Unserved County Court Judgement - what can I do?

ken_1969

I recently won a county court judgement (CCJ) against a private individual requiring a full refund plus court costs and interest.
However, I just got a letter from MCOL (Money Claims On Line) stating that the judgement has been returned "unserved". The message from MCOL said if I know of any change of address I should inform them, but it seems to me highly unlikely this person has moved.

Does anyone know exactly what this means? Is it simply the case that when a CCJ is delivered it needs to be signed for and the defendant was not at home (or deliberately not answering the door?).

Does anyone know what is the process when a CCJ is issued?

Initially the defendant had instructed a lawyer to act on their behalf, and when my original claim was issued this too was returned as undelivered - however, a copy had been delivered to her solicitor and so the document was successfully served. I believe once she realised I wasn't going to back down she dropped her representation so I don't think a copy was sent to them. Does the law firm have any obligation to inform the court if they are aware of a change of address / circumstances of their client?

I know that in practise CCJs can be hard to enforce and in the end it's maybe not the end of the world as for me it was as much about the principle as the money - but it's still well over £1,000 that I'm owned so it would be nice to get it back.

Anyone had something like this and able to offer any advice?

Many thanks in advance!

Ken

waamo

If you want to play hardball you could use a Process Server to shove the papers in his hand.

MothballsWallet

Isn't a solicitor's first duty to the court and not their client?

steampowered

ken_1969 wrote: »

Does the law firm have any obligation to inform the court if they are aware of a change of address / circumstances of their client?

No, they don't. And if the Defendant has stopped instructing the law firm he is no longer the firm's client anyway.

Anyone had something like this and able to offer any advice

You still have a valid CCJ, so can enforce it.

If you have an address for the Defendant the best method is usually to instruct HCEOs (though there are other options too).

unholyangel

One thing I'd add is to ask if the defendant or their solicitor ever told you that they were authorised to receive service on their behalf. If not then the service would be ineffective.

It may depend on exactly what was said. There was a case not too long ago where the defendants solicitor had asked for all correspondence to be sent to them but had not explicitly stated that they were authorised to receive service. The defendant was able to appeal on that basis.