Judgement for Claimant (in default) incorrectly issued!!

[And_P]

Hi All,

Am in a panic! :-( Today I opened an envelope containing an N30 Judgement for Claimant (in default)

Obviously the correspondence states that I have not replied to the claim form and therefore I am ordered to pay the full sums within one month.

This is not true! I filled out the appropriate admission form (N9A) for the full amount and sent it to the correct address of the claimant's solicitor. I sent the document Royal Mail first class recorded, have a copy of the proof of delivery for the tracking number and also a copy of the signature used to sign for.

Am I therefore right in thinking the claimants solicitors have failed to notify the courts of my admission or lost the correspondence I sent to them?

I followed the instructions of the claim form meticulously.

Any replies\advice much appreciated! Thanks!

[CLL1]

Re: Judgement for Claimant (in default) incorrectly issued!!

Hi All,

Am in a panic! :-( Today I opened an envelope containing an N30 Judgement for Claimant (in default)

Obviously the correspondence states that I have not replied to the claim form and therefore I am ordered to pay the full sums within one month.

This is not true! I filled out the appropriate admission form (N9A) for the full amount and sent it to the correct address of the claimant's solicitor. I sent the document Royal Mail first class recorded, have a copy of the proof of delivery for the tracking number and also a copy of the signature used to sign for.

Am I therefore right in thinking the claimants solicitors have failed to notify the courts of my admission or lost the correspondence I sent to them?

I followed the instructions of the claim form meticulously.

Any replies\advice much appreciated! Thanks!

Judgment in default is obtained by making an application, so either the admission form wasn't received by the lawyer acting for the claimant, or some other error has happened.

Steps to take:

1. Write to claimant's lawyer pointing out the error and that judgment will be set aside by the court if you are forced to make an application

in this letter, invite them to consent to having it set aside, or you'll seek costs from them.

2. Was it a full or part admission?

[And_P]

Re: Judgement for Claimant (in default) incorrectly issued!!

Hi CLL1,

Thank you for your response! It was a full admission, therefore the claim form clearly instructed me to send only the full admission to the claimants solicitors.

[And_P]

Re: Judgement for Claimant (in default) incorrectly issued!!

Hi Fellow Legal Beagles!

Thought I should update this to let everyone know the shocking mistake made by the court themselves!

I contact the claimants solicitors who confirmed that they had received the N9A and sent it to the courts. What worries me is that the solicitor in question (a so say legal expert) informed me that the N30 was correct and for me not to worry as the courts had "Just worded the from wrong" How can the solicitor dealing with the claim not know what an N30 is?!! I was trying to educate them!

So the court investigated and called me back saying they were very sorry and the judgement has been issued in error.

I wonder how many people receive a judgement in error and are not clued up enough to query it?!

[And_P]

Re: Judgement for Claimant (in default) incorrectly issued!!

Hello Legal Beagals!

Since my last post on this subject a lot has happened and I have a few questions.

After I received the first judgement I speak of above and which was made in error, a second judgement was passed. This second judgement took the N9A into consideration and I received an N30(2) which ordered I pay £20 per calendar month until the debt is cleared. I then contacted the claimants solicitors who instructed me to set up a standing order for the £20 per month which they have confirmed in writing was received by the date requested.

After I had made the first payment, the solicitors then wrote to the court requesting re-determination which was granted and I received a third judgement (N24) which ordered I pay the full outstanding sum forthwith. I contacted the claimants solicitors and requested they send me a copy of the letter they sent to the court regarding re-determination. In this letter I states: "Further the Defendant owns a property and this is the method of enforcement the Claimant was looking to take."

I applied to vary the terms of this order and sent off an EX160 & N245. The result was I recently received another N24 stating my application to vary had been refused.

My questions are:

- Surely if the claimants accepted my payments of £20 a month before they requested re-determination, it is simply an act of agreeing to the judgement and cannot then proceed to request a re-determination.

- Can I now say to the court I would like to dispute the original claim? Originally I was thinking I would dispute but thought it safer for me to submit the N9A and agree to a monthly payment. I didn't at all think there would be a chance of losing my home! They way I see it now is that I have nothing to lose by going to court and disputing the claim and everything to gain!

- Does anyone know how much it would cost me to dispute the claim. I would do this alone and without a solicitor. From what I've read online it cost me another £250 in court fees and would probably take about a year. But not sure how accurate this is.

