Unpaid CCJ letter received from DCBL today

Coupon-mad

Yes and yes.

Surely you paid £275 fee?

remzeh1

Yes I paid the £275 fee and I want my money back.

I told DCBL yesterday what you told me to say, I received the following response today...

We act for the Claimant and write in respect of the Defendant’s Application dated 11/06/2023 to set aside Judgment.

 The Claimant will not be in attendance at the above listed hearing. No disrespect is intended to the Court. This is simply a decision made to avoid incurring unnecessary and disproportionate costs. We respectfully ask the Court to take into account the following submissions.

SUBMISSIONS REGARDING THE APPLICATION TO SET ASIDE THE JUDGMENT

Within their Application the Defendant alleges that they did not reside at the address that the Claim Form was issued to.

Upon review, it is respectfully submitted that the Claim Form was correctly served at the Defendant’s last known address pursuant to CPR 6.9. Pursuant to CPR 6.9 (3), the Claimant took all reasonable steps to ascertain the Defendant’s current address by conducting a trace and this trace result provided the Claimant with ‘knowledge’ of the Defendant’s address.

 It is the Claimant’s position that although the Claim Form was correctly served, it is more likely than not that the Defendant did not reside at the address that the Claim Form was issued to. The Claimant has decided to take an economical approach to the matter in consideration of CPR 1.1 and to assist the Court in achieving its overriding objective. As such, we would be grateful if the Court would place the attached Draft Order on the Court file in readiness of the Hearing listed on 21/08/2023.

 In the event that the Defendant also seeks to recover the costs of making the Application to set the Judgment aside, it is respectfully submitted that the Claimant has not acted unreasonably. A trace was conducted to ensure that the Claim Form was served to the Defendant’s last known address pursuant to CPR 6.9 (3) – the Claimant has therefore followed the correct process and had no reason to believe that the Defendant would not have received the Claim Form.

Pursuant to CPR 27.14, the Defendant is not entitled to costs incurred where the matter has been allocated to the Small Claims track. If the matter had proceeded, it is reasonable to assume that the Claim would have been allocated to the Small Claims Track, given the complexity and balance of the case.


What does this mean then? They've thrown in the towel? Will it just be me and the judge now?

All the evidence stacks in my favour that they've been completely careless and haven't acted reasonably - they had no reason to try to trace me, they already knew my address!

So of course I'll be asking the judge to order the Claimant to reimburse me of my £275 and I'll also be asking them to throw out the claim as this should have been included in the first claim.

If the judge sides with me on the estoppel as this should have been included in the first claim, do I have any grounds to ask them to order the claimant to repay me for the second one I paid at the LBC stage?

Do I have any grounds to ask the judge to order them to reimburse me for the time I spent having to put the witness statement together etc - my time is very valuable and I've wasted it on this!

Thank you

remzeh1

Hi all I have my hearing on Monday morning 

is there anything I should prepare in advance? 

Any tips please? 

Coupon-mad

No evidence of that trace, then? Hearsay...

remzeh1

Don’t think so?

coupon you seem rather chilled about this and haven’t said much? 

I’m quite worried as I’ve never been to court? Is there anything I need to prepare for in advance please?

KeithP

Have you seen this video?...

www.youtube.com/watch?v=n93eoaxhzpU

Just three or four people sitting round a table having a discussion.

remzeh1

Thanks Keith 

I’m guessing it will just be me and the judge if they’ve said that they’re not turning up?

Le_Kirk

I have previously posted this advice: -

Telephone Hearing

Read and know your defence and witness statement inside out, make yourself a crib sheet so that, if you are given a chance by the judge to talk, you can make sure you get across ALL your points.  Dress as if you were going to the office, wear shoes, not slippers and, sometimes, it helps to take the phone call standing up - but that's just me!  Make sure the court has your phone number and follow any instructions for "joining" as closely as possible.  Be there early in case the cases in front of you move up the queue.  Be polite and do not talk over the judge, address the judge as "Judge" even if a lady judge and finally - good luck.

F2F Hearing

Read and know your defence, witness statement and evidence inside out, make yourself a crib sheet so that, if you are given a chance by the judge to talk, you can make sure you get across ALL your points.  Make sure your crib sheet contains pointers from your WS to the evidence page and paragraph. Be there early in case the cases in front of you move up the queue and also to allow time for security checks etc.  Do not allow yourself to be sidetracked into a room so that a well-dressed lawyerly type can "have a few words".  Do not accept any bits of paper.  Have a spare copy of your witness statement in case the claimant tries the "we did not receive the defendant's WS" trick!  Be polite and do not talk over the judge, address the judge as "Judge" even if a lady judge and finally - good luck.  Don't forget, when you win, to ask for your costs.

remzeh1

Justice was (partially) served this morning.

The Judgment has been set aside and my £275 application costs ordered to be reimbursed by UKPC.

UKPC nor DCBL turned up, so it was myself and the Judge.

Unfortunately the Judge wasn't satisfied with my points around the cause of action estoppel and the 4 month rule and didn't strike out the claim entirely. He advised that this was just a hearing to set the Judgment aside and that I should talk about those points in my full defence hearing.

He was still very much on my side though and once the mic was turned off we had a good chat about it - he hates these people and basically said I just need to talk about the signage in the defence and most judges will rule in my favour. He said they just abuse the litigation process and 'clog up the courts with sh*te'

He extended the usual 14 days and gave me 28 days to file a defence - time to get to work.

One thing I forgot to ask him - How do I now go about filing a defence - I'm guessing this is now solely with the Newcastle County Court and nothing to do with the CCBC anymore?

Coupon-mad

"He said they just abuse the litigation process and 'clog up the courts' with s**te"

    

Yes the defence goes to Newcastle court and the solicitors, if we can describe DCBLegal that way.