County Court - Judge dismissed case against me - What happens next?

[Tucks]

Hi

I was hoping for someone knowledgeable to enlighten me as I know this forum can be pretty great. I've just returned from a County Court hearing where Restons are claiming against me for a statute barred debt (long story but fictional payments on their CMS was their reason for pursuing), I was defending myself. Their representative failed to attend at the time of the hearing so the Judge called me alone into the court and said he was dismissing the case against me. My question is, can Restons attempt to resurrect the same case against me? This has been going on over 12 months for a 2005 debt but as the judgement isn't finding in one persons favour I wasn't sure if I can see this as the end of the matter? Any help appreciated, thanks.

[jaguarsuk]

Hi

I was hoping for someone knowledgeable to enlighten me as I know this forum can be pretty great. I've just returned from a County Court hearing where Restons are claiming against me for a statute barred debt (long story but fictional payments on their CMS was their reason for pursuing), I was defending myself. Their representative failed to attend at the time of the hearing so the Judge called me alone into the court and said he was dismissing the case against me. My question is, can Restons attempt to resurrect the same case against me? This has been going on over 12 months for a 2005 debt but as the judgement isn't finding in one persons favour I wasn't sure if I can see this as the end of the matter? Any help appreciated, thanks.

They could appeal within 21 days, but they'd have to have a damn good reason for failing to appear.

I bet they haven't served you with a Witness Statement and their evidence 14 days ago?

They didn't appear as they weren't going to win, this is the end of it.

[Tucks]

Thanks JAGUARSUK, they did actually send me witness statements about 2 months ago when the hearing date was set. I've no idea on the reason for their no show but hopefully it is the end of it. This has dragged on and they still haven't produced the evidence they claim to have re the phantom payments. The 21 days info was really useful, thanks again.

[jaguarsuk]

they still haven't produced the evidence they claim to have re the phantom payments.

There is your answer, they don't have what they need and therefore have just let it be dismissed. I doubt they'll appeal and this is the end of it.

Scan all your documents then save them to 2 cloud data storage (OneDrive, GoogleDocs or iCloud) centres, they all have free options that will have enough space for your needs. The reason for this is computers, phones or disk drives/memory sticks break, but new computers or phones replacing broken ones can still access those files if needed.

Don't be surprised if this gets sold on to another scummy debt purchaser and they try their luck, the claimant shouldn't do this, but lets face it they don't care much of integrity only money!

[Amethyst]

Well done When you do finally get the printed order through from the court, file it away somewhere safe, just in case someone tries to pick it up again in the future, then you can just batt them off with a copy of the judgment. It has been dismissed at a hearing, after you filed defence and both parties filed witness statements, so to try and bring it back to life would be a massive uphill struggle, I believe it would need to be an appeal rather than a relief from Sanctions so the 21 days is right. If any costs were ordered against the other side they should be paid within 14 days normally.

Was their only argument against your defence a list of payments without any back up information ?

[Tucks]

Thanks Amethyst (and Jaquarsuk for previous post). Quick answer to Jag is yes everything stored on Dropbox, Onedrive and my own cloud box so won't be losing the data thankfully! :-)

Amethyst I'm hoping that it is the end of it but we'll see. The background is that 2003-2006 I was in a mess financially (multiple reasons I won't bore you with!) but ended up 100K in debt to multiple sources. I refused to go down the bankruptcy route and between 2006-2014 cleared everything with various creditors. Credit file restored (I'm a company director so couldn't risk long term damage) and life went on. Then early 2017 I started getting letters/calls from Cabots regarding a debt, I followed process as researched (here mainly so thanks!) and then Restons got on the case. They claimed the debt still live although I stated either its settled with another creditor already or in the worse case statute barred. I supplied all bank statements showing no transactions regarding this. They then claimed a payment showing on my bank account to another independent company was the payment which proved I accepted the debt and it wasn't statute barred. The payment wasn't for this and I have evidence of it hence the reason I requested the hearing and attended. Risky but a CCJ as a result of bullying tactics (Restons are really full on!) wasn't something I could accept when I'm 100% I'm correct on this. Thanks again everyone.

Edit: Yes the only evidence from them was a print out showing a payment on their internal CMS and then claiming it aligned to a payment to another debt collector a week apart (just FYI I supplied bank statements in July 17 and their only sighted this link in Jan 18 without addition evidence). Nothing in writing from the company assigning this payment to the reference number of the account.

[jaguarsuk]

You'd think if they were gonna lie they'd be better at doctoring their own CMS system given they had your bank statement, chancers!

[Tucks]

You'd think if they were gonna lie they'd be better at doctoring their own CMS system given they had your bank statement, chancers!

I've honestly never dealt with anyone/organisation thats so blinkered to their task. Any request for the evidence by myself even prior to the court arrangements were ignored and met with such aggressive rhetoric. I really can't believe they are allowed to operate in that manner.

[Tucks]

Hi, quick follow up on this if I can. Reston’s did apply for the case to be reinstated and a second judge did let them. This hearing took place today and all parties were present. The judge in this case read through the documentation and asked several questions (being my first time in this position I was impressed by the detailed questioning!). After around 20 minutes the judge “struck out” the claimants case due to missing documentation so my question is can I take this as the end of the line in them attempting to continue this case? We never got to the part where I could prove I didn’t make the phantom payments (and therefore the debt was statute barred) as the judge felt the evidence was insufficient in the claimants case. I just want to put all this behind me and I’m hoping I can now! The opposing barrister did request an adjournment to allow time to collate the “missing” paperwork which the judge refused as this has already gone on for 18 months and been “stayed” twice. Any legal minds able to give me their thoughts? Many thanks.

[pt2537]

Hi, quick follow up on this if I can. Reston’s did apply for the case to be reinstated and a second judge did let them. This hearing took place today and all parties were present. The judge in this case read through the documentation and asked several questions (being my first time in this position I was impressed by the detailed questioning!). After around 20 minutes the judge “struck out” the claimants case due to missing documentation so my question is can I take this as the end of the line in them attempting to continue this case? We never got to the part where I could prove I didn’t make the phantom payments (and therefore the debt was statute barred) as the judge felt the evidence was insufficient in the claimants case. I just want to put all this behind me and I’m hoping I can now! The opposing barrister did request an adjournment to allow time to collate the “missing” paperwork which the judge refused as this has already gone on for 18 months and been “stayed” twice. Any legal minds able to give me their thoughts? Many thanks.

i think its deader than the Dodo