Any advice and answers will be greatly appreciated! Thank you in advance for taking the time to read and answer! :-)

[Amethyst]

Re: Judgement for Claimant (in default) incorrectly issued!!

How much is the judgment for? It sounds as though they will be applying for a charging order over your property. It may not have been known that you owned a property at the time.

As you have submitted a full admission and offer to pay, then unless significant new facts have become known, you are not going to be able to decide to defend the claim at this stage. The best you can do is defend the charging order - however that is going to be tough with such a low monthly payment - you can however ask that the charging order may not be turned into a sale order unless you default on your installment payments and ask that you continue making those payments to reduce the balance of the judgment, and once it has been paid the charging order is removed from your property.

Do you have much in the way of equity in your property ?

For future ref taking advice from the oppositions solicitor isn't usually going to be in your best interests.

[And_P]

Re: Judgement for Claimant (in default) incorrectly issued!!

Hi Amethyst,

Thanks for your response! In answer to your questions: The judgement is for just over £16k. The equity in my property is about £30k. While all the above was happening I was in receipt of welfare benefits. My circumstances have now changed and I am due to start a new job in March.

Does a charging order sit against the sale of the property indefinitely and without interest until if and when I decide to sell the property? Also, under what circumstance can a charging order become a sale order?

Am I not right in thinking that if the claimants accepted my payments of £20 a month they are agreeing to the terms? Therefore they cannot then proceed to request a re-determination?

Many thanks for your help!

[Amethyst]

Re: Judgement for Claimant (in default) incorrectly issued!!

Indeed, you should continue making those £20 payments while things go on in the background and keep records. When the claimant applies for a charging order a date will be set for a final charging order and you will be able to put forth your circumstances and situation with regard to finances. You should hear from the land registry first really with an interim charging order notification. You will be able to say it is your family home, that you offered £20 a month as that is what you could afford at the time on the basis of you income and expenditure calculations, but that you have a new job started in March and you are happy to now increase those payments to £XX. You understand the claimant wishes to obtain security but you have got yourself back on your feet and losing your home would be devastating and request the judge orders that you continue to make payments at X per month until the debt is cleared and put a condition on the charging order that the claimant may not apply for a sale order unless you default on your monthly payments. Once you have started your new job, if the court/claimant still hasn't been in touch you should write to both offering to increase payments and explaining your improvement in circumstances. That will help show the Judge that you are committed to sorting out the debt.

Had your income gone down after making that agreement with the claimant, you also would have had the right to apply to have the judgment redetermined.

What was the original debt for and who is the claimant ?
Whether interest can continue to be added depends on the type of debt and the judgment order.
Is there actually a genuine dispute on the debt ?

As well as a charging order they could potentially issue a statutory demand to try and make you bankrupt - it is unlikely but a possibility, which makes it extra important you keep up the payments as originally ordered. Was there any further discussion in their application for redetermination of what their intentions are?

You should have had notice of the redetermination application and could have put forward representations at that point, asked for a hearing etc. But you've been through trying to have that decision overturned so its past history now.

If you did try to overturn the ruling now, particularly following an admission and offer to pay, you would risk the chance of further costs being added to the judgment amount, which could give the claimant more of an opportunity to apply for a sale order if they were so inclined.

[And_P]

Re: Judgement for Claimant (in default) incorrectly issued!!

Hi Amethyst,

Thank you so much for your detailed response. The claimant is a car hire company called Euopcar. Details of the whole story can be found here....

http://legalbeagles.info/forums/show...s-After-Excess

The dispute line I was thinking of perusing is that they took the excess from me and then 7 weeks later decided they weren't going through the insurance and were going to bill me for everything!

Is it not true that because they have been accepting my £20 a month, they can't then change their minds and request re-determination?

I have the option of requesting to have the judgement varied again which I will do today. I will include details of my new job, financial circumstances and a new proposed offer of payment. This will at least give me a bit longer and a chance at avoiding the charging order?

Thanks in advance for your help! :-)

[And_P]

Re: Judgement for Claimant (in default) incorrectly issued!!

Hi have had an email this morning which states:

"My client is aware that you do own a property and we would have to look at this in order to protect the debt if we cannot come to a reasonable arrangement."

Am I right in thinking this means a charging order that will sit against the value of the property and not a sale order?

[And_P]

Re: Judgement for Claimant (in default) incorrectly issued!!

May I also point out that the claimant's request for re-determination was 19 days after the judgement had been made....