CCJ and n244 form help

[R0b]

You could but you would have to give some context as above why it should be under 13.2 and you have to bear in mind a judge might request a hearing to explain yourself and reasons before approving so you need to be sure. You could keep it short by adding something like below if you really wanted to. Consent orders are generally a rubber stamp process and once you have filed it the court would normally approve unless they had some form of suspicion but the explanation about wrongly issuing the claim should be sufficient grounds on their own.

the parties agreeing that there be good reason to set aside the Judgment pursuant to CPR 13.2 and 13.3, on the basis that the claim form was not validly served on the Defendant and the Claimant has wrongly issued a claim against the Defendant who was not a party to the contract concerning the Claimant's dispute.

[davidsilva21]

could I leave that description off and stay with the 13.3 for the consent letter? Then add it onto the n244 if needed if she disagrees/doesn’t respond?

like you say I don’t want it to be over kill if it’s not needed, to the point the judge has almost too much to rubber stamp if that makes sense

thanks again Rob your support has been extremely valuable.

[R0b]

Sure, you could do it that way.

[davidsilva21]

Perfect will send it off today

will keep you updated whilst work on witness statement and defense

thanks again Rob

[davidsilva21]

All sent fingers crossed

[R0b]

Let us know if you get a response back and in the meantime I will dig out some additional things you will need to include in your witness statement and defence in preparation for the application if you don't get the result you need.

[davidsilva21]

Letter has been returned as she is no longer at the address, I did send her a copy via email however she hasn’t replied to that as of yet.

[davidsilva21]

Doesn’t look like she is going to respond, I have drafted up a defence and will post later on if you could have a look Rob?

[R0b]

Sure I will have a look. You may want to give the court a quick call and verify the postal address and also check if there is an email address they have on file for her just in case they have something different.

Also a point to note that the County Court Business Centre which handles the money claims online service, which I presume is what the claimant used has changed its name so it should not be referred to as that National Civil Business Centre. If you send your application on or after 1 September and it has the wrong name, it will be returned to you until you provide the correct name.

So in your defence in the title of proceedings where it say "In the XXXX County Court" you should say "In the National Civil Business Centre" unless the claim filed a claim in a specific court outside the money claims online service then you should reference that specific court name.

[davidsilva21]

I’ll give them a call this morning to check the address and confirm if it’s the same email I used.

would I start the 7 days again to provide a response before submitting the n244?

I am a little conscious about the time scales as Friday will be the end of her 7 days to respond to the consent letter. It will also be 13 days since I first found about the CCJ and I know it can go against you the longer it goes on after first finding out.

[R0b]

If it is different then yes I would allow a further 7 days and re-send the letter. Yes you have to be prompt in making your application but you can evidence in your witness statement you have attempted to reach out to the claimant in various ways without response which is partly down to delay in the application. A couple of weeks is fine as long as you are actually doing something but if you sat on it for 4 or more weeks and took no action then the court might consider your delayed application as not being prompt. However, be aware promptness is not the sole determining factor but one of several.

[davidsilva21]

DEFENCE

I dispute the claim against me as the car was sold to claimant by company company number xxxxxxx. Therefore the claim should of been lodged against them not me personally. The company entered insolvency in July 2021 and was liquidated in April 2022.

I received no paper work from the court or from claimant as everything was sent to old address. I moved out of this address on 27/09/2019 and have no access to it since then. Therefore when the claim was originally submitted in 2021 I had no idea and could not defend myself.

The company received phone calls and emails from claimant, explaining that she would like a refund for a car due to the engine not being brand new. She then complained about the odour in the car.

The engine being new to the car and not a brand new engine was explained to her at point of sale, simply stating that it would not be cost effective to put an “brand new” engine at a cost of around £4500 in a car valued at £3000, and the engine was simply “new” to the car. The garage details that supplied and fitted the engine were given to claimant with the paperwork included in the sale of the car, and claimant was told to contact them should she require any further information on the engine. The car was sold at a fair market value at the time.

In terms of the odour in the car, the car had fresh air fresheners in due to being professionally valeted. Upon her dissatisfaction of the odour company arranged and paid for a professional car Valeter to visit claimant home at a time suitable for her to professionally clean the car and be rid of any odours. After speaking to the valeting company they confirmed they would be returning to claimants home the next day to double treat the carpets and the smell would be gone. Payment was sent to them and they confirmed they had returned, this valet took place on 31/1/21.

