CCJ JC International Acquisitions led by Moriarty Law

[Overawed]

First up - thanks everyone who contributes to this forum and keeps it running - an invaluable resource.

I have read the First Steps and followed them, but as in this case time is of the essence I am seeking some advice on timing.

First alerted to a CCJ lodged by JC International just under two weeks ago through a credit check - the CCJ was lodged on 31/08/2023.

JC acquired the debt from Talk Talk on 26/07/2022 and it relates to an agreement taken out 09/09/2021 for a Fibre Optic connection (presumably broadband). Curiously, looks like this was discontinued on 16/12/2021 even though it was apparently an 18 month contract.

The agreement was taken out in the Defendants name, but they have no knowledge of this agreement and the address to which the agreement relates is not one they were ever resident in. There is evidence that the Defendant was residing at a different address at the time the agreement was taken out and the phone number on the agreement is not one used by or known to the Defendant.

JC made little effort to contact the Defendant or uncover contact details which is why the claim and the CCJ were only uncovered through a credit check.

I used the template to request all documentation from Moriarty Law with a 7 day deadline as the CCJ is severely impacting the Defendant and they are claiming that they are beholden to their clients timescales and after 2 weeks from requesting the documentation still nothing. I have prepared form N244 with a witness statement showing that this claim can be defended and it is having a significant impact on the Defendant. I was waiting for more details to support this but time is running out (may be an eviction if the CCJ cannot be set aside)

Q: Would you advise submitting the N244 now with the information to hand and then hope that either more details will be supplied by the Claimant at the hearing which will show that they cannot prove that the Defendant took out the agreement and also that they made insufficient effort to track down and contact the Defendant?

TIA

[R0b]

Hi

So what you may be suggesting is that the TalkTalk agreement may have been taken out in the Defendant's name without their knowledge?

The CCJ can be set aside on two grounds, mandatory and discretionary. I made a guide on setting aside a CCJ which explains more about these two grounds and a bit more. Suggest you take a look to familiarise the process.

https://legalbeagles.info/forums/for...tailed-version

As for the N244 and witness statement, yes you shouldn't hang around because if the Defendant is relying on discretionary grounds, they need to be prompt in their application. Normally I would suggest that it is good practice to submit a draft defence but that can only be done if the Defendant has enough knowledge about the claim and knows what to defend. If they do not have that at this stage, it might be helpful to add a sub-section on the potential grounds for defence in the witness statement.

Quite often debt purchasers don't comply with the rules which requires them to take steps to ascertain the current residence if they have reason to believe that the Defendant is no longer residing at the address. They simply send a couple of letters, no response, issue a claim and then seek default judgment. If the Defendant can show that JC had reason to believe the Defendant was no longer at that address, and they didn't take reasonable steps to find the current address, that is grounds for a mandatory set aside as of right and the court must set the judgment aside - there is no discretion on the judge to consider the timing of the application or the defence because JC would have failed to comply with the procedural rules.

Obviously you haven't shared the N244 or the witness statement, but if you want some feedback then I suggest you post it up with personal information redacted and we can comment on it.

[Overawed]

Hi

So what you may be suggesting is that the TalkTalk agreement may have been taken out in the Defendant's name without their knowledge?

Thanks very much for replying. Yes, it is clear that the agreement was taken out in the Defendant's name without their knowledge. I will share the redacted N244 witness statement as you will be able to see why we both think this is the case. I have also raised this with Action Fraud as it may be a case of Identity Theft, but currently unable to pinpoint it 100% to an individual so they have not taken it any further.

Hi

Obviously you haven't shared the N244 or the witness statement, but if you want some feedback then I suggest you post it up with personal information redacted and we can comment on it.

