Advice for CCJ - Not in country when served

Coupon-mad

I don't think you've paid £275 twice?

You don't have to submit a defence yet.  That is only their SUGGESTED order that they want the Judge to rubber-stamp.

Now, IF the claim form did go to the same address that you confirmed in your application (i.e. the correct address?) but you somehow never received the Claim Form, you are not going to get costs anyway because the Claimant did nothing wrong.

If I'm right - the claim went to the right address but never turned up? - I also see no reason why you would oppose that Draft order.  I agree with the Claimant.  Looks the right Order to me.

The C is not always liable for the £275 fee and I'm not seeing that they should be, unless I've missed something?

If all of the above (my understanding) is correct I'd expect a five minute hearing for the Judge to hear you say you agree, and THEN you'll be given 14 days to defend the claim.  Putting you back in the position you should have been in.  CCJ wiped (you shouldering the application costs).  Then a proper hearing of the PCN in the Summer.

NotAnotherOne

At the time of applying for the initial set aside I was unemployed, therefor I was not required to pay. 

For the second application (which I had to send due to the initial faulty remote hearing) I requested the application to be dealt with 'without hearing' and since now being employed have already paid the £100 for that particular application, however the application will be dealt in a hearing which will be next week. So I anticipate they will ask for a further payment next week, however, I did receive an apology from the court delivery manager after making a formal complaint about the failure of the technology in the initial hearing. So in theory, I don't see why I should have the pay for this hearing. 

So next week will be the first time I actually get to have my hearing, and the claimant has now sent this draft order which agrees for my request for the set aside. I assume I will go there, agree to the draft order and then I will have 2 weeks to prepare and submit my defence. 

NotAnotherOne

Coupon-mad said:

I don't think you've paid £275 twice?

You don't have to submit a defence yet.  That is only their SUGGESTED order that they want the Judge to rubber-stamp.

Now, IF the claim form did go to the same address that you confirmed in your application (i.e. the correct address?) but you somehow never received the Claim Form, you are not going to get costs anyway because the Claimant did nothing wrong.

If I'm right - the claim went to the right address but never turned up? - I also see no reason why you would oppose that Draft order.  I agree with the Claimant.  Looks the right Order to me.

The C is not always liable for the £275 fee and I'm not seeing that they should be, unless I've missed something?

If all of the above (my understanding) is correct I'd expect a five minute hearing for the Judge to hear you say you agree, and THEN you'll be given 14 days to defend the claim.  Putting you back in the position you should have been in.  CCJ wiped (you shouldering the application costs).  Then a proper hearing of the PCN in the Summer.

Well, there could have been a scenario where I paid twice. But as mentioned above, due to being unemployed for the initial hearing the costs were covered. 

It's bit complicated for the cost of this next hearing, as it's not my fault that during the first hearing the technology failed. I'm not sure what will happen regarding cost on the day, as mentioned I've paid just £100 for this hearing as I applied for the application to be dealt with 'without hearing'. 

The draft order is indeed fair, I was actually out the country when the claimant form arrived to the correct address, and then due to me not seeing the letter, a judgement was made in default.

My initial set aside request was based on me having a fair chance to file a defence. Which they are allowing.

Coupon-mad

Why not email the solicitors now and say you agree with that Order so could they send over a Consent Order and you'll sign it and ask for the Hearing to be vacated to save court time, in the interests of the Overriding Objective?

Then you can avoid this first hearing.  Directions will come out by post.

And you can follow up the complaint with the Court Manager and ask for your £108 back because their own system failure which should not have denied you access.

NotAnotherOne

Coupon-mad said:

Why not email the solicitors now and say you agree with that Order so could they send over a Consent Order and you'll sign it and ask for the Hearing to be vacated to save court time, in the interests of the Overriding Objective?

Then you can avoid this first hearing.  Directions will come out by post.

And you can follow up the complaint with the Court Manager and ask for your £108 back because their own system failure which should not have denied you access.

Yes, that would certainly save me a lot of hassle. 

I assume there would be no benefit of me going to the hearing over doing what you have suggested?

Also if I did this, when would I know when the 14 days starts for me to submit my defence. I just really don't want to make a mistake in missing the opportunity to submit my defence. 

Coupon-mad

There's no advantage insisting on the hearing.  Parties are expected to agree where they can (Google the Overriding Objective).

It's a win-win situation to ask for an urgent Consent Order and sign it & ask the solicitor to send the jointly-signed version urgently to the local court this week and to copy you into the email.

Then ring the court and ask if they are vacating this unnecessary hearing, due to consent.

IF IN ANY DOUBT AT ALL, ATTEND THE HEARING BUT EXPECT IT TO BE 5 MINUTES FLAT. WASTE OF TIME, SO TRY TO GET IT RESOLVED BY CONSENT INSTEAD.

Like I said, Directions will then be posted to you by the Judge and the 14 day deadline for defence would start from service of that written Order.

NotAnotherOne

Coupon-mad said:

There's no advantage insisting on the hearing.  Parties are expected to agree where they can (Google the Overriding Objective).

It's a win-win situation to ask for an urgent Consent Order and sign it & ask the solicitor to send the jointly-signed version urgently to the local court this week and to copy you into the email.

Then ring the court and ask if they are vacating this unnecessary hearing, due to consent.

IF IN ANY DOUBT AT ALL, ATTEND THE HEARING BUT EXPECT IT TO BE 5 MINUTES FLAT. WASTE OF TIME, SO TRY TO GET IT RESOLVED BY CONSENT INSTEAD.

Like I said, Directions will then be posted to you by the Judge and the 14 day deadline for defence would start from service of that written Order.

Thank you, appreciate your help on this. I will get the email sent over. 

NotAnotherOne

Regarding this, they have responded to my email:

They have sent the Consent Order to be signed by both parties. Which I will sign and send back to them. In the email they solicitors have said 

'Once received we will countersign and file with the Court to be sealed at the Hearing'

In order to ask for the Hearing to be vacated, is this something I can do after they send the Consent Order to the courts? As you said, ring them and ask them if they will vacate the hearing. 

Coupon-mad

Sign it and ask them for a copy this week (well before the hearing) because you wish to ask the court to vacate the in-person hearing and for the Judge to instead ratify the Consent Order without either party needing to attend, to reduce costs.

NotAnotherOne

Update on this: 

Consent order was signed by myself and claimant and filed with court.

Judge has accepted and now vacated the hearing tomorrow. 

So now my CCJ should be set aside. 

and I will await further instruction from the court and then prepare my defence. 

Thanks again @Coupon-mad for your help.