Judgement Notice (in default) - Set Aside or pay in full followed by counter-claim?

motchy87

Dear All,

Judgement Notice (in default) received - Letter before claim never received, but the Judgement Notice has just been received and still within the 30 day payment window (just). It was sent to my old address and forwarded by the new owners, despite me confirming to the Claimant which address to use in order to reach me.

I understand that if a set aside application is made, the 30 day payment period continues to run. Therefore, in the event a set aside request is dismissed, the CCJ is registered for 6 years, even if paid off in full. The Defendent is not offered another 30 day window payment period to avoid the CCJ in this scenario.

I have a strong case - I have previously disputed the parking charge (I paid sufficient monies for the time spent in the car park) and I was waiting to receive the letter before claim. However, the Claimant provided the wrong address to the Courts so a set aside is valid, but I'm just weighing up the risks.

The question is - Perhaps a better course of action is to pay in full now to de-risk the situation of a registered CCJ (I am just within the window) then raise a separate counter-claim via small claims to recoup the cost?

Thank you for any assistance.

D_P_Dance

Have you read the newbies?  Have you read this?

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3786132/I-ll-end-credit-rating-scandal-pledges-PM-acts-Mail-exposes-rulings-ruined-lives.html

Nothing was done.  Have you complained to your MP?

Coupon-mad

I think a claim is riskier than the mandatory set aside you will get by applying using a N244.   If you can live with a temporary credit rating blip for 3 months or so then do the application.

First step is ask the C's solicitor (which PPC and which solicitor?) for consent to set aside under CPR 13.2, given they were told the address for service by you on (date).  As such, by negligently or deliberately using a different address just months later to file this claim, service was clearly defective and they must also bear the £108 cost of the application.

Tell them that should they refuse, you will apply without consent and seek all your costs including the £275 N244 fee, costs for loss of leave to attend a hearing and all other costs, because the filing of a claim at a known to be incorrect address is clearly wholly unreasonable conduct.

Give them seven days to respond to your concerns and agree to sort this out, consent to mandatory set aside and pay the £108 court application fee and provide a suitable and unambiguous Draft Order.  The parking charge remains in dispute but this application has value to them, compared to the alternative,  so you expect a prompt agreement.

D_P_Dance

WRT the original PCN, itf they take that to court in the future, consider a counter claim.  

motchy87

Dear Coupon-Mad and D_P_Dance - thank you both for your replies so far.

I have PM'd Coupon-Mad the finer details of the parties at play.

I can't believe the system enables a PPC to put me in this position and I am loathed to have a CCJ on my record, even temporary. I do need to consider carefully my next move.

I will contact the PPC in question for consent to set aside regardless of my choice.

Umkomaas

I have PM'd Coupon-Mad the finer details of the parties at play

Why not share those with the forum so that other regulars who might be able to help have all the facts?  It's not good form to PM anyone to seek 'private' support, unless invited to do so. 

Coupon-mad

Yes, post it here.  There is nothing to keep secret, your case seems clear cut.

motchy87

Umkomaas - noted and you're quite right.

Coupon-Mad thank you; I set out below:

The PPC is HX, the solicitor is Gladstones, but prior to Gladstones (which I have had no correspondence with) all correspondence was through ADR Legal Ltd both email and letters (i.e. HX set up their own debt recovery firm).

The deadline is end of November so I have to act this week.

Here is the email I sent to ADR on 22.06.21 confirming my address status and where to reach me:

As per the email attached a request for your new address was made by our client however, they received no response.

 My previous email confirmed my personal situation whilst in interim accommodation and to avoid the situation of letters going awry, all I requested was that all correspondence be by electronic means, yet HX/ ADR decided to continue to issue letters anyway to my old address, in addition to email. I was not avoiding the request. If you must continue to write to me by post (and in addition to email) then revert to my parent’s address which the original PCN was sent to; HX will have this information.

(I had a 3 month re-direction service in place, after that the new owners have forwarded any sporadic mail).

FYI - I was borrowing my parents' vehicle - the address on the v5 has not changed and I can rely on my parents to notify me of any mail. Indeed I was waiting to receive my letter before claim which never arrived.

Thank you for any further comments.

motchy87

Dear Coupon-mad, D_P_Dance and Umkomaas,

By way of update, I have complained to my MP (a conservative and barrister) citing the news article as well as the link to the commons debate on the new parking code provided in the main newbies sticky thread. I have requested that the government launches an investigation into the abuse of the CCJ system by so many companies from multiple industries. 

In the end, I paid the claim but stated that I reserve all of my rights to issue a claim to recover my losses due to their failure to correctly process my personal data. Payment was not an admission of liability.

Whilst I have faith in the courts system and grounds for set aside, nothing is 100% guaranteed. The ramifications of a crystallised CCJ was too great a risk to accept. 

I am now deciding whether to prepare a fresh claim to recover my losses. I therefore have two questions:

(1) Is this futile despite my 'caveated' payment?
(2) In the event I issue a claim (as the claimant), would the defendant be the parking company or its solicitors? 

Thank you
 

Le_Kirk

motchy87 said:

I am now deciding whether to prepare a fresh claim to recover my losses. I therefore have two questions:

(1) Is this futile despite my 'caveated' payment?
(2) In the event I issue a claim (as the claimant), would the defendant be the parking company or its solicitors? 

1) Some posters have succeeded with counterclaims
2)  The defendant would be whoever you issue the claim against.  Check out some other counterclaim threads and see what they did, you may even find the text of their c/c and the witness statement later.

motchy87

To update this old thread - I counter-claimed. HX decided to settle.