This is what I have currently put into the witness statement and any comments for improving the chance of the courts setting aside the CCJ would be very welcome:

"On or about the 08/04/2024 the Defendant, discovered that there was a CCJ filed against her by JC International Acquisition LLC, as they had acquired the debt from Talk Talk Limited. This only came to light through a credit report which her landlord ran when looking to renew her tenancy. The Claimant made insufficient effort to contact the Defendant by email, telephone, or post which is why there is such a gap between the notice being given by the Claimant (26/07/2022) and now. The Claimant made little, or no effort to trace the Defendant and serve notice by post, email or contact the Defendant by telephone to advise the Defendant of the agreement.

On investigating this matter, it has come to light that the contract was taken out at an address at which the Defendant was not resident at that time (09/09/2021). The Defendant has evidence of residing at a different address at that time and was never present at the address to which the agreement relates. The agreement was also for a Fibre Optic broadband connection at the property which the Defendant would not be able to access and hence utilise. The Defendant does recognise the address on the agreement as being the residence of her employer on the date of the agreement.

Other details pertaining to the contract have been requested from JC International Acqusition LLC such as the email address they have for contact, the telephone number they have for contact. A copy of the agreement numbered 1013836739 has also been requested as this may provide further evidence of the Defendant being the victim of identity theft. "

[Overawed]

Also, I meant to ask - is it possible to email form N244 and if so, how does one pay the Court fee? I tried emailing to enquire but had no reply as yet...

[R0b]

Personally, I think the statement is a little light. Rather than trying to mark it up, let me share with you an example of an N244 and a witness statement so you can see how it is set out and layered, and what might be included in this application.

[Overawed]

Personally, I think the statement is a little light. Rather than trying to mark it up, let me share with you an example of an N244 and a witness statement so you can see how it is set out and layered, and what might be included in this application.

Thanks! I shall have a look and amend accordingly.

[Overawed]

Thanks again and I now have something far more compelling and with good grounds to request that the CCJ be set aside. It looks like you can file this form online but I am still confused about the correct court - would it be the Court of Appeal - Civil Division?

[R0b]

No it is not the Court of Appeal. It needs to be the court that issued the judgment. Most claims are issued via Money Claims Online, and if the default judgment was issued using that process, then the application will need to be sent to the Civil National Business Centre. Otherwise, you need to find out the court where the claim was submitted and issued.

https://www.find-court-tribunal.serv...ss-centre-cnbc

You can email your application, but you need to observe the rules in Practice Direction 5B, particularly paragraphs 2.1 onwards.The consequences of not complying are set out in that Practice Direction.

https://www.justice.gov.uk/courts/pr...art05b#Anchor2

[Overawed]

Thanks again ROB! - the plot thickens. I've now been asked for more information from Moriarty Law so their client can consider setting aside the CCJ if they think that it was a case of identity theft. I've tried to ask them to provide concrete evidence that the Defendant did in fact sign the agreement but no joy. Seems like they are just stringing me along.

However, there is now an offer of a reduced amount to settle the claim and Moriarty say that if form N244 is then submitted, the Claimant will then be much less likely to defend this, maybe not even turn up in Court? I think I saw the answer to this recently but wanted to be sure before following this route - can I ask for the CCJ to be set aside and hence removed from the Defendant's credit report even if it is settled? It's the principle of the matter that this agreement was never signed by the Defendant and it doesn't appear that there was much effort to track the Defendant down to serve the claim before resorting to court.

[R0b]

As a law firm, Moriarty should be well aware that if you make a payment before setting aside a default judgment, the general rule is you are deemed to have admitted liability. If you dispute liability, you make the application to set aside first and consider any settlement afterwards. Arguably, this could amount to a breach of their solicitor code of conduct which is not to take advantage of others.

You say they have already had a couple weeks and you always have to bear in mind the court expects you to be prompt. Applications have been dismissed where defendant's have sat around for 30 days before making an application.

If I was in your shoes right now, I would be telling Moriarty, their client has already had two weeks to decide if they want to consent or not. This is is not supposed to be a mini trial or assessment of your (the defendant's) evidence before deciding whether they want to consent. The fact they do not have the agreement to hand and are unable to share that document with you suggests that their client issuing proceedings and obtaining judgment is an abuse of process if you don't have the necessary information and documents to actually formulate your claim.

