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I wasn't sure which part of the forum to post this on....
Lat week I succeeded in getting a CCJ and a claim struck out, but it has taken a year and been a very stressful experience. I have been thinking about this over the weekend, and I have a question that I hope someone here can answer. Some brief details of my case are:
1. Claim entered in December 2023
2. Tomlin Order set up in March 2024 with a schedule ending on 1st March 2025 by which time I should have paid the debt in full. Key clauses in the contract are: 1. If no application to restore the claim (which was stayed by the TO) is made by 1st May 2025, then the claim shall stand struck out, and 2. If the defendant defaults on any payment due, then the full amount outstanding shall become payable and the claimant shall be at liberty to enter judgment against the defendant for this sum.
3. Directions Order received from the Court dated 7th March 2024 that a Directions Questionnaire must be filed within 7 days of receipt. Claimant informed me that they were submitting the Tomlin Order in lieu of the DQs.
4. Letter received from court in September 2024 to say that the Tomlin Order had been submitted out of time and therefore was not approved and that the claim had been automatically struck out.
5. Directions Order received on 3rd April that a judge had set aside the DO of 7th March 2024 and approved the Tomlin Order. Unbeknown to me, the claimant had been endeavouring to get it approved since September 2024.
6. Claimant emailed me on 9th April giving me 7 days to make full payment or else judgment would be entered. I was unable to pay in full, so they said if I made an offer to pay in increments that their client accepted, they would not enter judgement. I therefore made an offer.
7. On 13th May 2025, the claimant accepted my offer but said they were also entering a CCJ 'for security' as I had not upheld the Tomlin Order.
8. CCJ was entered on June 16th 2025.
9. Within the requisite time limit, I submitted an application to have the CCJ set aside on the grounds that the Tomlin Order was not approved during the lifetime of its schedule and so I had been under no legal obligation to uphold it. Approving a Tomlin Order a month after the schedule has ended seems nonsensical to me, and it automatically puts the defendant in a position of having defaulted. As far as I knew, since September 2024 the TO had not been approved and the claim had been struck out.
10. At a hearing which the claimant did not attend, the judge accepted my argument and struck out the CCJ. They also said that the claim had been automatically struck out on 1st May 2025 because the claimant did not apply to have it restored before that date.
I think that the claimant was initially content to accept my offer and not enter a CCJ. But then they realised that as they hadn't applied to restore the claim by 1st May 2025, they had no security if I didn't keep up with the payments and would have to make another claim. So, in mid May, they entered a CCJ instead as security despite having told me that they would not do this if I made an offer that was acceptable (in email comms, they confusingly said the offer had been accepted several time and but then once that it had not been accepted).
But surely, a CCJ cannot be entered in relation to a claim that has been struck out? Should the court have rejected their application to enter a CCJ because there was no longer a claim at the time they applied? I think that the clause in the Tomlin Order that they relied on re being at liberty to enter judgment if the defendant defaults only applied if they entered the judgment between 1st March 2025 when the TO schedule ended and 1st May 2025 when the claim was automatically struck out.
I'm half expecting the claimant to appeal against the judge's decision last week, so I'm trying to get my ducks in a row just in case.
Lat week I succeeded in getting a CCJ and a claim struck out, but it has taken a year and been a very stressful experience. I have been thinking about this over the weekend, and I have a question that I hope someone here can answer. Some brief details of my case are:
1. Claim entered in December 2023
2. Tomlin Order set up in March 2024 with a schedule ending on 1st March 2025 by which time I should have paid the debt in full. Key clauses in the contract are: 1. If no application to restore the claim (which was stayed by the TO) is made by 1st May 2025, then the claim shall stand struck out, and 2. If the defendant defaults on any payment due, then the full amount outstanding shall become payable and the claimant shall be at liberty to enter judgment against the defendant for this sum.
3. Directions Order received from the Court dated 7th March 2024 that a Directions Questionnaire must be filed within 7 days of receipt. Claimant informed me that they were submitting the Tomlin Order in lieu of the DQs.
4. Letter received from court in September 2024 to say that the Tomlin Order had been submitted out of time and therefore was not approved and that the claim had been automatically struck out.
5. Directions Order received on 3rd April that a judge had set aside the DO of 7th March 2024 and approved the Tomlin Order. Unbeknown to me, the claimant had been endeavouring to get it approved since September 2024.
6. Claimant emailed me on 9th April giving me 7 days to make full payment or else judgment would be entered. I was unable to pay in full, so they said if I made an offer to pay in increments that their client accepted, they would not enter judgement. I therefore made an offer.
7. On 13th May 2025, the claimant accepted my offer but said they were also entering a CCJ 'for security' as I had not upheld the Tomlin Order.
8. CCJ was entered on June 16th 2025.
9. Within the requisite time limit, I submitted an application to have the CCJ set aside on the grounds that the Tomlin Order was not approved during the lifetime of its schedule and so I had been under no legal obligation to uphold it. Approving a Tomlin Order a month after the schedule has ended seems nonsensical to me, and it automatically puts the defendant in a position of having defaulted. As far as I knew, since September 2024 the TO had not been approved and the claim had been struck out.
10. At a hearing which the claimant did not attend, the judge accepted my argument and struck out the CCJ. They also said that the claim had been automatically struck out on 1st May 2025 because the claimant did not apply to have it restored before that date.
I think that the claimant was initially content to accept my offer and not enter a CCJ. But then they realised that as they hadn't applied to restore the claim by 1st May 2025, they had no security if I didn't keep up with the payments and would have to make another claim. So, in mid May, they entered a CCJ instead as security despite having told me that they would not do this if I made an offer that was acceptable (in email comms, they confusingly said the offer had been accepted several time and but then once that it had not been accepted).
But surely, a CCJ cannot be entered in relation to a claim that has been struck out? Should the court have rejected their application to enter a CCJ because there was no longer a claim at the time they applied? I think that the clause in the Tomlin Order that they relied on re being at liberty to enter judgment if the defendant defaults only applied if they entered the judgment between 1st March 2025 when the TO schedule ended and 1st May 2025 when the claim was automatically struck out.
I'm half expecting the claimant to appeal against the judge's decision last week, so I'm trying to get my ducks in a row just in case.