Small Claim

Ridge125

Hello,

Can anyone advise.

I recently won a small claims case against a company (sole trader) for some very poor building work

The company is a Ltd company so the Director (and guy who did the work) is hiding behind his directorship in order to not pay.

We didn't actually have a signed contract, only quotes for the work, so I am not what confirms or denies liability should I now follow up my successful small claim with the same but now against him personally. I figure that given there was no contract he cannot state the contract was only with the Ltd company, and therefore as the case has already been lost, a small claim for the same against his personally may be a way around this.

Does anyone have any experience, and does anyone know my rights is this regard?

I appreciate I may never get my money back directly despite knowing he has at least some cash to buy a new van, go on various holidays etc, but at least I could subsequently put a charging order against his property if I am successful.

Thanks in advance

user1977

Did you have any correspondence? What do they call themselves in adverts etc? 

DB1904

Ridge125 said:

Hello,

Can anyone advise.

I recently won a small claims case against a company (sole trader) for some very poor building work

The company is a Ltd company so the Director (and guy who did the work) is hiding behind his directorship in order to not pay.

We didn't actually have a signed contract, only quotes for the work, so I am not what confirms or denies liability should I now follow up my successful small claim with the same but now against him personally. I figure that given there was no contract he cannot state the contract was only with the Ltd company, and therefore as the case has already been lost, a small claim for the same against his personally may be a way around this.

Does anyone have any experience, and does anyone know my rights is this regard?

I appreciate I may never get my money back directly despite knowing he has at least some cash to buy a new van, go on various holidays etc, but at least I could subsequently put a charging order against his property if I am successful.

Thanks in advance

So which one is it?

Sandtree

Ridge125 said:

Hello,

Can anyone advise.

I recently won a small claims case against a company (sole trader) for some very poor building work

The company is a Ltd company so the Director (and guy who did the work) is hiding behind his directorship in order to not pay.

We didn't actually have a signed contract, only quotes for the work, so I am not what confirms or denies liability should I now follow up my successful small claim with the same but now against him personally. I figure that given there was no contract he cannot state the contract was only with the Ltd company, and therefore as the case has already been lost, a small claim for the same against his personally may be a way around this.

Does anyone have any experience, and does anyone know my rights is this regard?

I appreciate I may never get my money back directly despite knowing he has at least some cash to buy a new van, go on various holidays etc, but at least I could subsequently put a charging order against his property if I am successful.

Thanks in advance

Your post is full of contradictions... a "company" cannot be both a sole trader and a limited company. So did you issue against the limited company or the persons name? Was the claim defended or did you win by default?

There is a contract... offer, acceptance and consideration (payment) is all that is required for a contract to be formed in England else you would have no claim against them. It may well be there is no written contract which makes it harder for both sides to evidence what was agreed but doesnt mean there wasnt a contract. 

If you believe you have sued the wrong legal entity you can start a new claim against the other entity however you cannot add any of the costs from the first case. If you're now wanting to sue an individual and the individual states the contract was with the company not them personally then both sides will present their evidence and the judge will decide who's most likely telling the truth. The most obvious thing will be to look at what was put on the quote(s) and/or how those quotes were delivered. If the company was called ABC Builders Ltd and you got a building quote from bob@abcbuilders.co.uk then its going to be viewed that clearly that was ABC Builders Ltd entering the contract and not Bob personally.

The first steps before issuing any proceedings is to firstly confirm you have the right entity and secondly to ensure that there are reasonable prospects of the entity being able to settle the claim else you are just throwing good money after bad

Ectophile

If you won the case against a limited company, then the directors do not have to pay out of their own pockets. Only the company has to pay. If the company has no assets, then you won't get paid.