Can I / Should I complain about Judges decision?

Okydoky25

I put in a Small claim against my builders last year after they walked out on the job. They failed to supply a defence (by Nov 21) so after weeks of trying to contact the court I was told to submit an N244 form requesting judgement against the defendant. I did this early Jan 22

Court case date had been set but as advised I sent off the form and paid another £108. 

Reply to this from the Judge in Feb was to let the defendant have yet more time to send in their evidence (!!!!!!!?) The original court case date was cancelled also.

Defendant still failed to submit defence. We are now also past the original court case date. I’m down an extra £108. And I’ve not heard anything. Emails go unanswered now for nearly a month and their helpline just advise to email. 

So basically I’ve paid more money and having to wait even longer and still no word from the court. Had I not sent in the N244 the court date would have come and gone by now and I would assume in my favour? Instead I’m still waiting and another £108 down? Do I just keep waiting. Make a complaint in writing to the court? 

Jenni_D

N244 is the form for a set-aside, not the form to enforce a default judgment. Who told you to use form N244? (That is the form for an Application Notice to ask a court to set aside or vary a judgment, or suspend an enforcement process).

If you raised the claim on MCOL then you should have been able to enforce it via MCOL.

Okydoky25

Jenni_D said:

N244 is the form for a set-aside, not the form to enforce a default judgment. Who told you to use form N244? (That is the form for an Application Notice to ask a court to set aside or vary a judgment, or suspend an enforcement process).

If you raised the claim on MCOL then you should have been able to enforce it via MCOL.

It was the court who told me to complete it. 

After the date had passed and I had received no evidence from the defence I got a letter from the court with a case hearing date. 

I emailed the court (after speaking to them on the phone) to ask why the case was going ahead without a response from the defendant. They advised me to request judgement by completing the form which they emailed to me. 

Manxman_in_exile

Okydoky25 said:

Jenni_D said:

N244 is the form for a set-aside, not the form to enforce a default judgment. Who told you to use form N244? (That is the form for an Application Notice to ask a court to set aside or vary a judgment, or suspend an enforcement process).

If you raised the claim on MCOL then you should have been able to enforce it via MCOL.

It was the court who told me to complete it. 

...

I emailed the court (after speaking to them on the phone) to ask why the case was going ahead without a response from the defendant. They advised me to request judgement by completing the form which they emailed to me. 

I think it may have been a mistake to query the case going ahead?  You probably should have let it continue without any intervention, and you would probably have got your default judgment.  (Although if the defendants had turned up the judge still might have given them an extension to file a defence depending on whether they had a good reason for being late or not.  It happens.)

If you have emails clearly showing the question you were asking and that the court clearly advised you to fill out the wrong form at a cost to you of £108, then I'd make a formal complaint to the court and demand a refund.  (I don't think it's got anything to do with the judge.)  Does the email the court sent you clearly say that you must submit the attached form in order to get a default judgment in the absence of any defence being filed?

The difficulty you might have though, is that court staff aren't qualified to give you "legal" advice.  Even as a litigant in person you are assumed to know what you are doing and to know what the steps and processes are.

Jenni_D

Was it an actual court or the CCBC (County Court Business Centre in Northampton, an office basically, not a court) that you contacted?

Thrugelmir

Takes time for cases to come to court. Priority being given to serious cases. Badgering the court was never going to speed the matter up. Better to have left well alone and wait patiently. 

Jenni_D

The timelines are quick anyway.

Claim filed
Defendant has 14+5 days to do the AoS
If they do then they have a further 14 days within which to file their defence (so 33 days total from the Issue Date on the claim form)

If no AoS is done then the Claimant can file for a default judgment after those 14 + 5 days (say 3 weeks)
If the AoS is done but no defence is filed in time then the Claimant can file for a default judgment after the timeline expires (say 5 weeks)

This all should have been straightforward via MCOL.

What was the claim value? (The track isn't usually assigned until DQ stage, but if the claim value exceeds the small claims track limit then that may change things).

Okydoky25

Thanks everyone. 

I wasn’t trying to speed things up. I originally called the court (Local county) to check if the case would definitely be getting heard on that date due to not receiving any defence. 

Not having a clue how it all works it was just advise I was after. 

They suggested I email a request for Judgement to the court so I did and had a reply telling me to complete the form which I did. They then called me to take payment. 

It basically went from there as above.