The last correspondence between company and claimant was via email on 2/02/2021. claimant confirmed the Valeter had arrived at her home and had completed the clean. She also confirmed he would be taking away the carpet and returning with it. I would question that if she did not want the car and the smell was so bad why would she accept the valet and then continue to use the car until it had its MOT. I am not sure if she still owns the car or not but having not heard anything up until the company liquidated I presumed everything had been sorted.

I reiterate that this CCJ should have been lodged against company and not against me personally.

[davidsilva21]

Managed to finally get through to the courts after 3hrs on hold. She submitted the claim through the money online service and the address she used is the same one that I have that the post was returned from. She didn’t leave any details such as phone number or email address so looks like I will have to go forward with n244 form

[davidsilva21]

I have amended the defence statement to include her not replying to the consent order and I am close to submitting the n244. Could you have look and see what you think. Cheers



DEFENCE STATEMENT CASE REF: XXXXXXXX

I first became aware of the CCJ that was on my file after retrieving a copy of my credit file from Experian, this was on 12/08/2023. I rang the CBCC on 14/08/2023 which is the date the courts were next open.

It was explained to me that CLAIMANT had made a claim against me for £1060 in regards to a car that she had bought (REG XXXXXXXX) which I was totally unaware of. This is down to the fact that I had received no correspondence to my home address from CLAIMANT or from the courts. All post was sent to OLD ADDRESS. I left this address in September 2019 and have no access to the address since then.

I was also surprised to see that the claim had been made against me personally when CLAIMANT had bought the car from COMPANY (company no 00000000) and not from me.

I have evidence to show that this was a sale between CLAIMANT and COMPANY. This can be evidenced in sales invoice (EXHIBIT A), email correspondence (EXHIBIT B) between company andCLAIMANT and a company bank statement showing the payment for the vehicle (EXHIBIT C).

I wrote a letter to CLAIMANT on 18/08/2023 with a consent order attached. This letter was sent to ADDRESS and emailed to CLAIMANTemail I have received no reply to the email and the letter was returned to sender. I rang the court again to confirm the address was the same as the one they had on file and they confirmed this to be correct. Upon receiving no reply to the letter of consent I have now filed the N244 form to the courts.

In terms of defending the claim namely the engine and the smell please see below;

The engine being “new” to the car and not a brand new engine was explained to her at point of sale, simply stating that it would not be cost effective to put an “brand new” engine at a cost of around £4500 in a car valued at £3000, and the engine was simply “new” to the car. The garage details that supplied and fitted the engine were given to CLAIMANT with the paperwork included in the sale of the car. This was a local garage and not a Volvo main agent again showing that if this was a brand new engine then normally it would be a Volvo main agent that carried out the works. I then said to CLAIMANT before any money had been exchanged that if she was after more peace of mind on the matter then she could potentially contact the garage should she require any further information on the engine. CLAIMANT confirmed this was ok and the car was sold at a fair market value at the time.

In terms of the odour in the car, the car had fresh air fresheners in due to being professionally valeted. Upon her dissatisfaction of the odour company arranged and paid for a professional car cleaner to visit CLAIMANT home at a time suitable for her to professionally clean the car and be rid of any odours. After speaking to the valeting company they confirmed they would be returning to CLAIMANTs home the next day to double treat the carpets and the smell would be gone. Payment was sent to them and they confirmed they had returned, this valet took place on 31/1/21.

The last correspondence between company and CLAIMANT was via email on 2/02/2021.CLAIMANT confirmed the Valeter had arrived at her home and had completed the clean. She also confirmed he would be taking away the carpet and returning with it. I would question that if she did not want the car and the smell was so bad why would she accept the valet and then continue to use the car until it had its MOT. I am not sure if she still owns the car or not but having not heard anything up until the company liquidated I presumed everything had been sorted.

company entered insolvency in July 2021 and was liquidated in April 2022, and as previously mentioned I understand that the case should of been brought against company and not me (defendant)

[R0b]

So what you have drafted there is what I would say is your witness statement, not your defence. Witness statement are always in first person, defence will be third person e.g. The Defendant did this or that.

Just to be clear, for your application, you will need the following: (1) Witness statement which discusses and gives reasons why the judgment occurred and why it should be set aside as well as the factual background to the claim, (2) a defence (3) draft order stating what you want the court to do.

I'm a little busy but I will aim to upload an example set of documents so you can see how it is laid out and then mirror your situation to that, probably about lunch time or thereabouts.