CCJ from Civil Enforcement Limited

bowcreek

Dear members, I've taken and edit below from Saggi's thread. Parts different to Saggi are highlighted. Would it be worth including little bit about past default CCJs the claimant has won and still persisted to send more claims regardless and potentially not making any extra efforts to find my current address?


Please can you have a look for me ?


I am XXXXXXXXXX and I am the Defendant in this matter.
This my supporting Statement in support of my application dated XXXXXXX to:
· Set aside the Default Judgement dated XXXXX as it was not properly served at my current address;
· Order for the Claimant to pay the Defendant £255 as reimbursement for the set aside fee;
· Order for the original claim to be dismissed.

1. Default Judgement
1.1. I understand that the Claimant obtained a Default Judgement against me as the Defendant in XXXXXX. I wasn’t aware of this claim or judgement until I visited one of my OLD ADDRESSES recently to check if there are any letters for me. I had moved to a new address in XXXXXXXX. In support of this I can provide confirmation from XXXXXXX Council showing my updated details for the purposes of paying Council tax.

1.2. I have also never received any previous documentation from the Claimant in this matter and I thus was never able to challenge the Claimant’s claim.

1.3. On the XXXXXX I contacted XXXXXX County Court to find out details of the Default Judgement and requested this to be sent to via email. I have not received the particulars of claim from the court yet but was told by the CCBC staff that the claim is for “Debt and damages”. Apparently the court papers do not seem to contain any other details of the alleged incident or debt and damages and I do not know what the Default Judgement relates to.

1.4. This means as the Defendant, I do not have any details of the incident the Claimant alleges has taken place.

1.5. I believe the Claimant has behaved unreasonably in pursuing a claim against me without ensuring they held the Defendant’s current and correct contact details. According to publicly available information my circumstances are far from being unique. The Claimant’s persistent failure to use correct and current addresses results is an unnecessary burden for individuals and the justice system across the country.

1.6. On the basis provided above I would suggest that the Claimant did not fulfil their duty to use the Defendant’s current address when bringing the claim.

1.7. Considering the above I was unable to defend this claim. I thus believe that the Default Judgement against me was issued incorrectly and thus should be set aside.


2. Order dismissing the Claim

2.1. I further believe that the original Claim by the Claimant has no merit and should thus be dismissed. I understand that the Claimant is a Parking Company which seeks to claim for “Parking Charge Notices” which the Claimant believes are due as a result of an alleged breach of contract for parking by a motorist.

2.2. If the Claimant has obtained details of the vehicle for which the Defendant is the Registered Keeper, and used those details to make a claim for a “Parking Charge Notice’’, I thus dispute the claim in its entirety as I do not know the wording of the contract nor do I know the means by which the contract was alleged to come into force.

2.3. If the Claimant can evidence that the alleged incident relates to a vehicle for which the Defendant is the Registered Keeper, any Notice to Keeper served by the Claimant would have needed to comply with the requirements of Schedule 4 of the Protection of Freedoms Act 2012. Otherwise, the Claimant is required to prove the driver of the vehicle they claim was involved in the alleged incident. I submit that the Claimant cannot provide such evidence and further submit that the Claimant does not include ‘Protection of Freedoms Act 2012’ wording on the Parking Charge Notices they issue and therefore cannot hold the Defendant automatically liable for the alleged incident merely for being the Registered Keeper of a vehicle.

2.4. A requirement of the Protection of Freedoms Act 2012 is that this any Notice to Keeper served by the Claimant must be served within 14 days of the date of the alleged incident. Since I have not received any documentation from the Claimant prior to finding out about the Default Judgement, I submit the Claimant will not have complied with the requirements of the Act and thus cannot claim this charge against me as the Registered Keeper in any case.

2.5. I further submit that the Claimant’s claim is without merit due to substantial issues in it. This is for the following main reasons:
2.5.1. Lack of Standing by Claimant: The Claimant is unlikely to be the landowner of the car park in question, and will have no proprietary interest in it. This means that the Claimant, as a matter of law, will have no locus standi to litigate in their own name. Any consideration will have been provided by the landholder, and only they would have been able sue for any damages or trespass.
2.5.2. No Loss Suffered by Claimant: Their claim is presumably based on damages for alleged breach of contract. It is a fundamental principle of English Law that a party who suffers damages through breach of contract can only seek through court action to be put back in the same position as they would have been if the breach had not occurred. In order to do so, they must demonstrate their actual, or genuine, pre-estimate of loss. I submit that no loss has been suffered by the Claimant as a result of any alleged breaches of contract on the part of any motorist of the vehicle of which I am the Registered Keeper. I further submit that any loss to the landholder (which would be the only party able to claim such losses) would be at most a few pounds.
2.5.3. Claimed charge is an Unenforceable Penalty: I further submit that the Parking Charge that the Claimant claimed, given it is not based on any loss suffered due to the alleged breach, is nothing but an unenforceable penalty.
2.5.4. No contract with the claimant: Any contract must have offer, acceptance and consideration both ways. There would not have been consideration from the Claimant to the motorist; the fee for parking benefits the landowners, not the Claimant. Therefore, there is no consideration from the motorist to [name of claimant].

