No notice for hearing, missed hearing, N244 process, claiming the fees back

[Lexone]

Hello All,

I had court case with parking management company, where they illegally trying to claim money from me. Long story short they sued me, hearing was moved dozen times over the period of 2.5 years, because of covid and apparently last time court sent notice to hearing was in August 2021, for 14 January 2022. I have not received the notice, so I have not attended the court and judge just didn't bother to consult the law and defaulted the judgement against me (I can detail the case if needed, but it should have been guaranteed win).

Anyhow, this left me in position where I had no other option but to fill N244 and ask for the judgement to be set aside. From financial perspective it makes no-sense - judgement was £274.76 against me and N244 costed me £275. But I am arguing this case from the principle, because claimant is basically fraud, trespassing on my land and harassing me with PCN for parking on my own land (leaseholder).

Now sadly, I am coming here after filling N244, because I did not want to delay and get visited by bailiffs, but it seems that what I put on the form was right as the Court clerk went through it before taking the payment and it was fine. Obviously it does not mean that Judge will accept to put the judgement aside, but at least it seems I have not made any procedural errors on the form.

One question I have - is there any process to claim the fees for N244 back? Because in this case I have effectively lost £275 for no fault of my own. I heard on pepipoo forum that apparently if I make N244 for reason of "not receiving notice and no defence", I may be able to ask for some or all of the fees to be reduced, but I can't find any mention or any process anywhere. Only the EX160A, which is not relevant because it is for people on low income and I would never qualify for that. Now obviously, one could argue that why should I care for £275 if I am high earner, but here I effectively had to pay it because of court or postal service mistake, so it isn't fair in my opinion. Especially considering that the cost is the same cost as judgement.

Any advise would be welcome.

[AndrewC]

If a judge accepts your application and sets aside the judgment made at the hearing, they will usually make an order that the claimant pays you the amount of any court fees you’ve incurred.

Any award of costs is at the discretion of the court. A judge will consider several factors when deciding whether to make a costs order, such as:

• whether the claimant has acted unreasonably when you have tried to obtain their consent. Reach out to them and ask them to consent. Even if (which is likely) they refuse, you can show that you tried to resolve amicably
• to what extent you were at fault in not attending the hearing, for example by not updating the court with your correct address
• the importance of getting the CCJ removed and whether it was reasonable and proportionate for you to pursue the application

If you lose, you may have to pay the claimant's costs if they have legal representation.

[Lexone]

Thanks,

So basically I need to wait for the hearing and it is to judges discretion regarding the fee?
- I have not thought to ask claimant for consent to set it aside, but UK-CPM are unlikely to play ball and they using Gladstone Solicitors who in my experience are not very reasonable either. Point is - even them deciding that this case is worth the shot, knowing that there is no legal basis for claim just shows their position. But I guess I just send them an e-mail asking them to agree to set it aside and what they say is irrelevant.
- Well as I said, I just didn't receive the letter with notifications. My address was correct.
- As for CCJ, obviously that is not great to have one on your credit score, but importantly judge should have considered the law and not to award it to Claimant. In fact I think their case should not be accepted at all as lacking legal basis, but it is what it is. Maybe if the case goes back for hearing I will be able to attach some of their ridiculous claims - their witness at one point makes a statement about "selling Buckingham Palace" It is honestly a bit of joke!
For example I said in my defence that they cannot imply contract to me, because I already have contract (lease) and that gives me a right to park on my parking space.
Their response "The flaw in the reasoning is that it confuses the making of a contract with the power to perform it. There is no legal impediment to my contracting to sell you Buckingham Palace. If (inevitably) I fail to honour my contract then I can be sued for damages. On the stock market it is commonplace for traders to sell short; in other words to sell shares that they do not own in the hope of buying them later at a lower price. In order to perform the contract the trader will have to acquire the required number of shares after the contract of sale is made. Moreover, in some cases a contracting party may not only be able to contract to confer rights over property that he does not own, but may also be able to perform the contract without acquiring any such right."
What is the relevance to the case and what reasonable person makes such statement?! As well it is important to note that they know and admit that I have a right to park, I have appealed and they recognised it, but they still refused appeal stating that "it does not matter you have permit, it does not matter you allowed to park there, what matters is that it was not displayed at the time and thus you own us £100". Basically, one can't reason with them.

Are the rest of the case details relevant? I mean this kind of answered my question already - as I understand I don't need to fill any paperwork, any form. Simply to inform claimant of my intentions and then wait for the "set-aside" hearing and try to look as reasonable as possible in front of the judge, so that judge assigns the cost to claimant and not to me? Anything else I am missing?