Submitting an N244 form to ask the defendant company name to be changed

[mrpizza]

Hi all,

I recently received a court order in my favor regarding a claim for unpaid invoices owed by my company. However, after receiving the order, I discovered that the defendant company was dissolved just a few months ago (my oversight for not monitoring it on Companies House).

The owner of the company that owes me money is also a director of two other active companies, all of which have similar names. I am considering filing an N244 to request that the court either change the defendant to hold the director personally accountable or substitute one of his other companies as the defendant, to facilitate recovery of the debt.

Do you think there’s a chance the court would grant this request, or is it likely to be a lost cause?

Thank you!

[atticus]

No chance, sorry. You have sued one legal entity and obtained default judgement. The court will not simply let you change the name of the defendant to another legal entity or person.

I suspect also that money is owed to your company, not by it.

[mrpizza]

Hi, Thanks for your answer.

So there is no other way I could pursue this debt? It is around £4k
But most of it is the principle that he could get away so easily and now happily doing business with a new company where the only difference is a "cloud" rather than "group" in the company name.

I know I should have followed the company on company house and object the dissolution, but unfortunately at the time I didn't know that.

[atticus]

If your customer no longer exists, you have reached the end of the road.

You need to consider your business practices. For many small businesses £4,000 is a lot of credit to allow a customer. Think about the amount of credit you allow and whether you should take deposits, personal guarantees etc.

[pc52straw]

Sounds like phoenixing to me, with a side order of obfuscation. Atticus is correct though.

Phoenixing is generally illegal in the UK when it has these characteristics:
1. Borrowing money before seeking insolvency.

2. Transferring assets from the failing company to the new company for less than their market value.

3. Using the same or similar name.

But you can't investigate or prosecute that yourself. It'd be a matter for HMRC, Companies House, Trading Standards, City of London Police.

So while your claim has gone as far as it can, there may be avenues for other agencies to explore if there's a suspicion that the director has violated the phoenixing restrictions.

[atticus]

Phoenixing is illegal in the circumstances set out in sections 216 and 217 Insolvency Act 1986.

There are circumstances in which an aggrieved creditor may take action, but the OP does not describe such circumstances.