Surprise CCJ from Excel Parking Services

D_P_Dance

 Nor must you imply it is a 'credit file cleansing' exercise.

What is wrong with "credit cleaning"  Surely it is perfectly acceptable to go to court to remove a CCJ that was unlawfully./improperly obtained? 

D_P_Dance

 Nor must you imply it is a 'credit file cleansing' exercise.

Why?  Surely it is perfectly acceptable to use legal processes to remove an unlawful CCJ?

Jenni_D

By definition there is no such thing as an unlawful CCJ - after all the legal process (law) was followed to apply it, so it was lawful. Unwarranted is probably a more-accurate term.

D_P_Dance

The legal process may have been followed, but if that process says that the court must follow certain procedures, and they do not, I am of the opinion that that anything that follows is unlawful.  

not conforming to, permitted by, or recognized by law or rules:"the use of unlawful violence"  (Oxford dictionaries)

Olig777

Good Morning All,

Just as an update, we received a Court date of the 7th Sept and it is a internet based affair, which is a shame really as you cant get the same rapport. 

However, we have since received the following from Elms Legal and I would appreciate members thoughts on how to respond to this? It is a great result that they are now consenting to the Set Aside but I feel they could have done this at the very start and saved us the increased £275 fee, all the worry and of course hours upon hours of time, so I feel we want to try for costs.

This is the wording to their Consent Order that they want my wife to sign;


Upon the Parties having consented and agreed to the terms set out below:

IT IS HEREBY ORDERED THAT:

1. The judgment dated 06/05/2021 be set aside.

2. The claim be allocated to the small claims track.

3. No order as to costs.

Jenni_D

If you've already paid a SA fee then you reject their proposed order - you absolutely want your costs covered.

I've not read back through the thread ... is the set aside hearing more than 4 months since the original CCJ date, and was this about a claim being filed to the wrong address?

Have you already filed a proposed SA order? If the answer is yes+yes to the above questions, have you included wording re. the original claim being dead as it was never properly served?

Olig777

Hi and thanks very much @Jenni_D

We have already paid the £275 application fee despite having emailed Elms Legal (and Excel) to request a consented SA which they point blankly (and mildly rudely) refused. The tone and the grammar itself left a lot to be desired.

We have been passed this email over from EPS, please be advised that if you were wanting to look at a set aside application, you would need to submit an application to court as you have explained in your email, we would not be liable for any of your costs to set aside your judgment that you have incurred from your parking contravention.

If you were wanting to set judgment aside and discuss a consent order, you would need to produce a good reason for us to consider as well as pay us the outstanding amount of £257.00 before you then would have to pay the fee to the court of £108.00

The SA is well over 4 months old and yes wrong address and yes the DO is below. I actually borrowed a bit from @Johnersh in relation to costs on an indemnity basis.

IT IS ORDERED that:

1. The default judgment dated 06.05.21 be set aside.

2. The claim struck out as the claim form having not been served within 4 months of issue

3. The Claimant to pay the Defendant’s costs of this application on an indemnity basis.

Any thoughts appreciated,

Oli

Jenni_D

If you've already filed it (and served a copy on the other party) then you either ignore it or respond to reject their offer (copy to the court) as you've already incurred costs due to their initial intransigence - if they wanted to minimise costs then they would have accepted the consented SA up front.

Coupon-mad

Be VERY careful here.

We have a case on the forum where Elms Legal failed to get a Defendant to sign a consent order (same late stage as you, just before the hearing).

What they then did was send a bundle to the court, including a copy of their Draft Consent Order with the person's name at the bottom.  Not signed.

A clueless or tired Judge took it to be an agreed Consent Order and cancelled the hearing, set aside the CCJ with NO COSTS being awarded, and left the Defendant £275 out of pocket.  They are still trying to get the stupid court to reverse that Order.

Reply to Elms REFUSING any consent Order and tell them not to send it to the court because it is certainly not agreed. State that you require your hearing to take place as planned, and will be seeking your full costs.

Then email a skeleton argument (with the 4 months dead case authorities and the IPC CoP as attached exhibits) and costs assessment to the court and copy in Elms, if you haven't already.

As seen in the recent thread by @Brokenchief

In the body of your email tell the court to note that you have NOT signed any Consent Order even if the Claimant/Elms Legal include what looks like one in their bundle and you continue to seek a CCJ set aside, and your costs at the hearing that you have paid for.

Olig777

Many thanks @Jenni_D and @Coupon-mad this will be acted upon by close of play Monday. I cannot quite believe the audacity of them after I gave them the opportunity for a non contested Set Aside at the very beginning. 

The Skeleton Argument appears to be just a condensed version of the Witness Statement that the Courts and Claimant already have. Is this just to make it easier for the Judge?

I just need to compile my costs assessment - I know it may seem excessive but I truly believe I will have spent a minimum of 50 hours reading and compiling WS/DO/DS and the forthcoming costs assessment/Skeleton, plus explaining to Mortgage companies. What will the Court make of this? I appreciate that I have opted for costs on an indemnity basis and thus if this is agreed then justifying the costs is less important but if the Judge does not agree (with indemnity) then I wondered peoples thoughts? I don't want the Courts to see us negatively but I feel these companies should be taken to task over how they operate and in some small way, heavy costs may make them think twice...maybe!

Lastly, I have done all the research and will act as lay representative for my wife at the hearing. Obviously I am not the 'Litigant in Person'. Do I need to make this clear on the Costs Assessment (and if so how do I convey this) or can it just be in her name as I will of course bring her up to speed on the salient points.

Many thanks once again

Oli