CCJ entered against me for a claim that was settled in a previous court summons

[scotty115]

Hello

I wonder if any one can give me some advice.

I had a CCJ entered on my credit score in May of this year, which was a shock in itself as I didn't have a clue what it was for or who had entered it against me, however having spoken to the court it was for a Parking ticket that I had apparently failed to pay, hence the CCJ.

Now this is where it gets interesting as I had moved from the address in August of last year where the CCJ was registered so had no access to the property to gain letters etc. so my fault apparently!

Well it transpires that I had actually paid the parking ticket as the company had sent me a summons in July 2022 to the address, and as I couldn't dispute the ticket (despite my vehicle being registered in the car park where I was staying) I paid the summons before it went to court and subsequently it was closed etc.

So imagine my surprise when I spoke to the court this week and found out the 2nd summons and subsequent CCJ on my record (which I didn't receive as I had lived at the address for almost 12 months) was for the same parking ticket...same date...same ticket number....same location etc..........and worse from the same collection agency.

Sorry the above probably sounds like waffle, so I will put it in bullet points

Summons number 1 was paid in full in July 22 for a parking ticket that shouldn't have been issue ( I have Bank statements and Auth code from the Claimant)

CCJ was entered under a second Summons for the exact same ticket in May 2023.....for the summons that I had paid in 2022!!



Now the Legal company has issued all of these proceedings are asking for evidence, which I will be sending tomorrow morning.

what I need to know is if I can sue them regarding the second summons (and subsequent CCJ) as it should not have been claimed in the first place.

My credit score has gone from being excellent to basically worthless, and this has caused me a lot of stress and I have kept an exemplary payment record over the last 30 years and to find out that they have duplicated a claim that was paid 12 months ago has made me sick that they can just shrug this off like it was a "admin error"

Any advice would be appreciated and if I should seek legal representation?

Thanks in advance for any advice

Kind Regards

[R0b]

Hello

amongst other things, you could have a claim against the parking company as the claimant but also potentially against the law firm for breach of data protection laws.

Against the parking company, it would be the fact that your credit file has been tarnished with a CCJ that had already been settled and as such there has been inaccurate reporting caused by them (even if through their solicitors).

Against the law firm, well you would be arguing that they unlawfully processed your information without a legal basis for doing so e.g. they used that information to pursue legal action on behalf of their claimant despite knowing that the matter had previously settled because they were the firm acting on behalf of the parking company at the time of the original proceedings.

You need to make an application to set the default judgment aside as soon as possible. You should be able to have the judgment set aside on mandatory grounds together with your costs as issuing a second claim for the same dispute is an abuse of process and provided you have the evidence and the claim number, this should be an easy win.

Therefore, I would suggest that when you send them the evidence, you give them the next 7 days to agree to to a consent order something to the effect of:

- the default judgment is set aside under CPR 13.2 (mandatory grounds) because the matter has already been settled
- the claimant e.g. the parking company agrees to pay for your costs of the application

Now the law firm will of course suggest they draft the consent order and submit the application on your behalf but you should be very cautious about agreeing to that. First, they will likely draft the consent order to suit their own narrative which may not be anywhere near based on the above or that they won't agree to paying costs. Second, by allowing the law firm to file on your behalf you are leaving it up to them to make sure they get it right. You only have one shot at this and it is risky allowing the other side to do what should be your job. The court can refuse the application and if they do, you're either scuppered and that's the end of the matter or you spend more money having to file an appeal and hope it all works out whilst causing a delay with a CCJ on your file. The choice is yours but I know what I would do.

Along with your evidence you send them you may want to, as an option, suggest that their issuing of the second proceedings based on the first proceedings that have already been resolved (particularly given the fact that the proceedings didn't go any further to a hearing or a CCJ obtained), it's an abuse of process and secondly, both the law firm and the parking company have misused your personal data in breach of data protection laws e.g. the CCJ is a false and inaccurate record contrary to the accuracy principle under GDPR and as far as the law firm's culpability, they processed your information based on what I mentioned above - you intend in due course to start legal proceedings about that and they may want to think about offering up an acceptable sum of compensation for the stress and inconvenience and unlawfulness of the processing but if not, you will be serving a letter before action.