I would be giving them deadlines. Their client agrees to consent to the default judgment being set aside and their proposals for what needs to be included in the consent order by 5pm today. If there is no response by that time then you will be submitting your application to the court and be seeking an order for costs.

The onus will then be on their client to decide whether to oppose the set aside or not, and file the necessary evidence to support that opposition. Past experience of these debt purchasers tell me they very rarely oppose unless they have concrete evidence in their possession which they think will make them win. Almost all of the time, they just don't turn up at all because they have very little information to argue.

In the meantime, you would do well to make a subject access request to TalkTalk and request all information they hold about the account. You will then hopefully have more ammunition to take to the set aside hearing.

[Overawed]

You are an angel, Rob. I had been thinking it seemed a bit fishy and so I have emailed Moriarty Law stating that unless the Claimant (JC International Money Grabbers LLC) consent to the judgement being set aside by 5pm today and provide details of their proposal of what to include in the consent order, I will proceed to file form N244 (which by the way looks like it needs to be sent to the Civil National Business Centre and thanks for a reminder of the correct process to follow for this).

Interesting that I gleaned further information (they have been feeding dribs and drabs throughout on the contact email address and mobile number on file to contact the Defendant but this was a work email and mobile so as the Defendant had left that company there would have been no response on either and they clearly didn't make any effort to trace the Defendant in order to serve the claim. I shall include this in the Witness Statement. Also, good idea to request a Subject Access Request from Talk Talk, although they try and make it as hard as possible by stating that you can only do this by post. I have found an email address though!

[R0b]

A little naughty from TalkTalk. The UK GDPR says you can make a request verbally or in writing, so they cannot force you to to do it by post, that would amount to a breach of your rights.

Let us know how you get on.

[Overawed]

So - an interesting development and once again, some advice on how best to respond is always appreciated as, quite frankly, I don't trust this bunch...

They have offered to set aside the judgement and bear the costs of doing so. This is on the condition that the Defendant will not claim for any costs in future? If the Defendant accepts this, what proof do I request so that I can advise the Defendant to cancel the request for a hearing at Court? I presume that it is then just a simple matter of emailing the court with the reference numbers and advising that the matter is settled?

[Overawed]

A further update - having been advised to maintain the queries on this thread - I have been given a link to a procedure for withdrawing a claim but it doesn't seem to answer my question about the process for advising the Court, after submission of form N244 that there is no need to proceed with the application to have the CCJ set aside. Confirmation received today that this will be applied for by the legal representatives at their own cost.

[R0b]

Hi,

As you have made your application, it would be sensible to propose terms of settlement in the form of a consent order. It would be risky to withdraw your claim right now and can't see a reason why you would do that now an application has been submitted to set aside.

The no costs offer is a typical stance from these types of companies because they run the risk that if you are successful, there may be costs awarded against them. In many cases they tend not to show up either as that would add to their time and costs, though sometimes they do.

Obviously you have paid for your application to set aside so you are losing out on your fees so that is something you have to decide if it is worth accepting. Bear in mind the threshold for setting aside is low and they are only agreeing to setting aside the default judgment, it does mean you will still be required to file a defence with the possibility that they end up discontinuing at a later stage of proceedings, should they feel that they don't have the evidence.

An alternative option could be to push back on their consent to set aside and counter offer by saying that their client should at the very least pay your application fees, on the basis that their client had two weeks to confirm to consent and then they wanted payment first before any consent was to be given, thereby forcing you to make the application. Soon after that application was submitted, their client seems to suddenly turn up a gear and is now willing to consent. Collectively, that conduct is unreasonable and has caused you to incur unnecessary costs which, had their client reacted quicker within the reasonable time given, an application would not have been needed. The other condition will be that any terms of agreement will be drawn up in a consent order at their client's expense. The flip side to this is that if they refuse, you then have to attend court and argue your case to set aside.

The choice is ultimately yours to decide.