Claim amount issue CCJ

[danennis]

Hi Folks

Early on this year I started a claim against a company who made a mess of repairing my car. Unknowingly, when I filed the claim, I included the cost of the hire car. The Defendant missed the deadline to file his defence but applied to set aside default judgement. I attended the 'set aside' hearing today and was told that it would be set aside due to the fact that I had claimed for a hire car which I shouldn't have done. I wasn't aware that I shouldn't have claimed for all my incurred costs and the hearing will now go ahead. I got the impression that this mistake will go against me and wonder what I should do next? Is it possible to amend the claim amount at this stage or should I start the whole claim again? Thanks in advance.

[danennis]

I spoke to the court today who advised me to amend my claim with a N244 but I am now really confused as to what amount to change it to. Originally my claim included the following-

Original cost of work carried out by the defendant
Cost of hire car after car was left unusable
Cost for car to be low loaded to other garage for repairs
Cost of my local mechanic who looked at my car on request of the defendant

I would really appreciate some help as I feel totally out of my depth! Should I just claim for the original cost of work carried out by the defendant which is about one third of my total costs?

[Amethyst]

Hi Dannennis, Apologies for missing your post earlier on.

So the Defendant has set aside the default judgment you'd obtained, I'll tag R0b and des8 as this issue of claiming for expenses incurred due to the garages error that is the subject of the claim has come up a few times recently, and to be honest, it's not my area of knowledge.... common sense says you would claim for your losses.... which of course includes the hire car. Is your claim based on the Consumer Rights Act ? If so it may be because act

states right to repair, replace or reject or price reduction and nothing about related losses or expenses. Maybe if you can post your particulars of claim that is in play at the moment and then we can see what needs to be amended. Did the Defendant submit a draft defence with their set aside application ?

[R0b]

Another odd decision by a judge I think.

Section 19 of the Consumer Rights Act does not prevent you from claiming damages in addition to any other rights. Not entirely sure why the judge thought that you shouldn't have claimed costs for a hire car - did the judge explain why?

[MIKE770]

some of these judges need investigating as to if they are competent enough to do the job, even undercover watchdog as so called justice in this country has gone out of the window, with so much manipulation by over paid judges and barrister etc etc etc all in the name of so called income explosion

[des8]

What was the actual wording of the set aside order?
The set aside should not affect the amount of your claim.
If you win the judge will then determine the amount of your damages and either allow or disallow the different parts of your claim.
Including an item which is not allowed should not mean you lose the totality of your claim

[danennis]

Thanks for the replies, I really appreciate it. The judge didn't give me an explanation, she wanted us out a.s.a.p. The first thing the judge said to me as I sat down was 'can I just warn you that you are in danger'. Being a layman in legal matters I waited for her to elaborate and I was asked 'can you break down the sum of the claim'. As soon as I mentioned the hire car the judge said 'thats what I thought, its's a common mistake. This isn't your decision to make, it is up to the judge'. She then said 'for this reason I am setting aside the default judgement and the defendant has 14 days to file their defence.'

The defendant had written a brief defence in his application to get the judgement set aside. It was laughable to be honest and it would only have taken about 1 minute to completely expose all his blatant lies. I feel really hard done by in all this. First, I came back a day early from my holiday to attend the hearing (which at the time was in Swindon about an hour away) and was informed it was cancelled. Then I was told the reason it was cancelled was because the defendant has a vision impairment so it was moved to Guildford (a 5 hour round trip for me). Then he gets the default judgement set aside on a bizarre technicality. Considering this is a Ltd company, the case should have been at my local court. I'm self employed on a single income as my partner receives a carers allowance for our 4 year old with special needs, none of that is taken into account?!!

Common sense says to me that the claim amount should be second to the guilty/innocent verdict and the judge has the ability to award what he/she thinks is fair at the time?

Thanks again

[danennis]

des8 R0b I received the letter from the court today and the reason for setting aside the judgement is 'The judgement against defendant is set aside because it is irregular'.

Not really sure what that means?

[des8]

The rules are set out in CPR 12 &13. (https://www.justice.gov.uk/courts/pr...l/rules/part12)
In this case the judgement has been set aside because although the claim was acknowledged (I assume) no defence was entered.
The court leans over backwards to be fair the judgement is put to one side to enable the defender to present his defence.
Annoying when you have complied with all requirements and court orders, but that is the system

Still don't understand what the judge meant about your claim for car hire