2.6. On this basis I believe that the Claimant has not provided any reasonable cause of action and thus the claim should be dismissed in its entirety.
2.7. In order to make informed decisions and statements in my defence as keeper of the vehicle, I will require copies of all paperwork and pictures of all signs from the Claimant.




Statement of Truth:
I believe that the facts stated in this Witness Statement are true.
Full name: xxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Dated: XXXXXXXXXX

Signed: ________________________________

Coupon-mad

I am just skim reading today but have a look at this one:

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/72570102#Comment_72570102

I like the idea of the Judge being informed that Sir Oliver Heald and Mrs May have pledged to end this exact 'old address used by a parking firm to get a stealth CCJ' scam.

bowcreek

I saw the thread you shared. I've now got around 10 days for this current open CCJ of £350 to be handled either via set aside or paying off. What do you suggest? After that I'd lose option to pay off. I haven't received particulars of claim from court yet and its been around 12 days I requested that.

Coupon-mad

I suggest set aside, because even if CEL try to resurrect the claim (and I doubt they will) you will have paid less and got the CCJ removed. It's not always a shoo-in to get a set-aside but v CEL, and in your case, you should have no trouble.

bowcreek

Okay. How is the defence looking to you coupon?

If I did apply to set aside earlier on, I was hoping to hear on that before one month of judgement completed so that I could know the outcome soon and pay if court rejected or does it normally take longer than couple weeks anyway?

bowcreek

Oh and one more thing, is there a way I can get court to have my current address on records for future service of claims or would they go with what a claimant comes with?

Coupon-mad

Yes you can get your current address on file, put it clearly in your Witness Statement that must accompany your Set Aside application.

The hearing for that will be in weeks, not days. But AFAIK, applying to set aside a judgment within 30 days of it, freezes the situation - but I am not legally qualified so wait and see or ask LoadsofChildren123.

It makes no sense to me, that a victim who applies to set aside a default judgment should be disadvantaged by the court process in actually hearing that application, such that the CCJ goes in the registered in the interim. Can't be right? I hope it is frozen but it's a point I would like clarified by someone in the know!

Loadsofchildren123

I don't think you'll get your hearing within days.


When you apply, include in your application that you are applying for the judgment in default to be set aside, and pending the hearing of that issue for the order dated xxx to be stayed. the latter is important because it stops the judgment kicking in.


Court staff don't pay much attention to applications, they just issue them and give them a date, you MUST draw attention to this urgent issue in your covering letter, and if I were you I'd take it to the court yourself to issue it and draw it to the attention of the counter staff. Hopefully you'll get someone helpful.

Loadsofchildren123

I've had a look at this thread and your statement. Looks OK to me, subject to a couple of comments below.


Procedure: you have to issue the application on a form N244, which is accompanied by your statement which you've already done and a draft order.


Statement: I think add that you are seeking an immediate, interim stay of the original order because the 30 days for payment runs out on x date and you want to ensure that while this application is outstanding you are not prejudiced by a CCJ being registered on your credit file.


I think what you put before about the gym changing their sign after you pointed out it was confusing is VERY helpful and you must draw attention to this when you file your evidence in support of the set aside. You want to be able to file further evidence later I think when you find out more about the claim. Ask the court to make a direction to this effect (draft letter below).


With the N244 and your statement you are supposed to file a draft order. Put the court heading onto this and head it "draft order" and draft it as follows:


Before DJ sitting at [name of your local court] Court on of 2017


IT IS ORDERED THAT:-


1. The order of [date of the default judgment] be set aside
2. the Claimant do pay the Defendant's costs of and incidental to this application




Send this in with a covering letter (but ideally take it to court yourself to explain the problem with the 30 days running out soon):


Dear Sirs,


I enclose for issuing a Form N244, Statement and draft Order (in triplicate).


The application is to set aside a default judgment made on x date against me.


I am aware that I have 30 days to pay the default judgment, otherwise the CCJ will be entered against my credit record. That 30 days runs out on x date.


I believe I have a good case to set aside the default judgment.


In order to avoid prejudicing me any further, while this application is being dealt with my application includes a request that the court makes an immediate stay of the default judgment. I ask the court to deal with this aspect of the application urgently.

As I have made clear in the enclosed Statement, although I have now had sight of the original Claim Form, the Particulars of Claim are brief and have been drafted in generic terms - as such, they provide little detail about how the claim arose. To some extent, I have had to "second guess" this. I therefore request a direction that I be permitted to file further evidence in support of this application, and that the court provides for sequential exchange of witness statements with the Claimant serving first, so that when I file my further evidence I understand in full what the original claim related to and precisely how it arose.


Yours faithfully


Take all this to the court and speak to the counter clerk about the set aside/30 day issue and about the evidence issue.