application to extend life of claim rejected -what next??

[loopdaloo53]

Hi,,I recently began working for a company who had filed to take action against a non paying customer. Unfortunately there was a time gap between my predecessor leaving the job and me starting. This resulted in a delay in things being filed. We had to submit an N244 requesting to extend the life of the claim. Unfortunately the court rejected our claim. I did speak to a court advisor who told me other than objecting the decision, which involved a court hearing hundreds of miles away and was not a viable option, there was nothing else we could do. He advised we couldnt even just start the claim again from scratch.

Surely it cant be the case that theres no further action we can take to secure payment? Can somebody tell me what options might be open to us? Preferably with the courts, but failing that a private debt collection agency? As a court has rejected our application can we even go down a private agency route?

This person had us quote for a job, accepted the quote, let us complete the work paid a portion of the bill then just decided not to pay the balance, no reason given. It cant be right that they are allowed to do this.

Any advise on what direction to head with this would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you in advance for any help given

[nemesis45]

Re: application to extend life of claim rejected -what next??

Hi welcome to LB,

Do you have an order from a court regarding the N244 application?

[Amethyst]

Re: application to extend life of claim rejected -what next??

Which part of the claim was the delay in? ( eg. was it out of time to file full particulars / respond to defence / return N181 etc ). Was the claim struck out on request of the defendant or judges own order ?

[loopdaloo53]

Re: application to extend life of claim rejected -what next??

Hi welcome to LB,

Do you have an order from a court regarding the N244 application?

Hi Nemesis45 and Amethyst, thanks for your reply

Yes I have a 'general directions order' from the court rejecting the application, it states "the application is refused; the claimant having failed to take all reasonable steps to effect service within the extended life of the claim form".

I have no experience of these matters and have picked it up mid way through the claim, but i think the delay was in submitting the N181. As you can probably tell im a bit at a loss with it all!!

Thanks again

[Amethyst]

Re: application to extend life of claim rejected -what next??

Ahhh ok. How much is the claim for and how late was submitting the N181 ?

N181 is directions questionnaire and is sent AFTER claimants have responded to court to say they want to go ahead with claim. The court usually gives two warnings to file N181 within 7 days so to have missed deadlines still on that will be pretty fatal without very very good reason.

This though '' "the application is refused; the claimant having failed to take all reasonable steps to effect service within the extended life of the claim form".'' sounds more like detailed particulars weren't filed within 4 months from issue of the claim.

Might be simpler to see the application - did you draft it?

[loopdaloo53]

Re: application to extend life of claim rejected -what next??

There was def quite a long delay from when the claim was started to when i took over. Its for £2000. I work from home and So only have the general directions letter with me. Im back in the office on Wednesday, i will bring the whole file home with me to cgeck forms and dates and things and then post again
Thanks so much

[loopdaloo53]

Re: application to extend life of claim rejected -what next??

Hi again
As mentioned I have bought the entire folder on this topic home. It is quite confusing to me as none of it was actioned by myself, but it looks like the claim was actually started back in October 2013!! The N1CPC form was completed 17/10/13. We the received a 'notice of issue' from the court, also dated 17/10/13.
Theres a Certificate of service dated 22/10/13
12/11/13 the defendant issued an acknowledgment of service and contested the claim.
On 12/12/13 there was a N225 request for judgement filed and we then received a notice of judgement from the court dated 13/12/13.
Then after some deliberation we were informed Feb 14 that the claim was in the wrong name (the defendants business name rather than his personal name), we were advised to apply to 'set the judgment aside', then amend the name and re-serve. An N244 was completed with this info 5/02/14.
This was returned as it had not been signed, it looks like they then signed and returned a photocopy, so this was also returned. the original was returned, signed, 4/3/14.
A general directions order was received 31/03/14, it stated that the judgement had been set aside and permission was granted to amend the defendants name, the life of the claim was extended to 10/06/14 and we had to re-serve the claim form and response pack.
The claim form then wasn't sent until 13/05/14.

