UK PC Claims received

Coupon-mad

No.  As I said:

applying to set these aside DOES NOT FREEZE THE TWO CCJs. You will have two CCJs for months - and if the Judge disagrees that these can be set aside, they will remain for 6 years

LionsShare

What do you think is the likelihood of the judge setting aside considering I acknowledged the claims?

I would like to fight this but if chance is zero what's the point.

Eg has ANYONE EVER had a judgement set aside  on grounds of it being sent to wrong address ....when they acknowleged?

B789

But if you acknowledged then that means that you received (were served) the claim, irrespective of what address it was sent to. You can't then say that the claim was served to the wrong address if you knew about it in the first place.

By acknowledging the claim but not defending it you have shot yourself in both feet. If you are really interested in learning more about how a claimant can obtain a default judgment then read the CPRs. There is a very risky (financially) option that you could request that the CCJs be set aside because you would have a good prospect of defending the claims. That is CPR 13.3 but it is discretionary and you would have to be incredibly good and persuasive to the judge as to your reasons for failing to defend them in the first place.

Coupon-mad

LionsShare said:

What do you think is the likelihood of the judge setting aside considering I acknowledged the claims?

Eg has ANYONE EVER had a judgement set aside  on grounds of it being sent to wrong address ....when they acknowleged?

No - that would be impossible grounds to use.

You could certainly have had these set aside if you hadn't done the AOS, sadly.

As I said, the problem is that you acknowledged the claims.  That then communicates that you got the claim so that address WAS a 'valid address at which you could reasonably be contacted'.

Ergo the Claimant should not be deprived of their judgments because the claims were validly served.  A court cannot interfere under CPR 13.2.

Your clock was running to defend and you didn't.

The only straw you could grasp is CPR 13.3 'any other good reason' why the CCJs should be set aside, but this relies on the discretion of the Judge.

And all that time the CCJ is there. It's NOT frozen.

See the thread by @Juliansnemesis as a cautionary tale of how a CCJ set aside hearing can go.

My suggestion gave you a way to fight with no CCJ risk.  In your shoes I'd do what I suggested and pay in full 'under protest' and then counterclaim, given you have to defend a case and will get a hearing anyway (at their expense!).  May as well hop on the back of their 4th claim hearing as a 'free hit' at getting your money back (albeit a counterclaim of £6k costs a hefty fee and will fail if not argued on points of law).

So huge is this decision, I think it will be worth asking a solicitor for an opinion but be aware DCB Ltd do not delay High Court writs.  They could be clamping your car next week and banging in the door.  I don't want to worry you but in the case fought by @SoJacob she had bailiffs coming round with a HC writ within DAYS.

KeithP

Coupon-mad said:
...but in the case fought by @So_Jacob she had bailiffs coming round...

Pssst... it's SoJacob. No underscore.  

LionsShare

I am leaning towards paying it but I don't know how I will find it. I have no savings and I will have to scrape it all together out of money I need for myself and kids to live on. It will mean not paying rent and any bills this month ...and I have x4 children so it won't be easy.

Will I get help here to put together the paperwork etc for my defence of the 4th claim and my counterclaim as mentioned by CM? 

Coupon-mad

I feel for you.  I hate what they've done. to you.  DCBLegal must have rubbed their hands together with glee when they saw you were fruitlessly trusting them to reply to an email instead of defending the claims, and all they had to do was sit tight.

Which they did, of course.

I'd try to get half hour with a solicitor on Monday/Tuesday if I were you, although I think they'd say pay it as well.  I say this because of the amount of money at stake.

We will always assist with defences.  

Counterclaims are harder work and I can't promise it will work. We aren't legally trained here and a Counterclaim of that size would need properly pleading in law, or you are wasting your counterclaim fee money.  That's also why I'd get a swift legal opinion from a local solicitor that deals in civil cases/property law.

If DCBL HCEOs turn up DO NOT OPEN THE DOOR OR LEAVE A FRONT WINDOW OPEN and tell them you are setting aside the writ.

Act VERY quickly whatever you do.

B789

If you are financially in distress, you could try and see if you may be eligible for court fees to be waived.

LionsShare

Thankyou for the great advice. I will try to speak to a solicitor on Monday.

LionsShare

Hi everyone, so I am at the point where I need to file a defence for the most recent claim from UKPC for £459.68. 

Any advice here would be helpful.

I sent a letter on 16th June to DCBLegal requesting documents required (no reply) and today I have sent a reminder email (auto acknowledged but I expect I will hear nothing more)

I have been advised that a Holding defence is all I need to file ?? and best to do this via email to the courts?

Anything in particular I should be putting in my defence? 

Thanks