CCJ set aside - worth it in this case?

TWIGLET1234

Considering applying to set aside a judgement which was made in our absence. 

Had a pretty strong defence to a small claim made by a client. Filed the defence with court back in Jan 23. Heard nothing until this week when claimants debt collector emailed to say our defence was struck out and judgement awarded against us. We have received no court papers since we filed defence. No notice of hearing. Nothing. 

Debt collector is pressuring for payment or they’ll instruct enforcement. I’ve emailed the Court but they claim on their auto response that they need 14 days to respond which goes beyond the deadline made by debt collector for payment. 

I’d pay but I don’t think it’s fair we had no chance to defend the claim in Court and wonder if proper procedure has been followed? 

Mark_d

You have dealt directly with the court to file your defence.  You should be able to call the court and fin doubt what went on.  It's highly unlikely the court failed to follow proper process and it would cost you a lot to escalate the matter to a higher court.

sourcrates

Who is the debt collector, are they acting for a client or are they in fact a debt purchasing company and not a collector?

How much is the judgment debt for?

What was your defence?

Very rare they will go to the expense of enforcement, they usually hope you will respond to the threat of it.

TWIGLET1234

@sourcrates
The debt collector is acting on behalf of the client 
The judgment is for just short of £3k
The claim was made by the client who had paid for work done but then a few days after said they weren’t satisfied with the result. 

Our defence is that the damage that was done to the end product was made by the clients themselves. 

sourcrates

Why was your defence struck out I wonder?

Find out the answer to that, and then apply for set aside if you feel you have a good chance of having the judgement overturned.

Jumblebumble

Mark_d said:

You have dealt directly with the court to file your defence.  You should be able to call the court and fin doubt what went on.  It's highly unlikely the court failed to follow proper process and it would cost you a lot to escalate the matter to a higher court.

Gosh my experiences of court are completely different

Our Local court lost paperwork that was uploaded on their portal

An incompetent district judge postponed a case stating

The Court Office has not received the Witness Statement as per order 3 ( The same DJ had issued this order )

However the court office kindly sent me a copy of my  statement had been stamped as having been received by the court weeks beforehand

In any event the order did not actually specify that I should send the witness statement to the court  but that I should bring it to the next hearing.

So I think it is not very good advice for you to maintain  it is highly unlikely that the court did not do things correctly

eskbanker

Isn't this the same case as the one you posted about last week?  It would make more sense to keep discussion to one thread....

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6554065/notice-of-enforcement-first-communication-since-defence-filed