That is the last of the documentation until I took over in oct 14, at this point we had been instructed by the court to re-submit a N1CPC and also submit a N244 requesting the 'extend the life of the claim and lift the stay'. It is in response to this that we received a general directions order from the court denying our request to extend the life of the claim.

I hope the above makes some sense to you - as it certainly doesn't to me. But it still remains that we want to take steps to obtain the money from this debtor. What can I do??

Any help and advise is very gladly received, thank you

[loopdaloo53]

Re: application to extend life of claim rejected -what next??

Hi, did anyone have any further advice on how to pursue this debt please? Thanks very much

[dan_1207]

Re: application to extend life of claim rejected -what next??

So to be clear, you were seeking to extend the claim purely so you can substitute the Defendant's name?

If yes - don't pursue this claim, just start another one. You can argue that is isn't an abuse of process as they're two separate entities- you'll have to absorb the costs incurred (such as court fees) in the original claim and re-issue in the correct defendant's name.

[loopdaloo53]

Re: application to extend life of claim rejected -what next??

Hi Dan 1207, thank you for your response.

No, the change of name all went through and was accepted. But I think there was a long delay then re-serving using the new name. (due to the lady that started the claim leaving the company). That's why we had to apply to extend the life of the claim, because it had taken too long, but this was rejected. So the original claim did get amended to the correct name, so would I still be able to just start again from scratch??

Thanks so much for your help

[dan_1207]

Re: application to extend life of claim rejected -what next??

Hi Dan 1207, thank you for your response.

No, the change of name all went through and was accepted. But I think there was a long delay then re-serving using the new name. (due to the lady that started the claim leaving the company). That's why we had to apply to extend the life of the claim, because it had taken too long, but this was rejected. So the original claim did get amended to the correct name, so would I still be able to just start again from scratch??

Thanks so much for your help

Ah, I see. In that case - no. Ending this claim and bringing a new one for materially identical facts and against the same defendant *is* an abuse of process (I've had claims thrown out of court on this basis alone), so please don't use that method.

So the issue now is getting the amended claim form re-served on the correct defendant or otherwise bringing this amended claim "back to life".

You state that the life of the claim was extended to 10 June 2014, and the claim form was served 13 May 2014 - this is within the terms of the court's order?

[loopdaloo53]

Re: application to extend life of claim rejected -what next??

Hi Dan, thanks for all your help thus far.

I can only presume, there was some sort of delay or problem with the serve dated 13/5/14 which took it past the given date of 10/6/14.

Having another look, my predecessor has hand written a note dated 13/5 which says 'we need to send new claim form to them for approval, they will stamp and return to us with instructions'. So I would guess this is where there was a delay which took us past the expirey date of 10/6/14.

I think the long and short of it is we ballsed up the paperwork and now are paying the price. When we applied to extend the life of the claim we gave the reason that there was a change in company personnel which meant the papers were not dealt with in time, but the judge didn't see that as a good enough reason to support us in our claim.

What are your thoughts??

Thanks again for all your expertise

[stevemLS]

Re: application to extend life of claim rejected -what next??

I really don't think there is anything you can do about this now, sorry.

A change in personnel won't excuse such a long delay and the court had, effectively, already given you a second chance to get it right.

[dan_1207]

Re: application to extend life of claim rejected -what next??

Hi Dan, thanks for all your help thus far.

I can only presume, there was some sort of delay or problem with the serve dated 13/5/14 which took it past the given date of 10/6/14.

Having another look, my predecessor has hand written a note dated 13/5 which says 'we need to send new claim form to them for approval, they will stamp and return to us with instructions'. So I would guess this is where there was a delay which took us past the expirey date of 10/6/14.

I think the long and short of it is we ballsed up the paperwork and now are paying the price. When we applied to extend the life of the claim we gave the reason that there was a change in company personnel which meant the papers were not dealt with in time, but the judge didn't see that as a good enough reason to support us in our claim.

What are your thoughts??

Thanks again for all your expertise

Guessing you've no proof of postage as regards the amended claim form? A certificate of service?

[loopdaloo53]

Re: application to extend life of claim rejected -what next??

No we dont :-(