Court Bailiff Costs

Hoenir

Pav123 said:

Hoenir said:

No reputable company will want a CCJ registered against it. You need to weight up whether there is a realistic possibility of recovering the money expended if you pursue the matter further. Have you looked up the Company up on Companies House register? May provide some insight. Companies in financial difficulty are normally very apparent. 

Company house have it listed as compulsory strike of action (suspended by us) but I think that’s just poor admin as they have literally just been expanding buying extra vans and employing new staff 🤔. We just have to keep renewing the objection.



I have written to Companies house to see if I can get a better understanding of the company as no accounts submitted since 2020.

Unlikely to be poor administration. Companies have 9 months from their annual accounting date to file accounts. Most common cause of non filing is that the business is insolvent.

Expansion suggests there's another legal entity operating from the same address. Company structures and relationships can be extremely complex. With some individuals going to great lengths to disguise their trading actvities. 

Pav123

Hoenir said:

Expansion suggests there's another legal entity operating from the same address. Company structures and relationships can be extremely complex. With some Company's going to great lengths to disguise their trading actvities. 

That’s interesting. For what gain would you want to disguise trading activities? I searched the director on company house and found they have had two companies dissolved previously both due to “compulsory strike Off action”. One is almost a
mirror of the current registered company 🤔. Why?

born_again

Pav123 said:

Hoenir said:

No reputable company will want a CCJ registered against it. You need to weight up whether there is a realistic possibility of recovering the money expended if you pursue the matter further. Have you looked up the Company up on Companies House register? May provide some insight. Companies in financial difficulty are normally very apparent. 

Thanks. That is what I thought! They did take it to a Set Aside hearing but that was dismissed. It would have been cheaper to just pay the CCJ as its only £170 so it obviously is a worry for them moving forwards.

Company house have it listed as compulsory strike of action (suspended by us) but I think that’s just poor admin as they have literally just been expanding buying extra vans and employing new staff 🤔. We just have to keep renewing the objection.

Our focus is holding the director accountable.
One of his professional associations have already removed him as a member following a disciplinary review. We have a complaint in with HSE and also local MP due to him being a parish councillor and a conservative candidate in last local elections. We feel in those roles you should at respect the legal system.

I have written to Companies house to see if I can get a better understanding of the company as no accounts submitted since 2020.

Just who did you take to court, director or business. Is this a Limited Co?

user1977

Pav123 said:

Hoenir said:

No reputable company will want a CCJ registered against it. You need to weight up whether there is a realistic possibility of recovering the money expended if you pursue the matter further. Have you looked up the Company up on Companies House register? May provide some insight. Companies in financial difficulty are normally very apparent. 

Our focus is holding the director accountable.
One of his professional associations have already removed him as a member following a disciplinary review. We have a complaint in with HSE and also local MP due to him being a parish councillor and a conservative candidate in last local elections. We feel in those roles you should at respect the legal system.

On what basis do you think you can hold the director responsible rather than the relevant company?

born_again

I wish people would keep to same thread.

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6503720/enforcing-ccj-ltd-company#latest

Pav123

user1977 said:

On what basis do you think you can hold the director responsible rather than the relevant company?

The CCJ names the LTD company. Who would be responsible for ignoring the terms of a CCJ if not the owner / director? LTD companies I find slightly confusing.

ArbitraryRandom

A limited company is a legal entity (person) in its own right - so directors are not (generally at least) responsible for a businesses debts unless they have personally guaranteed payments (like some bank loans). 

AFAIK there's only a couple of ways shareholders and directors could otherwise be held liable - and they mostly all relate to fraud or tax... which I'm assuming aren't relevant here as they would have come up as part of the court case (and named the director). 

That's why it's important for you to work out if the business has any money/owns anything  before you spend a lot on enforcement - like by asking the court to require an officer of the business to give an account of the business (and they can be fined/held in contempt if they fail to do so within the timescales or if you can prove they're giving false accounting).  

Pav123

ArbitraryRandom said:

That's why it's important for you to work out if the business has any money/owns anything  before you spend a lot on enforcement - like by asking the court to require an officer of the business to give an account of the business (and they can be fined/held in contempt if they fail to do so within the timescales or if you can prove they're giving false accounting).  

That is much clearer. Using the court to give an account of the business seems a cheap next step. I was put off as from our experiences the business would most likely just ignore the court request. However that seems covered by fine/contempt of court so may be the next step to take. Thank you for your time explaining.

ArbitraryRandom

If the business has actually/is actually in the process of winding up then they might still ignore the court - purely because the business won't exist soon so any debts or fines will go away when it does. 

But if you want to take this forward then it's a cheaper option than anything else and might at least give you the information you need to decide if it's worth going any further. 

Hoenir

Pav123 said:

Hoenir said:

Expansion suggests there's another legal entity operating from the same address. Company structures and relationships can be extremely complex. With some Company's going to great lengths to disguise their trading actvities. 

That’s interesting. For what gain would you want to disguise trading activities?

Survival. Limit downside risks. Ring fence different trading activities. Businessess fail for all nature of reasons beyond the management's control. More often or not will rise like a Phoenix from the ashes,