Defending CCJ against CEL

Luke88

Hi all,

My girlfriend attended a hearing last week and successfully got CCJ set aside against Civil Enforcement Limited who did not bother to turn up as people on these forums had suggested. They gave CEL a week to serve particulars of the claim, and unfortunately CEL have now done this (the deadline was tomorrow).

Stating the obvious here, this company clearly has awful practices and it all seems to be a scam. However, my girlfriend is very eager to not have this hanging over her and is willing just to pay the sum off if necessary. It says on the letter that she can file and serve a defence on or before 21st March 2018. What are the options at this stage? - can she just offer to pay the amount and that be the end of it with no CCJ on her record, or will this still give her a CCJ on credit report? Or if she does file a defence and then loses what will happen then? She can pay the full amount immediately, this isn't ideal but to avoid the stress and anxiety this has caused and will continue to cause, it is worth it.

I am happy to explain some more details of the case, but as you have probably guessed if you are familiar with CEL, it is over a parking ticket about 3 years ago and all information about the CCJ was sent to an address she hadn't lived at for about 3 or 4 years - and she only found out about the CCJ when she checked her credit report in January. If the details were originally sent to her current address she would have reluctantly paid them just to avoid the hassle of going to court etc.

Any help will be greatly appreciated!
Luke

Coupon-mad

It says on the letter that she can file and serve a defence on or before 21st March 2018. What are the options at this stage?

Well, we win EVERY defended case v CEL.

EVERY CASE, with no hearing even needed, they discontinue.

So in my view, defending it is the ONLY option!

can she just offer to pay the amount and that be the end of it with no CCJ on her record, or will this still give her a CCJ on credit report?

Why the heck would she do that after getting the CCJ set aside, wiped, it's gone.

Defending it leaves no CCJ on her credit report, and is free. And she can copy another one, no stress or anxiety. CEL ones are the easiest to see off, and there will be no further hearing because they will discontinue.

She has done very well to get this far, the worst is behind her now, so don't grab defeat from the jaws of (free) victory!

All she needs to do is search this forum now, for CEL defence and copy one, takes maybe half an hour max, and submit it to the court and a copy to CEL. Come back after that, once done, and let us know when they discontinue.

Luke88

Thanks !

What if (worst case scenario) she does lose the defense? Will she be given a month to pay the full amount, otherwise the CCJ will get reapplied? We're hoping to get a mortgage soon so she's very nervous about the CCJ returning!

Do the court send a form for her to use for the defense or is it normally a written defense issued to the court?

Thanks again for the help

Coupon-mad

What if (worst case scenario) she does lose the defense? Will she be given a month to pay the full amount, otherwise the CCJ will get reapplied?

Yes, but that WILL NOT happen, not even a hearing. In fact in her defence she should ask the court to order that her £255 costs to be ordered to be refunded, plus her loss of leave/salary for attending the set aside hearing, should CEL discontinue, which they will.

So she might even get her money back, best case scenario. Assuming she pays court fees.

There is no risk of a CCJ at this stage. She MUST defend, CEL ones are easy to copy from another one!

Do the court send a form for her to use for the defense or is it normally a written defense issued to the court?

It's a written defence (not 's') and presumably the local court has written to state what the Judge ordered, to confirm the timeline she must follow? You mentioned this:

They gave CEL a week to serve particulars of the claim,

So she must also know how long they gave her to blag in a template CEL defence from here? Simple.

Luke88

That best case scenario would be brilliant, although I imagine getting money from them would be extremely difficult! We had to rearrange a holiday to attend the set aside hearing last week so also had to book new flights at a cost of around £150 - I don't suppose it would be worth mentioning that as well?!

As I mentioned above they set a deadline of on or before 21 March 2018. I have seen some of the templates/drafts of other defences and can't say that I understand all the points on there! Are the templates likely to all be relevant to her particular CCJ or could we post the particulars of the claim in this thread to help make any amendments to the template?

Coupon-mad

That best case scenario would be brilliant, although I imagine getting money from them would be extremely difficult!

Saggi found it easy, asked for the £255 back at the set aside hearing:

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/5581374

We had to rearrange a holiday to attend the set aside hearing last week so also had to book new flights at a cost of around £150 - I don't suppose it would be worth mentioning that as well?!

Yes, write a costs schedule and serve a copy to CEL and to the court. See the example in the NEWBIES thread, one person claimed £1500 (rare, but if you don't ask, you don't get).

You should aim to file your costs schedule sooner rather than later IMHO, because I reckon CEL will discontinue and you should try to nail the issue of costs asap. Should really have nailed it down in an order about costs, at the set aside.

Are the templates likely to all be relevant to her particular CCJ

Yes, any other CEL one is likely to be like hers, as long as she is defending this as registered keeper (NOT driver). She is not liable in law, as registered keeper, so I hope the set aside hearing didn't involve her talking about who parked...all is not lost if she did, but that's a slam dunk winning point for a keeper, v CEL.