn't actually real?

arcon5

How can you possibly know this third parties income? Let alone be able to prove it!
How do you know of their tax affairs? Let alone that they are not paying?

bris

Instruct the bailiffs and let them deal with it. DaytonaO is right though, it looks like a personal crusade.


If you have proof it's not the courts who you need to contact regarding tax fraud is it.

gettingtheresometime

Also you have to consider how long you've been trying to up the payments?

If its more than 4 months then you could have had nearly a quarter of your money back by now.

arcon5

Send them written notice you are to instruct baliffs first, the hope is it will scare them in to paying.

Not sure it's true about the laptop though, unless it's actually owned by a ltd company

unholyangel

Also bear in mind that if he is committing tax and benefit fraud, they would expect those repaid and that would leave less money to pay you.

Marktheshark

Take the £100 a month, you would have had most of the money by now.

ease

Thanks for the replies everyone but I feel they're mostly entirely irrelevant to the original question. I'm just looking to find out what my best option is to get my money back from someone who's flat out refusing to pay and who's claiming they can't afford to do so, but can.

I'm not really here for an inquisition, nor to explain how I know about this person's finances, nor to explain why I didn't take the £100 per month. But... basically we have mutual friends, I've done work for this person and seen her invoices while she was claiming benefits, the court sent me copies of the statements she sent them, and she withdrew the £100 offer very quickly (changing it to £50), and since I know she can afford to pay me I'd rather get it all at once.

Perhaps just work under the assumption that this is *not* a personal crusade and she *does* have the money to pay me back. I'm finding all of the confrontation in this thread quite bizarre and unwarranted.